Should the minutes of the HR meeting be available to all councillors

Question

The clerk will not show the minutes of HR meetings to councillors unless they are on the HR committee is correct

Answer 1

No
There “may” be some elements of an HR meeting which have been conducted without press and public where elements of discussion might reasonably be classified as confidential and restricted dist
BUT - the minutes should record the decisions rather than the discussion
The DECISIONS cannot be confidential since they need to be implemented - possibly even endorsed by PC
HR minutes cannot be restricted dist  Cllrs and public need to see them  some care must be exercised in the content of those written records but it sounds like your clerk is lacking in applied logic

If there hasn’t been a motion and a majority vote to approve exclusion of press and public then the minutes cannot be restricted.
Use the exemption to exclude press and public is a privilege and a responsibility which must be used carefully.
Just because it is HR does not automatically mean the entire meeting is restricted. Some PARTS may be, I very much doubt it ALL would be.

Answer 2

As Roundagain states, the minutes themselves are a public document that need to be carefully written to confirm the decisions made at the meeting but do not disclose private information that comes under data protection rules.  Something along the lines of "the committee considered the matter relating to the clerk's employment and confirmed what action was to be taken" or similar.  Some clerks create a confidential appendix which would not be sent out to non-HR members to detail the 'action to be taken' especially if it was complex or a long process that would benefit from being written down, say in terms of disciplinary or grievance action.

Answer 3

Yes they should be available to all councillors who are collectively responsible for all of the council's decisions and actions. If any councillors are prevented from seeing the minutes, that collective responsibility would be undermined and IMHO would potentially amount to a breach of Internal control A version of the minutes with appropriate redactions or omissions can be prepared for the .public domain.