Minutes mayhem

YET AGAIN British Waterways has been reminded of the obligation under law to reply promptly to requests under the Freedom of Information Act, (FoI) writes Allan Richards. This time it is over Board minutes rather than maintenance spend.

Openness and  Accountability

Many years ago, in implementing its openness and accountability policy, BW decided that it would publish minutes of its bi-monthly board meetings on its website. BW's policy is explained on its website as 'Board Agendas are published at the time of the Board Meeting, minutes and briefing notes are published after the following Board Meeting'.

New policy

However, early last year BW stopped publishing Board minutes until it was prompted and goaded into doing so by requests for the information it had failed to publish. The outcome was that in June 2009 the  Board decided to publish minutes within a few weeks of a meeting. BW's chief executive, Robin Evans confirmed that this would normally be two to three weeks.

However, whilst the situation is much improved with minutes being published earlier, supporting documentation is still being withheld and BW's policy statement has not been amended.

The request

The FoI request asks for confirmation that the publication policy was altered by the Board at its meeting on 16th July 2009 to provide minutes within 'a few weeks' of the meeting rather than an unspecified time after the following meeting.

It also asks for an explanation as to why the BW website has not been updated to reflect the new policy, and why only briefing notes in the form of the chief executive's report are provided when Board minutes are published rather than all reports. Furthermore, it asks for an explanation as to why sub committee minutes noted at full Board meetings are not published prior to or at the same time as full Board minutes.

Not prompt

BW is required by law to respond promptly to requests for information, and certainly within 20 working days. However, it seems to think it is above the law in this respect.

A month after BW's last Board meeting we are still awaiting publication of the various papers!