The clerk wants to close an HR meeting to to consider quotes for training sessions

Question

The ground staff are going on a training courses the Clark wants to close the meeting to consider quotes because it staff I think the clerk is wrong?and it should not even be on HR?

Answer 1

Depends upon what the terms of reference are for your HR committee but given that there is usually expenditure involved in staff training, I would always expect requests for staff or councillor training to be discussed somewhere, committee or council, where the body has authority to approve the expenditure.  I wouldn't have thought it necessary to close the session for that discussion unless it was likely to get "personal" for some reason.

Comments

When the clerk goes on a training course it’s always on full council just read HR is not authorities to make payments

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Its up to the council not the clerk.  If the council thinks the issue is prejudicial to the public interest (I can't imagine why it would be) then it is at liberty to pass a resolution to exclude the press and public.

The clerk's role is to say why he/she thinks exclusion is necessary.  Its up to the council as to whether to pass the resolution.

Answer 2

It is not uncommon - although it IS entirely inappropriate- for “someone” (clerk or chair or Cllrs or any combination thereof) to expect that any HR meeting is “closed” purely by virtue of it being HR.
Of course there are some HR matters which are properly discussed in closed session but there are probably even more which are not!

Just because it is HR does not qualify automatically as closed session which is often misused.