When do you send out minutes and to whom?

Question

As well as full Council we have 4 committees, all of which meet monthly. Nobody, including the Council Chair and Chairs of the committees gets the draft minutes until the agenda is sent out for the next meeting.

This means councillors are being asked to agree minutes are accurate for meetings that happened a month ago.  Is there any reason why they cannot be sent as soon as done? If only to the Chairs, but I see no reason why other attendees shouldn't get them.  I asked the Clerk to do this. She agreed that there is no legislation regarding this but said she needed to 'take advice'. I'm not a youngster and have a large workload, I  happily admit my memory is not what it was and there are probably other councillors the same.

Answer 1

The Transparency Code for Smaller Authorities (England) specifies that draft minutes are to be issued within a month of the meeting, but most clerks send them to everybody as soon as they are done. Some chairs insist upon reviewing them before they are issued, but this is not good practice. The time for considering their accuracy is at the following meeting.

I send them to all members, to our district and county councillors and, as a courtesy, to members of the public who attended the meeting, where they have provided an email address.

Comments

Thank you DtC. I am not trying to get councillors to comment on their accuracy prior to the next meeting, which is indeed the correct place for that to be done. I just want them to receive them a bit sooner, will the details of the meeting are still fresh in their mind. They can them make a note of anything they think inaccurate in readiness for that meeting. Your comment that most clerks send them out as soon as they are done reassures me that I am not asking for anything out of the ordinary. It's just unfortunate that our clerk is not very co-operative.

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I use a system of portfolio responsibilities, so the minutes will often include the council's authority for a councillor to undertake a specific action on behalf of the council. Not the big stuff, which will always be my responsibility as clerk, but things like talking to a group of residents about their concerns or about our plans that might have a bearing on them in the future, or drawing up a detailed proposal for consideration at the next meeting etc. The draft minutes serve as a useful reminder to them of what they were asked to do.

Answer 2

Yes, I broached this issue recently at our Parish mainly because age is catching up (soon to be a sprightly 60) but also I have a busy day job plus I'm elected as a Borough Councillor

So remembering every decision and every meeting is impossible.

At the Borough we will always have a set of completed minutes for every meeting not drafts and we agree at the beginning are they a true record. Councillors will agree and amendment / Correction or omission if required.

Answer 3

I try to send draft minutes out within a week of the meeting to all members and post them on our website but I agree with dtc that the place to correct them is at the next meeting.  The minutes are the clerks interpretation of what went on at the meeting and the decisions made.  With a clear agenda, and written reports for any decisions needing to be made,  there should be no need for any tinkering with the draft minutes by members before they are released.

Comments

...and we could all write a book about the tinkerers!

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My comment above to DtC does clarify that I am indeed not trying to get councillors to start sending in comments about accuracy prior to the next meeting. We can do without tinkering!
Thank you for your reply.

Answer 4

I post the draft minutes within a couple of days on our website.  It is up to the councillors to access them there if they want to see them in advance.  I don't as a rule send them to the councillors directly as then they tend to comment and want to make corrections and as previously said, that should happen at the next meeting.

Comments

Thank you for your reply. I find this a very acceptable alternative to sending them out to councillors. I find it totally unfair that councillors are asked to confirm the accuracy of the minutes when they don't have access to them until almost a month later!

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Councillors who look at their own council's website? What a novel concept!

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Ah DtC, I didn't say they LOOKED, just that it saves me the hassle of 'reply to all' emails about I said this and he said that... :-)

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We love to moan about 'em, but in 50 years time our parish councils will be run by a generation of kids who were home-schooled by alcoholics!

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My Council is firmly of the opinion minutes shouldn’t be circulated to Councillors until just before the next meeting and the public some considerable time after that
I prefer to call our minutes edited highlights especially after by mistake  two contradictory sets were published for the same meeting so you could see how an original set had been prepared and then edited
Yet a neighbouring one publishes draft minutes within 5 days

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As someone previously stated - Transparency above all else - I issue the minutes to all Councillors with in 5 days (especially with working from home at the moment) . Website as well - after all they are all DRAFT until approved at the next meeting.

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If you record the meeting ( and these days that’s quite easy ) all you need to do is list the resolutions made which would save an enormous amount of time and trouble
For example what do you think Handforths minutes could capture exactly what happened if it wasn’t recorded !