Yes. Schools do have a right to keep some items confidential, but even confidential minutes can be requested under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act. Some FOI requests may be denied if minutes contain personal information.
The law for maintained schools states that governor minutes must be given to any “interested person”. As state schools are publicly-funded this will apply to any member of the public, not just parents.
“The governing body must, as soon as reasonably practicable, make available for inspection by any interested person, a copy of—
(a) the agenda for every meeting;
(b) the signed minutes of every such meeting; and
(c) any report or other paper considered at any such meeting.”
Roles, Procedures and Allowances (England) Regulations 2013
Model articles (June 2021) for academies simply say that minutes shall be given to “persons wishing to inspect them”.
“The trustees shall ensure that a copy of:
a. the agenda for every meeting of the trustees;
b. the draft minutes of every such meeting, if they have been approved by the person acting as chair of that meeting;
c. the signed minutes of every such meeting; and
d. any report, document or other paper considered at any such meeting, are, as soon as is reasonably practicable, made available at [every]/[the] academy to persons wishing to inspect them.”
Model Articles of Association (June 2021)
Are meeting papers public?
Yes, although the board has the right to keep some reports and other supporting papers confidential. As with the minutes though any confidential papers may be requested under freedom of information.
The fact that papers are public documents is shown in the quotes above. Law for maintained schools says that “any report or other paper” considered at the meeting must be made available to the public.
Model articles for academies say that “any report, document or other paper” considered at a meeting must be made available.
Are committee minutes public?
Yes, although the right to make some items confidential still applies.
The law for maintained schools quoted below shows that both committee minutes and committee papers are public documents.
“The committee must, as soon as reasonably practicable, make available for inspection by any interested person a copy of—
(a) the agenda for every committee meeting;
(b) the signed minutes of every such meeting; and
(c) any report or other paper considered at any such meeting.”
Roles, Procedures and Allowances (England) Regulations 2013
In academies any committee minutes are also public documents, including minutes of local governing bodies in a multi-academy trust.
Model articles (June 2021) state that minutes and papers must be made public from “every meeting of the trustees”. The Academy Trust Handbook makes it clear that this includes meetings of any local governing body and committee.
“The trust must make available for public inspection:
– the agenda for every meeting of the trustees, local governing bodies and committees
Academy Trust Handbook
– the approved minutes of each meeting
– any report, document or other paper considered at each meeting.”
Are academy member minutes public?
The Academy Trust Handbook and model articles do not refer to minutes from meetings of academy members, for example the annual general meeting (AGM), so academies are not obliged to make these minutes available.
However, an academy may be happy to supply a copy. I also suspect that if member minutes were requested under freedom of information law they would have to be released (possibly with minor redactions). Information on making an FOI request is given later in this article.
Who should I request minutes from?
The clerk to governors or governance professional will have copies of all minutes and their email address may be listed on the school website in the governors’ section.
If you cannot find contact details for the clerk email the school office and ask for your message to be passed to either the clerk or the chair of governors.
Do governors have to publish minutes online?
There is no legal requirement for schools to publish governing body minutes on their website, but many do as this is the easiest way to make them available. All schools will have a file or book of minutes.
All school minutes must be given out “as soon as is reasonably practicable”. Maintained schools should supply signed copies of minutes once they have been approved by the governing body or committee, but academies can supply both signed copies approved by the governing body/committee and draft copies approved by whoever chaired the relevant meeting.
In practice this will mean minutes will become available to the public within a few weeks to a few months of the date of the meeting, depending on how often the board or committee meets.
Academy model articles from June 2021 allow academies to both approve and sign off minutes of a meeting at either the next meeting or at the same meeting, but I’d like to meet the clerk who can produce a decent set of minutes mere seconds after the meeting has ended!
All schools and academies must also supply a copy of the meeting’s agenda and a copy of any report or paper that was considered at the meeting.
What items can be confidential?
Schools and academies have a right to keep items confidential if they cover one of the following three issues:
- a named staff member or pupil
- a prospective staff member or pupil
- any other matter that “by reason of its nature” the governing body is satisfied should remain confidential.
The last point is is a very open definition that could cover any issue that governors feel should not be in the public domain.
In practice, issues that might need to be confidential could include sensitive discussions around safeguarding, discussion of staff salaries or concerns about a particular staff member, time-sensitive information which will be released to the public at a later date or information which could identify a specific pupil if you were a parent with local knowledge.
The exact wording of the law for maintained schools is shown below.
“The governing body may exclude from any item required to be made available any material relating to—
(a) a named person who works, or who it is proposed should work, at the school;
(b) a named pupil at, or candidate for admission to, the school; or
(c) any other matter that, by reason of its nature, the governing body is satisfied should remain confidential.”
Roles, Procedures and Allowances (England) Regulations 2013
This is the exact wording for academies from the June 2021 model articles.
“There may be excluded from any item required to be made available in pursuance of article 124 [the article that says minutes must be given to persons wishing to inspect them] any material relating to:
a. a named teacher or other person employed, or proposed to be employed, at [any]/[the] academy;
b. a named pupil or named student at, or candidate for admission or referral to, [any]/[the] academy; and
c. any matter which, by reason of its nature, the trustees are satisfied should remain confidential.”
Model Articles of Association (June 2021)
Note that the governor meeting itself is not open to the public or parents. Governors can invite anyone they wish to but there is no automatic right to attend for members of the public. A separate article gives more detail on who can attend governing body meetings.
Should all governors be sent confidential minutes?
They should if they attended that section of the meeting, but there may be some circumstances where it is wise to withhold minutes from governors who had to leave the room due to a conflict of interest or did not attend the meeting at all.
For example, if the board was considering whether to hire a company run by a governor it may not be appropriate for that governor to see the minutes of that portion of the meeting.
Discussions of staff pay would also be in confidential minutes which would not usually be sent to any governors who were school employees (although salary data should still be anonymised).
Another example would be if governors were discussing a pupil who is at risk of exclusion. An exclusion panel may be needed later which will require “untainted”, impartial governors who have not been previously involved in decisions regarding this pupil and can consider the case objectively. In this case you may wish to only send confidential minutes to the governors present at the meeting.
Having said that, there is an argument to be made that all governors should receive all confidential minutes, even when they did not attend that meeting or had to withdraw due to a conflict of interest. They are all collectively responsible for the board’s decisions and the vital point is that they do not vote when they have a conflict, not that they remain ignorant of the result of that vote.
Here’s the view of Kensington and Chelsea LA on sending out confidential minutes.
“All members of the governing body have a right of access to confidential minutes, even if they are not members of the committee responsible for agreeing the confidentiality.
“Any governor who withdrew from the meeting or was not present still has the right to see the minutes of that part of the meeting.”
Kensington and Chelsea Clerk’s Handbook
It is ultimately up to the board to decide who receives confidential minutes. Any disagreement about this should be resolved by the board as a whole, not by individual governors or the clerk.
Can all staff members and parents see confidential minutes?
No. If they are not a governor or trustee themselves then a school employee or parent of a registered pupil has no right to see confidential minutes. However, everyone has the right to submit a freedom of information request which may or may not be successful – see the next question for details.
Can minutes be obtained under freedom of information?
Yes. The public section of school minutes (sometimes called “part one” minutes) must be given out to anyone who asks for them, so a freedom of information request is not needed – just ask the school directly.
For minutes that the school has classified as confidential (sometimes called “part two” minutes) a request can be made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, which does apply to schools because they are public bodies.
The DfE has also confirmed it applies equally to academies: “Academies, by virtue of the Academies Act 2010, are subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000.”
The process for making a request under the freedom of information law is explained here. Schools must respond to the request within 20 school days; this limit does not include school holidays or days when pupils are not present such as INSET days.
Can schools refuse a freedom of information request?
A freedom of information request can only be turned down if:
- it would be too expensive or take up too much staff time
- it is “vexatious”, ie: it is “likely to cause a disproportionate or unjustifiable level of distress, disruption or irritation”
- it is a repeat request from the same person
- it is covered by a specific exemption in the Act.
The first three of these bullet points will not apply to an initial request for confidential governing body minutes.
The most likely exemption that would apply to school minutes would be one relating to the release of personal data, particularly if a pupil or staff member has been named. In this case the school could refuse the request to avoid breaking the Data Protection Act 2018 or the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) provides a guide to when FOI requests can be refused. A complete list of the exemptions is found in part II of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Paragraph 40 of this part contains the details of the “personal information” exemption.
You can also read FOI requests and responses at What Do They Know. If you search for “school governors” a number of FOI requests can be seen for governing body minutes and papers, many of which were successful.
Can papers and reports be requested under freedom of information?
Yes, papers such as the headteacher’s report, budget report or school policies can be obtained under FOI but the same exemptions apply so the school can refuse the request in some circumstances, for example if personal data would be revealed.
Can a subject access request be used to obtain confidential minutes?
Yes, but only if the minute contains personal data or information, which means the person requesting the information must be either named or identifiable in the minutes. As with freedom of information requests there are some circumstances where the request can be denied (known as “exemptions”).
A subject access request (SAR) can be made verbally or in writing. The school must respond within one month unless the request is complex, when they must still acknowledge your request within a month but can take up to two months extra to supply the information.
The Information Commissioner’s Office provides a complete guide to subject access requests.
Can OFSTED request confidential minutes?
Yes. The Education Act 2005, which applies to all maintained schools plus academies as well, says that the chief OFSTED inspector has the right to see and take copies of any records or documents that they consider relevant to their inspection.
“When inspecting a school under section 5 [a full inspection] or 8 [a short inspection], the Chief Inspector has at all reasonable times a right to inspect, and take copies of, any records kept by the school, and any other documents containing information relating to the school, which he considers relevant to the discharge of his functions.”
Education Act 2005, Section 10
Are school budgets and accounts public?
Yes, they should be. Governing bodies could decide to make budget documents confidential but they are spending public money and should be transparent about that spending. If they did label a budget as confidential it could be requested under freedom of information rules.
The only time when it might be reasonable to make budget information confidential is if governors are discussing a sensitive issue such as possible redundancies, where personal data such as salaries could be revealed if not treated as confidential.