Cardiff University committee papers and minutes publication policy

Version Control

For queries on this policy please contact:

Committees (Committees@cardiff.ac.uk)

Purpose and scope

1. This purpose of this policy is to confirm the mechanisms for publishing Committee minutes and papers and the process for doing so.

2. The policy applies to papers and minutes of Council, Senate, their major committees and sub-committees, as set out in Appendix A.

Policy

3. The University promotes transparent ways of working and complies with its obligations to publish information under the Freedom of Information Act 2005.  This policy describes the mechanisms for making decisions and papers available to staff, students and other stakeholders.

4. In addition, the University recognises the need for confidentiality in relation to the University’s commercial and strategic planning, and the need for privacy in relation to information relating to its staff and students.  This policy, therefore, ensures that the privacy needs of these individuals are protected.

Key definitions

5. Corporate Governance Team: this refers to the University Secretary’s Office team. The contact in relation to this policy is Committees@cardiff.ac.uk.

6. Corporate Governance Repository: the Sharepoint site where agendas, non-classified papers and publishable copies of minutes from Council, Senate and Audit and Risk Committee meetings are available to all staff.

7. Minute Taker: the individual responsible for drafting the minutes.

8. Paper author: the individual who has written the paper. In instances of multiple authors, this will be the individual who issues the paper to the Corporate Governance Team.

9. Compliance and Risk Team: refers to the team within the University Secretary’s Office that manages data protection and requests for disclosure of information under Freedom of Information and related legislation.

10. File Copy Minutes: denotes the full set of minutes without any redactions.

11. Publishable Copy: denotes that a set of minutes or a paper has been reviewed and any necessary redactions made, such that it may be made public.

Publication of minutes

12. A Publishable Copy of the minutes of Council, Senate and the Audit and Risk Committee will be routinely published on the university website, in both English and Welsh language digitally accessible versions.  These will be published for the current academic year, along with the three preceding academic years. Minutes will be removed from the website once they fall outside of this timeframe. These minutes will also be available on the Corporate Governance Repository for all years.

Requests for disclosures of Minutes

13. Where the disclosure of minutes that are not routinely published has been requested by a person who:

• is neither a member of that Committee
• nor holds an office to whom the File Copy of the minutes would otherwise be routinely distributed
• nor an Internal or External Auditor

approval for disclosure of the minutes shall be sought from the Chair, and the disclosure shall only be made once the File Copy of the minutes have been confirmed by the Committee. The Secretary shall use this policy to determine if there is a need to create a Publishable Copy and create such a copy. Advice on redactions in these cases may be sought from the Corporate Governance Team or the Chief Operating Officer and University Secretary.

14.In the case of requests for the File Copy of the minutes from a person who:

• is neither a member of that Committee
• nor holds an office to whom the File Copy of the minutes would otherwise be routinely distributed
• nor an Internal or External Auditor

and where the requestor is not satisfied with a Publishable Copy, the request should be dealt with by the Secretary to the Committee in accordance with the Release of Papers on Request set out in paragraphs 32-36 below.

Process for producing a publishable copy

15. For those Committees whose minutes will be published proactively (paragraph 12) the minute taker will produce both the File Copy minutes and the Publishable Copy minutes of the meeting.  For other minutes, the Secretary shall be responsible for determining (and producing) a Publishable Copy (paragraph 13).

16. The Corporate Governance Team/Secretary to the Committee will store both the Publishable Copy and the File Copy of the minutes.

17. The University’s Information Classification and Handling Policy form the basis for identifying items which may require redaction.  Appendix B details the relevant classifications and examples of how this may apply to minutes.

18. Sections of minutes referring to discussions on papers classified as Highly Confidential (C1) should be redacted by default. The decision and title should remain in the Publishable Copy of the minutes.

19. Sections of minutes referring to discussions on papers classified as Confidential (C2) should be considered and redacted where considered necessary.

20. If the minute-taker has queries relating to the necessity to redact an item, these should be directed, in the first instance, to the Secretary of the Committee. If further consideration is required, these should be directed to the Chair. Advice may also be sought from Corporate Governance Team or the University Secretary.

21. If a minute requires redaction, this section will be removed from the minutes and [REDACTED] entered in its place.  If part of a section or sentence requires redacting, this should be removed and [PART REDACTED] entered in its place.

Conflicts of interest

22. There may be occasions when minutes shared with Committee members need to be redacted for individual members due to a conflict of interest.

23. If a Committee member has a conflict of interest and is unable to see a section of the minutes due to this conflict, these should be redacted as per paragraph 24.

24. These redacted minutes should be shared with the Secretary and/or Chair to confirm the conflict of interest(s) has been properly managed. The Secretary will ensure that the individual(s) concerned only receives the version of the redacted minutes which specifically account for such conflicts of interest.

25. For Audit and Risk Committee minutes, redaction of minutes should be considered before these are shared with internal and external auditors.

Publication of meeting papers

26. Papers of committee meetings will not be routinely published on the internet or intranet. Requests for disclosure of papers shall be directed to Committees@cardiff.ac.uk in the first instance.

27. Non-classified papers will be made available on the Corporate Governance Repository at the end of each academic year.

Paper classification process

28. Paper classifications follow the categories set out in the Information Classification and Handling Policy:

• Highly Confidential (C1)
• Confidential (C2)
• Non-classified

29. Papers which are classified as Highly Confidential (C1) will have “HC” added after the paper number. Papers which are classified as Confidential (C2) will have “C” added after the paper number.

30. Papers are classified by their authors at point of submission to University Executive Board, or at the point of submission to a Committee. If it is considered a paper may have been incorrectly classified, this will be raised with the paper author in the first instance and resolved with the Secretary and/or Chair as necessary prior to papers being issued.

31. It is the responsibility of every individual handling papers to apply the appropriate handling rules to each category of information, and to seek clarification or advice from a line manager, the Corporate Governance Team or the Compliance and Risk Team ComplianceandRisk@cardiff.ac.uk where they are unsure as to how to classify or handle information.

Release of papers on request

32. Papers categorised as Non-Classified can be released internally or externally on request, subject to redaction of any personal data in external disclosures.

33. When reviewing the release of Confidential Papers internally) to those who are neither a member of the relevant Committee nor holding an office to whom the papers are routinely distributed, consideration must be given as to whether any of the conditions that created confidentiality at the time of classification have since changed e.g. the information is now in the public domain.

34. Confidential Papers may be shared on request internally where the requestor:

• is a member of the Committee that received the paper
• holds an office to whom the paper would otherwise have been routinely distributed
• is an Internal or External Auditor

35. In all other cases Confidential Papers may be shared on request internally, as agreed by the University Secretary who may seek the views of:

• the UEB sponsor (where there is no UEB sponsor, the more senior of the paper author and the paper presenter may be used),
• the Secretary to the Committee and/or the Chair of the Committee

and shall take into consideration any legal and regulatory obligations relating to the disclosure.

36. Confidential Papers will only be released on request externally to the University where required by law e.g. due to a Freedom of Information Act 2000 requirement. Confidential papers can be released to an external requestor if they are a member of the relevant committee or hold an office to whom the papers are routinely distributed (including External Auditors and External Internal Auditors). The request will be managed in accordance with the provisions of the Act and the University’s related procedures, as directed by the Compliance and Risk Team.

Roles and responsibilities

37. The Chief Operating Officer and University Secretary is the University Executive Board Sponsor of this policy. They are responsible for approving the need to develop or substantively amend this policy, and for ensuring that this policy complies with, and is monitored and reviewed in accordance with, the University policy framework.

38. The Corporate Governance Team and the Secretaries of University Committees are responsible for applying the provisions of the policy to their respective committee records and the management of the information covered by this policy. Secretaries of University Committees who are not based within the Corporate Governance Team shall support the Chief Operating Officer and University Secretary and the Corporate Governance team in the implementation of this policy.

39. Any requests for information covered under this policy should be directed to the Corporate Governance Team in the first instance.

Monitoring and review

40. This policy will be kept under review by the Corporate Governance Team.

Related policies and procedures

41. This policy has been created in line with the provisions of the University’s Freedom of Information Publication Scheme and its Ordinances.

42. This policy has been drafted to be consistent with the University’s Information Security Policy and the Information Classification and Handling Policy.  If any conflicts arise with either the Information Security Policy or the Information Classification and Handling Policy, the Information Security Policy and Information Classification and Handling Policy shall take precedence.

43. This policy should be viewed alongside the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, Data Protection legislation, and any associated guidance.

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