The UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has renewed its call for public authorities to become more transparent by routinely publishing minutes and agendas to meetings. It has published guidance for public authorities on when such minutes and agendas should be published under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), which requires public bodies to adopt a publication scheme committing them routinely to publish certain information (section 19, FOIA). The guidance is intended to help public authorities to decide when they should publish the minutes and agendas of meetings, in keeping with the model publication scheme which the ICO has recently finalised, and which it is encouraging all public authorities to adopt (see Legal update, ICO launches new model publication scheme). Among other things, the guidance indicates that minutes and agendas of public meetings and senior-level policy and strategy meetings, and background documents referred to in the meeting agendas, should as a general rule be published. However, it advises that information does not need to be disclosed in certain cases, such as where the information is exempt under the FOIA or where the minutes relate to meetings which took place more than three years ago.

Source: ICO press release, 31 July 2008.