Different legal bases to exclude the public

Question

There seem to be two legal bases for excluding the public from a parish or town council meeting. One is:

The Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960 Sec 1 (2);

and the other is:

Schedule 12 of the Local Gov Act 1972.

Is there any significant difference between these two in terms of what a council has to do to claim legitimate use of them, or in terms of the challenges open to the public who suspect that confidentiality is being claimed without good reason?

Answer 1

There is no significant difference between the two. The latter is a more explicit version of the former that adds some clarity to the issues that might lead to exclusion (see Schedule 12A Part 1).

The key to using them successfully, as you have suggested, is to restrict their use to matters where it is essential.

Comments

Many thanks DavetheClerk for this answer.