Is there any guidance or rules on recording of Parish Council committee minutes?

Question

Thanks Dave

So clause 7.3 of the 'Openness of Government Regulations act 2014' doesn't apply to your typical Parish Council committee?  Is there any guidance or rules on writing minutes for these sorts of committee meetings?

It seems to me to be at least bad practice to just record the decision as those affected have no access to any written record as why a particular topic was discussed and why any how action was decided upon.    A couple of years down the line and the only record is the decision and what anyone involved's memory of it is.  People move on, forget, etc.

Your comments and further input would be appreciated.

Thanks

Answer 1

We had a Councillor who resigned over just this issue on the grounds that there was no audit trail, apart from myself I doubt if the other Councillors understood the point he was making

 It’s not unreasonable that all information used to make a decision is retained especially as a decision might swing on oral assurances given to questions
I have no problem with minutes being a summary as it saves a lot of time and resources but only if all meetings are recorded and the recordings retained and made freely available via the website

Answer 2

The Transparency Code lists agendas and supporting documentation as public documents. If you look at the agendas and minutes of your district or county council, they probably have lengthy papers setting out all of the issues and options as part of the supporting documentation for the agenda, with one or more recommendations/motions to be debated and voted upon. In a simple scenario, the council votes yes or no in support or against the motion and the minutes would record little more than that fact. Amendments to the motion would be set out in the minutes, with the resulting vote. So it's the agenda and supporting documents that contain the detail, rather than the minutes.

Answer 3

Sadly there are no real requirements to go further than recording who attended, time, date, location apologies for absence, agenda item and decisions etc. I would suggest that If a member makes a statement or gives a view that they want minuted, I would suggest that should be in the minutes!.  If a guest speaker attends and provides a talk with information, some of that information should be included, or there should at least be some mention of where that information can be accessed.  Putting in the bare minimum of content can often lead to unnecessary FOI's .

Comments

Dave you make an interesting point re background papers,  While  my PC provides  the foregoing after the meeting they are "replaced" by the minutes, Is there any requirement to retain background papers.?  Also is there a stipulated retention period for minutes ,

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Yes a minimum of six years, your Parish Council  should have a Freedom of Information policy including a document retention policy