Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985
Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985
1985 CHAPTER 43
An Act to provide for greater public access to local authority meetings, reports and documents subject to specified confidentiality provisions; to give local authorities duties to publish certain information; and for related purposes.
[16th July 1985]
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
1 Access to meetings and documents of certain authorities,committees and sub-committees.
(1) After section 100 of the Local Government Act 1972 there shall be inserted the following—
‘Part VA
Access to Meetings and Documents of Certain Authorities, Committees and Sub-Committees
100A Admission to meetings of principal councils.
(1) A meeting of a principal council shall be open to the public except to the extent that they are excluded (whether during the whole or part of the proceedings) under subsection (2) below or by resolution under subsection (4) below.
(2) The public shall be excluded from a meeting of a principal council during an item of business whenever it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that, if members of the public were present during that item, confidential information would be disclosed to them in breach of the obligation of confidence; and nothing in this Part shall be taken to authorise or require the disclosure of confidential information in breach of the obligation of confidence.
(3) For the purposes of subsection (2) above, ‘confidential information’ means—
(a ) information furnished to the council by a Government department upon terms (however expressed) which forbid the disclosure of the information to the public; and
(b ) information the disclosure of which to the public is prohibited by or under any enactment or by the order of a court;
and, in either case, the reference to the obligation of confidence is to be construed accordingly.
(4) A principal council may by resolution exclude the public from a meeting during an item of business whenever it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the public were present during that item there would be disclosure to them of exempt information, as defined in section 100I below.
(5) A resolution under subsection (4) above shall—
(a ) identify the proceedings, or the part of the proceedings, to which it applies, and
(b ) state the description, in terms of Schedule 12A to this Act, of the exempt information giving rise to the exclusion of the public,
and where such a resolution is passed this section does not require the meeting to be open to the public during proceedings to which the resolution applies.
(6) The following provisions shall apply in relation to a meeting of a principal council, that is to say—
(a ) public notice of the time and place of the meeting shall be given by posting it at the offices of the council three clear days at least before the meeting or, if the meeting is convened at shorter notice, then at the time it is convened;
(b ) while the meeting is open to the public, the council shall not have power to exclude members of the public from the meeting; and
(c ) while the meeting is open to the public, duly accredited representatives of newspapers attending the meeting for the purpose of reporting the proceedings for those newspapers shall, so far as practicable, be afforded reasonable facilities for taking their report and, unless the meeting is held in premises not belonging to the council or not on the telephone, for telephoning the report at their own expense.
(7) Nothing in this section shall require a principal council to permit the taking of photographs of any proceedings, or the use of any means to enable persons not present to see or hear any proceedings (whether at the time or later), or the making of any oral report on any proceedings as they take place.
(8) This section is without prejudice to any power of exclusion to suppress or prevent disorderly conduct or other misbehaviour at a meeting.
100B Access to agenda and connected reports.
(1) Copies of the agenda for a meeting of a principal council and, subject to subsection (2) below, copies of any report for the meeting shall be open to inspection by members of the public at the offices of the council in accordance with subsection (3) below.
(2) If the proper officer thinks fit, there may be excluded from the copies of reports provided in pursuance of subsection (1) above the whole of any report which, or any part which, relates only to items during which, in his opinion, the meeting is likely not to be open to the public.
(3) Any document which is required by subsection (1) above to be open to inspection shall be so open at least three clear days before the meeting, except that—
(a ) where the meeting is convened at shorter notice, the copies of the agenda and reports shall be open to inspection from the time the meeting is convened, and
(b ) where an item is added to an agenda copies of which are open to inspection by the public, copies of the item (or of the revised agenda), and the copies of any report for the meeting relating to the item, shall be open to inspection from the time the item is added to the agenda;
but nothing in this subsection requires copies of any agenda, item or report to be open to inspection by the public until copies are available to members of the council.
(4) An item of business may not be considered at a meeting of a principal council unless either—
(a ) a copy of the agenda including the item (or a copy of the item) is open to inspection by members of the public in pursuance of subsection (1) above for at least three clear days before the meeting or, where the meeting is convened at shorter notice, from the time the meeting is convened; or
(b ) by reason of special circumstances, which shall be specified in the minutes, the chairman of the meeting is of the opinion that the item should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency.
(5) Where by virtue of subsection (2) above the whole or any part of a report for a meeting is not open to inspection by the public under subsection (1) above—
(a ) every copy of the report or of the part shall be marked ‘Not for publication’; and
(b ) there shall be stated on every copy of the whole or any part of the report the description, in terms of Schedule 12A to this Act, of the exempt information by virtue of which the council are likely to exclude the public during the item to which the report relates.
(6) Where a meeting of a principal council is required by section 100A above to be open to the public during the proceedings or any part of them, there shall be made available for the use of members of the public present at the meeting a reasonable number of copies of the agenda and, subject to subsection (8) below, of the reports for the meeting.
(7) There shall, on request and on payment of postage or other necessary charge for transmission, be supplied for the benefit of any newspaper—
(a ) a copy of the agenda for a meeting of a principal council and, subject to subsection (8) below, a copy of each of the reports for the meeting;
(b ) such further statements or particulars, if any, as are necessary to indicate the nature of the items included in the agenda; and
(c ) if the proper officer thinks fit in the case of any item, copies of any other documents supplied to members of the council in connection with the item.
(8) Subsection (2) above applies in relation to copies of reports provided in pursuance of subsection (6) or (7) above as it applies in relation to copies of reports provided in pursuance of subsection (1) above.
100C Inspection of minutes and other documents after meetings.
(1) After a meeting of a principal council the following documents shall be open to inspection by members of the public at the offices of the council until the expiration of the period of six years beginning with the date of the meeting, namely—
(a ) the minutes, or a copy of the minutes, of the meeting, excluding so much of the minutes of proceedings during which the meeting was not open to the public as discloses exempt information;
(b ) where applicable, a summary under subsection (2) below;
(c ) a copy of the agenda for the meeting; and
(d ) a copy of so much of any report for the meeting as relates to any item during which the meeting was open to the public.
(2) Where, in consequence of the exclusion of parts of the minutes which disclose exempt information, the document open to inspection under subsection (1)(a ) above does not provide members of the public with a reasonably fair and coherent record of the whole or part of the proceedings, the proper officer shall make a written summary of the proceedings or the part, as the case may be, which provides such a record without disclosing the exempt information.
100D Inspection of background papers.
(1) Subject, in the case of section 100C(1), to subsection (2) below, if and so long as copies of the whole or part of a report for a meeting of a principal council are required by section 100B(1) or 100C(1) above to be open to inspection by members of the public—
(a ) copies of a list, compiled by the proper officer, of the background papers for the report or the part of the report, and
(b ) at least one copy of each of the documents included in that list,
shall also be open to their inspection at the offices of the council.
(2) Subsection (1) above does not require a copy of the list, or of any...
To continue reading
Request your trial