Directorate Service Person responsible for the assessment: Date assessment completed: Children s Services NetLinc Darren Pepper 16/10/2006 Title of the policy being assessed The status of the policy 1.) What are the aims, objectives and purpose of the policy? 2.) Does the policy support other objectives of the Council? 3.) Who is intended to benefit from the policy, and in what way? 4.) What outcomes are anticipated from the policy being in place? NETLinc e-mail filtering Policy Existing To provide a framework for the protection of pupils (duty of care) & employees (duty of care) from malicious / inappropriate / offensive email. To provide a Framework for email to be monitored for service improvement and support reasons. To ensure compliance with relevant employment law; The Every Child Matters Agenda (Child Safety); UK Human Rights Act and The Regulatory Investigative Powers Act. To improve efficiency of staff and systems by removing spam All staff, pupils and LCC as an organisation Safe email use Litigation against LCC Minimal disruption to legitimate email Transparency of process
5.) Who are the main stakeholders of this policy? Community Staff Partners Schools (as a legal body), LCC Implemented by pupils and contractors Contractors (HBS/Ramesys) 6.) Are there any concerns regard to race and ethnicity? 7.) Are there any concerns regard to gender? 8.) Are there any concerns regard to disability? Filtering of non English e-mail is a concern. Worst Swear words for common languages for Lincolnshire populace have been added to filters. Release of legitimate non English mail is a concern if translation services are not available Personal Message Management interface is only WAI level 1 compliant.however alternate mechanisms are available.
9.) Are there any concerns regard to age? 10.) Are there any concerns regard to religion/belief? 11.) Are there any concerns regard to sexual orientation? See item 6 The master word list requires careful monitoring so as to remove phrases around sexual orientation that may be filtered in the US but must not be filtered in the UK. NB offensive terms around sexual orientations will still be filtered. - Similar experiences have arisen in US based web filtering products that block any content regarding sexual orientation.
12.) Could the negative impact you have identified in questions 6-11 lead to the potential for adverse impact if the policy is implemented? Can this adverse impact be justified on the grounds of promoting equality of opportunity for one group? Or any other reason? The application of the policy to mail written in languages other than English is a concern. Reasonable efforts are taken to apply the policy across all users, steps to adjust process are documented, reasonable technological steps and processes are in place to deal with any increase of non English email There is a balance between usability for the end user and protection Can the impact be mitigated by existing means? If yes, what actions will you undertake to mitigate these impacts and revise the policy? 13.) As a result of your assessment, and any actions undertaken, should the policy proceed to a partial impact assessment? If yes, the date of completion for the partial assessment
Has this assessment been undertaken by a minimum of two staff? Has this assessment been scrutinised by your Directorate Steering Group? If the policy is new, or requires a decision by Councillors to revise, has this Equality Impact Assessment been included with the report? N/A Have any actions identified in this assessment been included in your service equality and diversity action plan? N/A Completed by: Darren Pepper Signed off by: Bertold Weidmann