Item 8
HAMWORTHY EAST AND WEST AND POOLE TOWN AREA COMMITTEE
WEDNESDAY 7 NOVEMBER 2007
OPEN FORUM Supplementary
Residents have submitted the following questions.
- Footpath No 13
The following question has been received from Mr K Chick;
After so many years why has a bollard been installed at the head of Footpath No13 Poole Harbour, Branksea Avenue, Hamworthy? What is the purpose of the bollard and at what cost?
Response
To follow, an oral Report will be made to the Meeting. (Question received on 30 October 2007)
- Email to the Council
The following question has been received from Mr F Winwood too late to be included in the Agenda for the Meeting (Question received on 31October 2007);
(1) How confidential are E mails sent to Councillors / Council officers / Council employee's at there .gov.co.uk addresses.
(2) Are there any guidelines covering the use of these sites, If yes could I please have a copy.
Response
(1) Emails sent to Council employees or Councillors via their poole.gov.uk email addresses are secure. Standard practice is to give permission to view a mailbox only to the registered account holder .
Access to the email account is therefore restricted to the account holder only. Whilst in transit (i.e. during the emails transmission to recipients outside of the Council network) there is a small risk that emails could be intercepted and read. However this requires significant technical knowledge and a capacity to 'sniff' a large amount of data leaving the network over an extended period of time.
However, several human factors can, very simply, result in a higher risk of information within emails being revealed to a larger audience than was originally intended:
a. User password management. Weak or easy to guess passwords could allow non-authorised users to gain access to your data.
b. The 'email breadcrumb trail'. By default emails that are forwarded or replied too will have the original email text appended to the bottom of the reply/forward. Therefore any subsequent forwards or replies (which may be a wider audience) will include the entire email conversation - users who wish their comments to remain confidential between 2 email parties should ensure this is made clear within the email and request that any further forwards or replies to others omit the original email text.
c. Mailbox permissions. By default the mailbox 'owner' has full control over their mailbox, this includes the ability to setup additional permissions themselves in order to allow people, for example, to view their inbox, sent items or most commonly, their calendar. Therefore incorrectly applied permissions could result in your emails being visible to a larger audience than was originally intended.
d. Email Forwards. It is possible for either the Borough of Poole's email administrators or staff themselves to setup 'rules' that forward/move emails received if they meet certain criteria. This includes the ability to forward emails sent to a poole.gov.uk email address to any external email account. The Borough of Poole can take no responsibility for the security of emails sent to external email accounts.
(2) A copy of the Council’s Policy for the Use of Internet and Email has been provided to Mr Winwood.
- Grass cutting contract
The following question has been received from Mr L Knight (Question received 7November 2007)
‘Is the contractor required to collect litter before cutting the grass’
Response
‘The main collection of litter is the responsibility of ECPS but the contractor is required to remove items of litter before cutting the grass unless there is a particular problem when it is required to consult with ECPS’
Name and telephone number of officer contact
Keith Gordon
Principal Scrutiny Support Officer
01202 633018
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