Meeting new corporate governance responsibilities is a headache facing local authorities
the length and breadth of the UK. Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council (Wigan Council),
in the North West of the UK is no exception.
Wigan has been able to reduce the burden of corporate reporting and policy management
using the latest software. What started as an IT project aimed at communicating
the Authority’s Internet Usage policy has now revolutionalised the authority’s
ability to meet its statutory requirements.
Benefits achieved for Wigan Council
-
Cutting Cost
Wigan Council has automated the process for managing policies saving resources and
money.
-
Reducing Risk
Enhanced compliance and corporate governance practices have been established in
line with Audit Commission recommendations.
-
Improving Performance
Real-time visibility of compliance status, ensures early identification and resolution
of issues rather than waiting for a statutory audit.
ICT transforming government services
Local Government is being encouraged to use the Internet, both in the completion
of day-to day operational activities and for service delivery to the public, by
Central Government in Westminster. With this increased reliance on technology however,
comes a responsibility to ensure that council employees are using it appropriately.
Peter Livesey explains, “Wigan is no different
to any other organisation in the UK. The Internet is now a must-have resource for
completing tasks and can be a valuable resource – as a result the amount of
time our staff spend online has dramatically increased in recent years. So, however,
has the burden for employers to ensure that it is not being misused by employees.”
"We quickly realised that using a manual paper-based system for deploying, managing
and auditing the AIU policy simply wasn’t viable."
Overcoming logistical and administrative challenges
This increase in employee Internet access has resulted in the development of Acceptable
Internet Usage (AIU) policies across the public sector. These impress on employees
the importance of adhering to corporate policies – and the sanctions that
they face in the event of breaches. Managing the initial circulation of a new policy
can be a logistical and administrative headache, especially in large organisations.
Enforcing it and ensuring employee acceptance can also be a significant nightmare.
Wigan’s Livesey explains, “The authority has more than 4,000 regular
PC users if you include Council Members, partner organisations like Wigan and Leigh
Housing company and Wigan Leisure and Culture Trust.
“
We quickly realised that using a manual paper-based system for
deploying, managing and auditing the AIU policy simply wasn’t viable. ”
Peter Livesey, Assistant Director of Finance and IT, Wigan MBC
We quickly realised that using a manual paper-based system for deploying, managing
and auditing the AIU policy simply wasn’t viable.” It was at this point
that Wigan looked for an electronic management system and found NETConsent.
Fulfilling audit requirements
Peter Livesey continues, “Our priority was to find a system that could ensure
all employees understood and accepted the authority’s Internet usage policy
before they were allowed to access the Web. We also needed a record of each user’s
acceptance - both to enable us to fulfill our audit requirements and to give us
evidence in the case of a breach. Being able to provide evidence that an individual
was aware of, and accepted the policy strengthens our case and hopefully prevents
the likelihood of disputes ending in employment tribunals.”
The NETconsent solution works by automatically presenting the user with a browser
screen informing them of a change in a corporate policy, and giving him/her the
opportunity to review and accept it. Depending on the privileges of each user, they
can be given the option to bypass the policy and complete it later. If a user chooses
to accept the policy they are required to verify their identity, electronically
signing their action, by keying in their network password.
Peter Livesey explains, “This ‘signed’ acceptance is then stored
in a secure central database. We can run exception reports periodically that tell
us who has yet to accept the policy which enables us to send out reminders or restrict
privileges as necessary.”

Improving compliance and corporate governance
“The ease and success of the AIU policy roll-out with WEBconsent then got
us thinking. Could NETconsent, a wider application, actually help us to fulfil our
broader compliance responsibilities?”
Local Authorities are currently facing huge changes to their corporate governance
responsibilities. A report by the Audit Commission highlighted the potential benefits
of using IT as a driver for meeting corporate governance requirements to all of
its stakeholders. This included using technology to streamline manual processes,
data management and to deliver service information to residents.
Before it implemented NETconsent for wider policy management, data storage and information
management purposes, Wigan undertook stringent testing to ensure broadening its
activities wouldn’t expose the council to increased financial or operational
risks.
Viruses, hacking and sabotage are threats faced by any organisation using the Internet
and can result in financial loss, invasion of privacy or the theft of information
or systems if the necessary safeguards are not in place.
“Having satisfied our members that the Authority would not be exposed to additional
risks from automating its policy management processes the decision was made to implement
NETconsent more widely.” says Peter Livesey. “Printing, distributing,
gaining approval and managing responses at an organisation of our size would require
a huge amount of resource – both in terms of people and money.
“ When we looked at the benefits of using NETconsent’s Enterprise
Policy Management Solution for all of our internal policies we realised that the
resource and money savings we could make was substantial. ”
Peter Livesey, Assistant Director of Finance and IT, Wigan MBC
“When we looked at the benefits of using NETconsent’s Enterprise Policy
Management Solution for all of our internal policies we realised that the resource
and money savings we could make was substantial. The money usually spent manually
distributing, approving and managing updates to our policies could be better spent
on service delivery.”
NETconsent has improved Wigan’s corporate governance practices considerably.
Information is readily available to demonstrate the Authority’s compliance
with its statutory obligations. The real-time visibility that NETconsent provides
also means that in the case of noncompliance, remedial action can be taken immediately,
rather than waiting for statutory audits to be completed before anything is done.
From risk mitigation to improved service levels
Peter Livesey sums up the success of their policy management initiative. “NETconsent
did everything that Wigan needed and more. From our initial requirement to save
the Authority time and money in the deployment of our Acceptable Internet Policy
to improving our corporate governance activities, the system has impressed us at
every turn.
“The software not only protects Wigan Council from the threats posed from
inappropriate Internet use by members of staff, but also guards against unauthorised
attacks from the outside world. It also means that existing resources can be redeployed
undertaking the Council’s core activities – ensuring our residents continue
to receive the highest levels of service.”
“
NETconsent did everything that Wigan needed and more. From our initial requirement
to save the Authority time and money in the deployment of our Acceptable Internet
Policy to improving our corporate governance activities, the system has impressed
us at every turn. ”
Peter Livesey, Assistant Director of Finance and IT, Wigan MBC