Last year I went to a ‘jelly’ in Ilfracombe organised by Devon County Council and North Devon Council. It was run by a sub-contractor to the councils, which was also dispensing free business advice to the chagrin of North Devon businesses who provide advice commercially.
After completing a questionnaire on ‘work hubs’, next I received an email from the company addressed to me as a ‘valued customer’. I had been given to understand that I was completing a survey for the councils, not adding my data to a company’s client marketing list. I was surprised that organisations funded by public money to advise businesses on how to operate could make such a fundamental mistake.
I took this up with the company, who admitted the mistake, and with Devon County Council, asking questions about how it selected its suppliers and how it ensured they complied with data protection legislation.
Many emails were exchanged and I was not satisfied with the council’s confused replies that even though data had been “held in a central contact database . . . in the interest of providing security” the marketing emails were still able to have been sent accidentally “owing to a simple administrative error”.
Exasperated, I passed the details to the Information Commissioners’ Office.
Last Saturday I received a five-page letter from the ICO stating that the “Council have acknowledged in their response . . . that it is likely that they have breached the Data Protection Act on this occasion and have informed us that they have apologised to you for this breach.”
The ICO continued: “On the basis of all the information provided by you and Devon County Council we have decided that it is unlikely that the Council has complied with the requirements of the DPA in this case.”
The supplier and Devon County Council did indeed apologise to me, but I am still concerned about how this breach was possible, about Devon County Council’s competence in selecting suppliers and about its apparent lax attitude to data security. To me, this demonstrates how little councils understand about how businesses operate.
I pursued this matter because I believe councils need to understand how things work in the real world of business, but it has wasted time – mine, the council’s, the ICO’s – which could have been spent more constructively.
And now Devon County Council and North Devon Council are to hold a further jelly in Barnstaple. Promoting the event, Devon County Council’s cabinet member for Economy and Enterprise, Will Mumford, suggests that the councils know more about the commercial world than do businesses: “Whilst there are many advantages of being based at home, it can be a very isolating experience. Co-working means meeting up with like-minded people to work together in a different environment, to exchange help and advice, to collaborate, and potentially create new business.”
Having run a business from home for 17 years and exchanged expertise and experience with others at networking events and though online networking for many years before jellies were invented, I despair.
I would like to invite Will Mumford and those council officers dealing with the economy to attend one of the many networking events held in North Devon or to debate with businesses online and learn from us. They are conspicuous by their absence from the business community, so how do they know what we do?
I believe it is crucial for North Devon businesses that our councils understand us so that they can provide relevant support rather than patronise us. It could even help councils to operate in a more business-like and efficient manner while keeping within the law. If it helps build a stronger economy, then that must be better for everyone.
What do you think?
