Agenda item

Two valid questions have been received from members of the public for this meeting.

1.         Question to the Elected Mayor from Mr Appleby of Cullercoats

In May, Capita Plc was subject to a major data breach, the second this year.

Can you confirm what exposure the council, it's employees, residents and other stakeholders have suffered due to breaches at Capita (in this or any previous incident), and what known losses or damages have been incurred?

As one of the Councils key contractors, this is obviously something of great concern, and represents an on-going risk.  Can you confirm what is the extent of data Capita manages on the council’s behalf, either directly or via partners or intermediaries (such as pension funds), and whether the council is satisfied that existing contractual and technical safeguards are sufficient?

Councillor A McMullen responded on behalf of the Elected Mayor as follows:

The Authority takes cyber security extremely seriously. 

When the IT team learned of the incident, immediate action was taken to minimise exposure to any risk, both for the Authority’s own data or of any customer data we hold.  I am pleased to confirm that there has been no data loss or damage as a result of this or any other incident.

The Authority was made aware of the Capita data breach through several sources.  Whilst information was being sought from Capita, the police and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), the decision was taken to switch off all technical connections and isolate any systems involving Capita.

This did cause temporary disruption to some services, however these were all restored within 3 days.  However, this was only done after assurances had been provided from Capita and the NCSC that cyber-incident had been contained.

Following the incident, reassurances were sought from Capita about the potential impact of the data breach on North Tyneside Council and our customers.  The Authority has received written assurance from Capita’s Managing Director for Local Public Services, Paul Abraham, that the attack was limited to 4% of Capita’s servers and none of these servers are used to provide any services to North Tyneside Council, therefore the Authority’s data is not at risk from this incident.

The Authority has been informed that a detailed forensic analysis is in progress for the servers that have been impacted and that we will be notified if this does highlight any new risk to Authority data.

2.         Question to the Elected Mayor from Mr Steele of Tynemouth

As part of my concerns about NTC's progress towards making North Tyneside carbon net-zero by 2030 can you tell me what policies, procedures and training the council has in place to prevent vehicles (particularly council vehicles) from idling (to improve air quality) and pavement parking (to improve active travel)?

Councillor S Graham responded on behalf of the Elected Mayor as follows:

We have 400 vehicles in the Council’s fleet; 16 vehicles are now electric and 6 are hybrid. We are moving to replace diesel vehicles at the end of their economically useful life, and we will replace these with electric models where available.  It is important to understand that up to half of the carbon footprint of a vehicle’s life is generated in its construction, so it is important environmentally to use vehicles to the end of their economic life. We have recently installed additional electric vehicle charge points at our Killingworth depot to support the change from diesel to electric. Naturally this change from diesel to electric helps both our Carbon Net-Zero 2030 ambitions and air quality.

We have delivered specific training to our team that includes instructions on both idling and not parking on pavements. However, due to the nature of some of the services that the Council delivers, for example kerbside waste collections, some vehicles will idle but we work hard to keep this to a minimum.

Regarding air quality, I am pleased to report that North Tyneside has good air quality with nitrogen dioxide annual mean concentrations well below the UK air quality objectives and we have campaigned to discourage engine idling as part of the Council’s “Go Smarter” programme.

The Council has published an ambitious Carbon Net-Zero 2030 Action Plan and is making good progress in delivering it. The Borough’s carbon footprint is down by almost half and the carbon footprint of the Council’s operations is down by over a half. The action plan is currently being refreshed and will be presented to September Cabinet, alongside an update on performance with key highlights. 

Thank you once again for your question.

Mr Steele asked the following supplementary question:

What steps could a member of the public take if they do come across vehicles idling, especially Council vehicles?

Councillor S Graham responded as follows:

I would encourage the public to take a photograph of any incidents and send this to the Council’s customer First Centre, with information about the time and location of the incident, so this can be fully investigated to find out why and if action can be taken.  For example, it may be that it is a vehicle emptying bins on the prom and the engine must be left running to allow the machinery needed to lift the bins to be used.