NI Audit Office criticises local councils' IT

The reason given by councils for this impasse is that they are waiting for the publication of a new pan-local government ICT strategy, currently being prepared, before making changes. "At the time of these audits this Northern Ireland local government-sponsored strategy had not been applied at local council level," says the NI Audit Office report , published on 23 June 2010. The auditor also found that councils purchased hardware and software without consulting their IT departments to ensure the procurement process fitted in with their IT strategies. Some councils were unable demonstrate that they had make a full assessment of the risks to their IT systems. "It was also apparent on occasions that suitable disaster recovery plans had not been prepared, documented and tested in efforts to minimise the impact of potential disruption of the IT systems," according to the Chief Local Government Auditor, John Buchanan. Findings from IT overview audits, undertaken for 2008-09 accounts, reveal that although all councils took measures to back-up data, some councils needed a more robust back-up regime. "Such regimes provide the secure off-site storage of backup media and incorporate a method of verification to give assurance that the data can be recovered if necessary," the report says. "There should always be a recent backup available at the off site location and back-up media should be encrypted using a recognised encryption method where this is possible," it adds. Regular external testing of computer network vulnerabilities was not evident across all councils, according to the report. Buchanan recommends that staff connecting to council networks remotely should inform management of the reasons for access, particularly when such connections occur outside normal office hours. "Several councils also showed an informal attitude towards the registration and de-registration of users of the council network, the document concludes. This mentality hampers the ability of IT sections "to provide prompt service to new recruits and to remove the privileges of leavers", it adds.