“Writing this on Wednesday the weather feels and looks as far away from August as is possible; cloud, drizzle, 16 degrees. I guess this is why the term global warming has fallen away and we now more accurately refer to climate change. Whether you are with the 97% of scientists who agree that the climate is changing due to what us people do, or the 3% who either don’t believe the climate is changing or that it’s not a man-made change, there is no denying that the direction of travel within local government is to seek to address the concept of climate change. Essentially, if 97 structural engineers told you a bridge was unsafe but 3 said it was fine, would you cross the bridge?
We are currently updating our Climate Change Strategy (you can read all we are doing here), writing a Climate Adaptation Strategy and most recently starting on the journey of becoming a Carbon Literate’ organisation. Over the last few weeks, a small group of SLT and BMT have undertaken a climate literacy course. The course is provided by the Carbon Literacy Trust and was delivered by our own staff, John Mackintosh and Charotte Frandrejewski, accredited trainers. The idea is to raise the profile of carbon impact, introduce some of the factors considered to contribute to it and move to mainstreaming consideration of climate/carbon related matters in our decision making. It has been a great course and we intend to roll it out wider and wider across the organisation so we can embed taking account of climate change in all our decisions.
On Monday I did some completely different training. I am the Senior Responsible Officer (SRO) for the Council’s use of covert surveillance under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA). The training was for Authorising Officers, i.e., those officers within the Council who can authorise covert surveillance, but I am responsible for making sure that we follow the right processes and keep the right records, so it is helpful knowing what Authorising officers must do.
It was interesting, and you could see how tightly controlled covert surveillance is, and so it should be to ensure that surveillance does not impact on a person’s human rights. When might a Council use covert surveillance? Well, we might need to gather information about potential frauds, such as suspected fraudulent benefits claims and council tax reduction claims. We may need to address fly tipping through covert surveillance or perhaps use of domestic bins for trade waste. You might think covert surveillance is just things like cameras, or following someone, but it also covers online research, because the person won’t know you’re doing it. It is a complex area and there is some guidance on Molly about it. However, if you are thinking of looking someone up online or monitoring online posts and information as a means of investigating, please speak to myself, Tom Penlington or David Greenough first, as we’ve had the latest training. Have we authorised any covert surveillance in the last 5 years? Nope, but that might be because no-one has asked. As we look at our services and make decisions about how we can be more efficient we may find that we consider these powers more. It’s certainly moved on my thinking about the use of drones for planning enforcement matters.
That was the week that was. I hope you have a pleasant weekend, and we experience some more settle climate impacts”