FOI requests and in camera minutes

Question

A former parish councillor put in an foi request for meeting minutes mentioning his name even after he resigned. Should the clerk also send him copies of in camera minutes

Answer 1

There is no such thing as in camera minutes.  A local council must keep minutes of all its decisions (whether or not members of the public are present) and they must be approved at that meeting or the next. Any citizen is entitled to inspect council minutes and make copies if desired.  This is a statutory right and does not require invocation of the Freedom of Information legislation.

Supporting documents do not have to be published, although in many cases it is desirable that they should be.

Answer 2

When a council resolves to go into closed session pursuant to Section 1(2) of the Public Bodies (Admissions to Meetings) Act 1960, the press and public are excluded from the meeting.  Usually this happens when the council discusses a sensitive issue such as considering tenders or perhaps the health of a councillor.  Therefore minutes of the meeting held "in Camera" or closed session are not public documents, even if a FOI request has been made, there is no automatic right for a member of the public to see them.

Sometimes a council may decide it is right to release the minutes but this can only be done by resolution of the whole council.

Comments

This is incorrect. Every decision of a council must be minuted, and citizens have a statutory right to inspect all minutes. There is no exception for meetings where the public has been excluded. It is undesirable for tenders to be considered with the public excluded, since the reasons for choosing a tender should be transparent. Details of the discussion do not need to be part of the minutes, and generally should not be.