Can a chairman send a Confidential Addendum when the clerk has not minuted the correct details of a committee meeting?

Question

After a Committee meeting the Clerk did not correctly minute the details of a discussion concerning an employee's possible verbal warning because he did not complete tasks to an acceptable standard. At the committee meeting there were no members of the public present and the Clerk participated in the discussion..

It has been minuted by Personnel committee that the employee should not have been discussed at a public meeting and that the chairman should not have sent an addendum to the minutes - even though the addendum was used by the Clerk to aid discussion during a Full Council meeting to inform other Councillors of the situation. I have asked which Laws, Policy or Standing Order have been broken, but to no avail.

I would appreciate some advise with this situation please and yes, I am the chairman.

Answer 1

If the minutes were not correct, they should have been amended before being signed as the permanent record of the proceedings. There is no process by which the Chairman may add a confidential addendum to the minutes. If the Chairman believes that the minutes are incorrect, but the other members do not agree, there is a process set out in standing orders for the Chairman to sign the minutes, but record the reason for disputing their accuracy.

Which committee held the initial discussion? You should have a policy for dealing with staffing matters of this type and that policy must be followed at all times. A good policy will clarify the roles of individuals, committees and the Council at every stage of the process.

As an aside, when discussing confidential matters, it is important that the procedure for excluding the press and public is followed, even if nobody is present. If you haven't passed a resolution to exclude and somebody walks in, you have no right to ask them to leave. Technically, anything discussed at a meeting without passing an exclusion motion should be included in the public minutes of the meeting.

Comments

Thank you so much for your exceptionally speedy answer, I was losing sleep.
No, we do not, to my knowledge, have a policy to deal with this situation. Indeed no-one has ever seen our Disciplinary Policy let alone the finesse of regulations which you are explaining.
There is a strong element of the clerk's friend's protecting her, I try to remain honest, open and follow the Nolan principles and admit to a childish naivety in these matters, where my aim is to have a parish council where every councillor is treated fairly by the set rules and regs.
So by sending my confidential addendum, I have broken no laws, procedures or standing orders. Does the fact that my addendum/minutes were used within a council meeting to explain the personnel situation give it any credence at all?