Agenda and draft minutes

43.1     The Lead Member approved as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 5 December 2025.

Disclosure by all Members present of personal interests in matters on the agenda, the nature of any interest and whether the Members regard the interest as prejudicial under the terms of the Code of Conduct

44.1     There were none.

Notification of any items which the Lead Member considers urgent and proposes to take at the appropriate part of the agenda.

45.1     There were none.

46.1     Reports referred to in the minutes below are contained in the minute book.

Report by the Chief Operating Officer.

47.1     The Lead Member considered a report by the Chief Operating Officer.

DECISIONS

47.2     The Lead Member RESOLVED to:

1) Note the findings and conclusions of the Orbis Service Reviews;

2) Agree that consultation with staff on the proposals from the reviews commences; and

3) Note that a further report to receive the results from the staff consultation will be presented to the Lead Member once the consultation has completed.

REASON

47.3     The reviews of the Orbis IT & Digital, Procurement and Internal Audit functions concluded that given the significant changes to the operating context, the current models no longer meet the current and emerging requirements of the Council (including known and potential future changes due to local government reorganisation).

Report by the Chief Operating Officer.

48.1     The Lead Member considered a report by the Chief Operating Officer.

48.2     It was agreed to include language within the policy at Appendix 1 of the report to reference the environmental impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI), reflecting East Sussex County Council’s climate commitments.

48.3     It was agreed to add the words ‘business data that is not in the public domain’ to the following sentence within the Publicly available AI services section of the policy at Appendix 1 of the report: ‘You must not input business data into publicly available AI services.’

DECISIONS

48.4     The Lead Member RESOLVED to:

1) Approve the East Sussex County Council Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy as the Council’s dedicated framework for the use of AI;

2) Note that this policy supersedes the previous approach of relying solely on the Data Protection and Information Security policy for AI governance; and

3) Endorse the annual review of the AI Policy by the Corporate Digital Board to ensure ongoing alignment with technological and regulatory developments.

REASON

48.5     The East Sussex County Council AI Policy provides a robust, future-proof framework for the responsible use of AI. It addresses the limitations of the previous approach and positions the Council to harness the benefits of AI while managing associated risks.