FIA council

12. ACCESS TO INFORMATION
12.1 All meetings of the full Council, Cabinet, Scrutiny and the nonexecutive
committees are open to the public unless confidential or
exempt business is being transacted. The Access to Information
Procedure Rules are set in Part 4 of the Constitution and specify the
rights of elected members and members of the public to access
agenda, reports and minutes.
12.2 All elected members have a general right to inspect documents about
the business of the Council, Cabinet and the various committees in
accordance with the Access to Information Procedure Rules and the
prevailing legal framework.
12.3 Any elected member who is not a member of the Cabinet or a
Committee may have access to any documents of that part of the
Council if:
• S/he satisfies the Monitoring Officer that s/he reasonably needs to
see the documents/information to perform his/her duties; and
• The document or information does not contain confidential or
exempt information
This is often referred to as the “need to know” test. The Standards
Committee has previously adopted a procedure for this purpose.
12.4 All Members can expect to have answers to the queries they raise on
behalf of other constituents or about the policies and practices of the
Council, subject to any legal constraints on their rights to access
Council information. Subject to such constraints, when a member
submits a request for information, the officer concerned must respond
within five working days of receipt of the request. In any case where it
is not reasonably practicable to deal with a request within that time
period, the officer concerned must confirm the date by which a
substantive response will be given, provided it is no longer than 10
working days. Where information is requested in respect of a third
party, it will only be provided if:
• If it is in the public domain, and
• Its release would not contravene the Data Protection Act 1998