Minutes:
The Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006 (the 2006 Order) came into force on 1st March, 2006. It had the effect of amending Part 5A relating to the admission of meetings and substituting a new Schedule 12A concerning access to information to the Local Government Act 1972.
The new Schedule 12A set out simpler and clearer descriptions of exempt information and introduced a new public interest test which provided that information should be exempt if and so long as in all the circumstances of the case the public interest in maintaining the exemptions outweighed the public interest in disclosing that information.
As a consequence of the 2006 Order, the Relevant Authorities (Standards Committee) (Amendment) Regulations 2006 amended the 2001 Regulations to take into account the new Schedule 12A and to add to the Schedule three new categories namely:-
7A Information which is subject to any obligation of confidentiality.
7B Information which relates in any way to matters concerning national security.
7C The deliberations of a standards committee or of a sub-committee of a standards committee established under the provisions of Part 3 of the Local Government Act 2000 in reaching any finding on a matter referred under the provisions of Section 60(2) or (3), 64(2), 70(4) or (5) or 71(2) of that Act.
The current Standards Board for England guidance for Standards Committee determinations has been written prior to the 2006 Order coming into force. The Board had reviewed the guidance in light of the above changes and considered that the substance did not need to be altered. It had indicated that it would incorporate the amendments when it produced guidance on the revised Code of Conduct.
Resolved - That the report now submitted be noted.