Decision details

The Vice-Chairman of the Constitution Working Group, Cllr J H Whitehouse, presented a report on the review of Article 17 – Access to Information – within the Constitution.

The Council noted that the Key Decision List had recently been restyled and for reasons of public transparency it had been decided that it should be referred to in the Constitution as the Forward Plan, rather than the Key Decision List. Currently both names were used which might cause confusion as to whether the Forward Plan was the same document as the Key Decision List. In addition, it was previously a legal requirement to publish the Forward Plan at least 14 days prior to its start date; however, this stipulation was removed by the Access to Information Regulation enacted in 2016.

Cllr J H Whitehouse also highlighted that, in revising this Article, it was noticed that it contained references to practices that the Council had long since ceased to do. These included placing a hard copy of the agenda in the Welcome Area, referring to the Section 151 Officer as the Chief Financial Officer and the posting of notices at the Civic Offices. Therefore, it was recommended by the Constitution Working Group that the updated version of Article 17 be approved for inclusion in the Constitution.

            Resolved:

            (1)        That the updated version of Article 17 – Access to Information – be            approved for inclusion in the Constitution.