Agenda item

To consider adopting the following:-

“Under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, to exclude the press and public from the meeting during the discussion on the following item on the grounds that it may involve the disclosure of exempt information as defined in Schedule 12A of the said Act and in the attached Public Interest Test”.

The Committee considered adopting the following provision:

“Under Section 100 (A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, to exclude the press and public from the meeting during the discussion on the following item on the grounds that it may involve the disclosure of exempt information as defined in Schedule 12A of the said Act and in the Public Interest Test presented.”

The Head of Function (Council Business)/Monitoring Officer advised that the discretion whether or not to exclude the press and public from the meeting during the discussion on the initial 2018/19 Budget proposals is a matter for the Committee. The report on the initial Budget proposals has not yet been published and it is recommended by Officers that it is not published for the purpose of this meeting of the Committee nor should the discussion on the matter take place in public at this point. The Officer said that in applying the Public Interest Test, there are two elements to be considered, namely –

•           Whether the contents of the report contains any statutory grounds on which there should be an exclusion. As the Public Interest Test indicates there are two statutory grounds on which the Committee can consider whether or not to exclude the press and public in this instance, viz. statutory ground 15 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 which means the report contains information which refers to employment matters which could result in consultations or negotiations or contemplated negotiations or consultations regarding labour relation matters, and statutory ground 13 which refers to information within the report which is likely to reveal the identity of an individual. The report refers to discussions which may have an impact on two groups of individual staff members if the Council was to go ahead with the proposals. The groups are relatively small and are therefore identifiable and hence fall into category 13. Should the Full Council take forward the recommendations in the report then there would have to be consultation/

negotiation with the two affected groups of staff.

•           The public interest in disclosing the information bearing in mind the two factors above. The final decision will need to be discussed with staff before the proposal is published for discussion. At this stage the proposals are consultative only and those relating to staff may not be part of the proposed proposals. It therefore follows that individual groups of staff should not be put to concern over these proposals unless or until they become an integral feature of the final budget. The budget proposals will be disclosed in due course and by then the individuals concerned will have had an opportunity for consultation. It is important that staff learn of any such proposals from the Council itself and not from the media. Also, Members will be able to explore and discuss the options and proposals in a more free and open way in a closed session than they otherwise would if the public was present.

Having regard to the advice provided above, it was resolved under Section (A) (4) of the Local Government Act 1972 to exclude the press and public for the discussion on item 6 on the agenda on the grounds that it involves the disclosure of exempt information as defined in Schedule 12A to the said Act and in the Public Interest Test as submitted.