Collaborative working is helping Scottish councils prepare for GDPR

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Collaborative working is helping Scottish councils prepare for the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), says the Digital Office for Scottish Local Government.

Scottish councils are working together to avoid duplication and share resources among the 30 councils that are sharing the Digital Office.

Glasgow City Council and Fife Council are leading the Scottish Digital Office GDPR Readiness Project on behalf of the Scottish Digital Office.

They have worked to produce a GDPR toolkit which contains a project plan and project risk register, detailed analysis of the new rules, flowcharts for establishing the legal basis for processing and template and other compliance materials as well as education materials for staff.

The Digital Office said that having one legal understanding had reduced the resources involved, while collaborative working has helped councils move more quickly from planning to implementation.

Local authorities are also expected to be in a better place to deal with future changes in data legislation now this project has tried and tested an efficient model.

The new GDPR measures, which come into force from 25 May 2018, will mean local authorities face stricter guidelines on how they collect, store, record and share personal data.

Martyn Wallace, Chief Digital Officer for Scotland, said: “Our GDPR Readiness Project has delivered substantial benefits to our partners as well as avoiding unnecessary costs, which is crucial at a time where our partners need it most.

“Credit must go to all our project team, particularly Glasgow City Council and Fife Council who have worked solidly on behalf of the partnership to deliver this project over the last year.”