Signing up for local council online services in Dorset could result in your information being shared by almost 80 other organisations.

All of the local councils, as well as emergency services and local hospitals, have agreed to information sharing through the Dorset Information Sharing Charter (DISC).

Some housing associations and schools as well as ‘third party’ organisations who do work for the authorities have also signed the agreement.

On Tuesday West Dorset District councillors backed continuing involvement with the scheme at their strategy committee – asking the full council to delegate officers to conclude the arrangements.

Cllr Peter Barrowcliff said although the agreement had a new name it was, essentially, the same agreement the authority had signed up to in 2008.

“It is not giving the green light to sharing information all the time but it sets up the processes and procedures to share information in compliance with the new digital laws,” he said.

Mr Barrowcliff said that with the work currently underway in preparation for one unitary council in rural Dorset, information sharing would ‘oil the wheels’ of the process heading towards the April 2019 change.

He said that using modern technology resulted in savings for the councils which, in turn, allowed them to operate customer services teams to deal one-to-one with callers who were unable, or did not want to use the internet.

Said Cabinet member Cllr Tim Yarker: “This is absolutely critical going forward. It’s how our residents like to do business now…it is a very important enabling tool for what we want to achieve.”

The committee heard that 96 per cent of West Dorset councillors were no longer using paper agendas and committee minutes while 70 per cent of staff had an internet enabled device for work purposes.