Lapses in Havering Council’s management of CCTV operations were highlighted in an audit report.

It said the council had no central list of places where the CCTVs were installed in the borough. It raised concerns over council’s compliance with regulatory requirements like GDPR.

The report was presented by audit manager Maria Denton before council members at the meeting held on April 18.

Initial enquiries by auditors revealed that there was no “central ownership/responsibility for managing council-wide CCTV activities”.

A Data Protection Impact Assessment (DIPA) is mandatory to ensure “rights and freedoms” of people when surveillance equipment like CCTV is installed. The auditors identified eight services where a CCTV was managed by council, and out of these the assessment was said to have been done only in three cases.

The service managers for other five, the report said, were either unaware of DIPA or confirmed that it was not carried out.

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The report added that council could be fined by the Information Commissioning Office (ICO) for this non-compliance.

It said: “The lack of ownership has resulted in there being no standard approach to the use of CCTV.

"Internal Audit were unable to locate any guidance to staff which outlines requirements in relation to the use of CCTV, including the need for a DPIA to be completed”.

Cllr Jane Keane, who represents St Albans ward, told the meeting that she was “shocked” at these lapses. She said: “I am really horrified given the importance of the CCTV system to the members of the public and the businesses that rely on the council to have a good CCTV system”.

The report made recommendations to address the issues like collating a central record of CCTV currently in place across the organisation.

It said council staff, should be made aware of their responsibilities in terms of GDPR compliance. Ms Denton assured the meeting that the management had agreed to comply with their recommendations by June this year.

She said: “We are confident that the action place and timescales are adequate for that”.

But Cllr Keane questioned how the problems were only highlighted recently: “I recognise that audit has played an important part in making things better but I think I am really concerned that it was allowed to be like that in the past.”