A number of Dorset Council staff 'still not cyber security trained'
A small number of Dorset Council staff are said to be putting the organisations at risk by not taking their mandatory cyber security training
A small number of Dorset Council staff are said to be putting the organisations at risk by not taking their mandatory cyber security training.
After more than a year the authority admits there are still staff who have not taken the training – even though it is part of the contract of employment.
There have been calls in the past for them to be sacked if they do not undertake the training.
It has also been revealed that there are some officers working with vulnerable adults and children who do have not completed the disclosure and barring clearing – although they are likely to be working under supervision until the checks come through, a process which can often take several weeks.
Independent member of the council’s audit and governance committee, Simon Roche, said he was surprised there were still staff who had not undertaken the cyber security training.
“I have raised it before and I’m surprised it is still showing red (a risk) a year since it was first raised,” he said.
He told the committee he would now expect managers to push staff to take the training given the risk an IT breach presented to the authority.
Chalk Valleys councillor Jill Haynes, who had undertaken the training, said it merited further investigation about why some staff were reluctant to do the training, although she added that some of the content of the course was “irrelevant and a little bit demeaning.”
The meeting heard that staff who had not taken the training had been sent a survey to complete about why they had not done it – in the hope that it might find any reasons why they had not completed the course.
Mr Roche said he was also surprised about staff not having DBS clearance given that the council had a 100per cent target for those who needed the clearance.
“I am surprised there is anybody in that (category) at all.. why would that be acceptable?,” he said.
Corporate Director Sean Creamer told the meeting that the council’s target for DBS remained at 100per cent and the only reason the item remained showing as a risk was because of short delays in completion of checks – which would quickly change.
He said that “risk mitigation” was in place for officers who had not completed the check, including supervision while awaiting clearance.
He said that in many cases the staff involved would have moved from another authority where they had a successful DBS check although Dorset Council liked to do its own just to be sure.