Allowing Service Users & The general public by Audio or video source to record calls With your Permission or covertly between them and your staff.

The request was successful.

John Jones Researcher

Dear Basildon Borough Council,

This is a survey purely to establish the publics freedom to record privately the organizations policy and advise on the subject

and your employees understanding of the laws in public office and with in business.

Perhaps we could work with you to help develop the model that the rest of the country follows?

Some local authorities have policies that breach criminal law "Service users should understand that Judges are highly unlikely

to accept covert recordings as evidence in court." is clearly wrong and there are many cases of judges ruling the opposite, though

the normal protocol would be that a recording is transcribed and if there is dispute a copy of the recording provided.

Heres a general link of the laws involved in the uk.

http://www.freedomtalkradio.co.uk/uk-sur...

1 Do you have any guidance or policy for the public or service users to record calls when they speak to your staff

or call centres Do you Inform Users they can record. If the answer is no what is the reason for this please.

2 What do you do and what is your policy when a serious complaint against a staff member is made when a person complains about wrong doing

and has evidence of foul play in your orginization will you accept covertly or permission based Audio or video evidence in the case.

Do you Fully investigate under public interest laws and take note of any criminal charges.

if the answer is no why not.

3 Are your staff the majority of them who answer public calls or when meeting a member of public are staff aware of the policies

and the laws ref telephone recordings using the relevant laws laid down by legistlation. if the answer is no why not.

4 If you have no policy advice or framework for the above will you develop a policy etc.

Will you encourage the public to record a 2 way conversation if the answer is no why not.

5 What are your orginizations views on charging the public in foi requests and data protection and subject access requests should their

information request be free.

what happens in a situation a benefit claimant or non waged person needs information what do you do to help them or someone who has no spare income.

is it fair if the public record you then they should charge you for a copy of the recording or video the same fee you charge them.
Any tips and comments will help the public understand the uks public servants and business policies ref this subject.

I have looked for 4 weeks and cannot find this information in the public domain or the www please do point me to your policies

regarding the above.

you are welcome to messsage me from the above link should you want to be a whistleblower or have issues with publishing any of this content

and of course we can leave you as a anonmous reply should you wish but remember the principles of being in public office.

The Public need to record all calls too many lies now its time for honesty.

Your comments please

Yours faithfully,

John Jones Researcher

Basildon Council, Email Notification, Basildon Borough Council

This email is an acknowledgement of your Legal Information
Support Request submitted on 02/10/2018. A notification will be sent to
your email address by 30/10/2018 to inform you of the outcome.

To save you time in the future, why not Do it Online. You can now use our
[1]online form to let us know of future Legal Information Support
requests.

Thank you

This message does not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, policies or
procedures of Basildon Borough Council or its partners and does not give
rise to any contract, undertaking or agreement. eMail is not a secure form
of communication. Every effort has been made to ensure that this message
has been correctly addressed. It and any associated file(s) may contain
private or confidential information or details intended only for the
sender and the intended recipient. If this message is received by anyone
other than the intended recipient please delete the message and any
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If you would like to find out more about how Basildon Borough Council use
your personal data please go to www.basildon.gov.uk/privacy

References

Visible links
1. https://www5.basildon.gov.uk/report/Lega...

Basildon Council, Email Notification, Basildon Borough Council

Dear Mr J Jones

I refer to your Freedom of Information request submitted on 02/10/2018.  I
have detailed below your request and the Council’s response to your
request:

1  Do you have any guidance or policy for the public or service users to
record calls when they speak to your staff or call centres Do you Inform
Users they can record.  If the answer is no what is the reason for this
please.

No.  We record calls ourselves so  do not see the requirement to create a
policy on the matter or provide guidance for the public. We have no issues
with customers recording the call if they so wish.

 2 What do you do and what is your policy when a serious complaint against
a staff member is made when a person complains about wrong doing and has
evidence of foul play in your orginization will you accept covertly or
permission based Audio or video evidence in the case.

 The confidentiality of the customer and those persons mentioned (whether
staff or others) should be appropriately protected  Complaints, Comments
and Compliments Policy (5.8)

 Any complaints regarding staff are investigated by their line manager,
with all appropriate action is taken (including reporting to the police
liaising with the police were applicable) to establish what happened as
part of correlating any response. Due to numerous scenarios this part of
the process is not defined, but confidentiality is essential as per our
principles Complaints, Comments and Compliments Policy (5.8)

Do you Fully investigate under public interest laws and take note of any
criminal charges. Yes

 if the answer is no why not.

 3 Are your staff the majority of them who answer public calls or when
meeting a member of public are staff aware of the policies and the laws
ref telephone recordings using the relevant laws laid down by
legistlation.  if the answer is no why not.

Yes training is provided with regular activities undertaken to ensure
awareness.

4 If you have no policy advice or framework for the above will you develop
a policy etc.

N/A

Will you encourage the public to record a 2 way conversation if the answer
is no why not. No. 

It is entirely up to the customer if they wish to record calls, we remain
neutral on the subject, we would not look to discourage customers to
record calls but we have no plans to promote the practice as it is their
choice.

 5 What are your orginizations views on charging the public in foi
requests and data protection and subject access requests should their
information request be free.

Basildon Borough Council have never charged for Freedom of Information
requests and have no plans to implement any charge in the foreseeable
future. Subject Access Requests previously attracted a token fee of £10
which was set by the Information Commissioners Office and in no way
covered the administrative cost of supplying copies of personal data. In
line with the GDPR which came into effect in May 2018, we, like all other
organisations who process personal data, no longer charge any fee at all.

  

what happens in a situation a benefit claimant or non waged person needs
information what do you do to help them or someone who has no spare
income.is it fair if the public record you then they should  charge you
for a copy of the recording or video the same fee you charge them.

N/A – see above

Any tips and comments will help the public understand the uks public
servants and business policies ref this subject.

 I have looked for 4 weeks and cannot find this information in the public
domain or the www please do point me to your policies regarding the above.

 For your reference;

* Freedom of information;
[1]http://www.basildon.gov.uk/article/1960/...

* Complaints Policy / Procedure;
[2]http://www.basildon.gov.uk/complaints

* Privacy Notices; [3]http://www.basildon.gov.uk/privacy

*  Charging Policy;
http://www.basildon.gov.uk/article/2660/...

 I hope this information is useful.  If you wish to complain about this
response please contact  [4][Basildon Borough Council request email]  

Yours sincerely

Legal Information Support Team

This message does not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, policies or
procedures of Basildon Borough Council or its partners and does not give
rise to any contract, undertaking or agreement. eMail is not a secure form
of communication. Every effort has been made to ensure that this message
has been correctly addressed. It and any associated file(s) may contain
private or confidential information or details intended only for the
sender and the intended recipient. If this message is received by anyone
other than the intended recipient please delete the message and any
associated file(s) and destroy any printed copy. Please notify the sender
by a return e-mail or telephone and make them aware that the message has
been received by someone other than the intended recipient. If the subject
line of this email begins PER: then the email is a personal one and is the
personal responsibility of the sender and not Basildon Borough Council or
its partners.
If you would like to find out more about how Basildon Borough Council use
your personal data please go to www.basildon.gov.uk/privacy

References

Visible links
1. http://www.basildon.gov.uk/article/1960/...
2. http://www.basildon.gov.uk/complaints
3. http://www.basildon.gov.uk/privacy
4. mailto:[Basildon Borough Council request email]