Aberdeenshire Council could be fined up to £500,000 if councillors slip up while using their own mobile phones or computers.
Elected officials are bound by a strict code of conduct which makes it clear that the use of council electronics is strictly controlled.
Any personal use must be authorised by the local authority and must only be “incidental”.
And now councillors who bring their own mobile devices to work will have to submit to checks about which websites they have visited and which apps they have installed.
Failure to do so could land the local authority with a fine of £500,000 for breaching information security.
Ritchie Johnson, the council’s chief of business services, has recommended to members of the business committee that they approve a revised code of practice.
“Aberdeenshire Council wants to encourage its elected members to work as efficiently as possible,” he said.
“It provides elected members with the essential technology they need, however it cannot provide elected members with every type of device which might conceivably be useful to them.
“The council recognises that many of its elected members have purchased their own electronic devices for their personal use and that some elected members are willing to use their own device for council purposes.
“However, the council is subject to legal rules and must ensure that access to its data is safeguarded.”
Despite the proposed change in the guidelines, the use of councillors’ smartphones will still be strictly controlled.
Personal devices will not be allowed to connect to any council-owned computer and gaming and pornographic websites will be banned.
Councillors have been warned that in light of “risks to information security, public reputation and overload of limited resources”, the use of local authority computers and smartphones is strictly monitored.
Councillors will consider the proposals when they meet on Thursday.
