Question

Draft minutes are an agenda item. Does a Councillor have to declare an interest in them?

Answer 1

Purely by virtue of being a member of the council? No. Minutes are an administrative function.

Comments

Thanks Dave. That's what I thought but maybe i should have clarified that these are minutes of a Committee who resolved to do certain things and as far as I can tell, those actions have been carried out. These draft Committee minutes are being "received" by Council.

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I think I am correct is saying that once a council has resolved on an action, the clerk can action the resolution immediately. There is no need to wait for minutes to be produced, draft or otherwise. This is one problem of keeping draft minutes within a council until signed. The public may find several weeks later that action has been taken that they don't agree with. I think draft minutes should be posted on the council website as soon as possible.

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Thanks Caroline, just to clarify the action in the minutes was resolved by Committee, not Council. And I agree with you that draft minutes should be posted on the Council website as soon as possible. Sadly, not practised by my Council and has been the subject of a question by a member of the public.

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I think that depends on what committee is making the resolution, and what its powers are. If a decision is taken by our finance committee its acted on immediately. The full council will receive those minutes after the finance committee have signed off on these minutes at its next meeting.