Council meetings and their papers

1. Who the rules cover

The main rules are in Part VA of the Local Government Act 1972.^[1] They apply to principal councils (county, district and London borough councils) and to their committees and sub-committees.^[2] They also apply to a number of other bodies, including combined authorities, combined county authorities, fire and rescue authorities, National Park authorities and Transport for London.^[3]

Cabinet and other executive decisions follow separate regulations, covered in section 6. Parish councils and parish meetings follow the Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960, which this guide does not cover in detail.^[4]

2. Meetings held in public

A meeting of a principal council is open to the public.^[5]Public notice of its time and place must be posted at the council's offices at least five clear days before the meeting, or when it is called if it is called at shorter notice.^[5]

The public must be excluded from an item if confidential information would otherwise be disclosed. Confidential information means information given by a government department on terms that forbid its disclosure, or information whose disclosure is prohibited by law or by a court order.^[5]

The council may also resolve to exclude the public from an item where exempt information would otherwise be disclosed. The resolution must identify the part of the meeting it covers and state which description of exempt information applies.^[5]

3. Agendas and reports

Copies of the agenda and of the reports for the meeting must be open to public inspection at the council's offices at least five clear days before the meeting. If the meeting is called at shorter notice, they must be open from when it is called, and an item added later must be open from when it is added.^[6]

An item may be considered only if it was on an agenda open to inspection for that period, or if the chair decides it should be considered as a matter of urgency because of special circumstances, which must be specified in the minutes.^[6]

Reports for items likely to be taken in private may be withheld. They must be marked “Not for publication” and state the description of exempt information that applies. A reasonable number of copies of the agenda and the open reports must be available to the public at the meeting.^[6]

4. Items taken in private

Exempt information in England is defined in Schedule 12A to the 1972 Act. There are seven descriptions:^[7]

1. Information relating to any individual.
2. Information likely to reveal the identity of an individual.
3. Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person, including the council.
4. Information about consultations or negotiations on a labour relations matter between the council and its employees or office holders.
5. Information covered by legal professional privilege.
6. Information revealing that the council proposes to give a notice imposing requirements on a person, or to make an order or direction, under an enactment.
7. Information about action taken or to be taken to prevent, investigate or prosecute crime.

Information in these descriptions is exempt only for as long as, in all the circumstances, the public interest in keeping it exempt outweighs the public interest in disclosing it. Financial or business information that must be registered under the Companies Acts, the Charities Act 2011 and certain other Acts is not exempt.^[7]

5. After the meeting

The minutes, the agenda and the reports for the open part of the meeting must be open to inspection for six years from the date of the meeting. Where exempt information is left out of the minutes and they no longer give a reasonably fair and coherent record, a written summary must be provided.^[8]

Each report must list its background papers: the unpublished documents it relied on to a material extent. At least one copy of each must be open to inspection for four years from the date of the meeting.^[9]

6. Cabinet and executive decisions

Councils with a leader and cabinet, or an elected mayor, make many decisions through their executive. These follow the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012.^[10] Executive meetings are held in public, with the same grounds for excluding the public for confidential or exempt items.^[11]The agenda and reports must be available at the council's offices and on its website at least five clear days before the meeting.^[12]

Key decisions

A key decision is an executive decision likely to result in spending or savings that are significant for the service or function concerned, or to be significant in its effects on communities living or working in two or more wards or electoral divisions.^[13]

A key decision must not be made until a notice has been available at the council's offices and on its website for at least 28 clear days. The notice states the matter, who will decide it, when, and the documents to be considered.^[14]

If that is impracticable, the decision may be made after the chair of the relevant overview and scrutiny committee has been told in writing, the notice has been published and five clear days have passed.^[15] If even that is impracticable, the decision needs the agreement of the scrutiny chair (or, failing that, the chair or vice-chair of the council) that it is urgent and cannot reasonably be deferred. In both cases a notice of the reasons must be published.^[16]

Private executive meetings

At least 28 clear days before an executive meeting held wholly or partly in private, the council must publish a notice of its intention and the reasons. At least five clear days before, it must publish a further notice with the reasons, any representations received about why the meeting should be open, and its response.^[17]

Decision records

After each executive decision, a written statement must be produced as soon as reasonably practicable. It records the decision and its date, the reasons, any alternative options considered and rejected, any conflict of interest declared, and any dispensation granted.^[18][19] Decision records and reports must be kept available for at least six years, and background papers for at least four.^[20]

7. Filming and reporting meetings

Since 2014, anyone attending a meeting that is open to the public must be allowed to report on it. Reporting includes filming, photographing and making an audio recording, and written or oral commentary shared with people who are not present, at the time or later, including online. A council does not have to allow live spoken commentary in the room.^[21][5]

8. Decisions made by officers

Many decisions are delegated to council officers. Under the Openness of Local Government Bodies Regulations 2014, an officer must make a written record of a delegated decision where the delegation was specific, or where the decision grants a permission or licence, affects the rights of an individual, or awards a contract or incurs spending that materially affects the council's finances.^[22]

The record gives the date, the decision and the reasons, and any alternative options considered and rejected. For a specifically delegated decision it also names any member who declared a conflict of interest. It must be made available at the council's offices and on its website, and kept available for six years. Background papers are kept for four years.^[22][23]

9. How SIBA uses these records

SIBA reads the agendas, reports, minutes and decision records councils publish, and compares how many meetings councils hold, how far ahead their papers appear and how often items are taken in private, against these rules and against similar councils. The methodology sets out how comparisons are made.