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Accounts Commission

Commission meeting guidance

Attending Commission meetings

The Commission welcomes anyone who wishes to attend to observe its meetings.

There is no obligation to attend for the whole duration of a meeting. Meetings can be joined at any time, subject to seating capacity. People wishing to enter or leave the meeting room are asked to do so as quietly as possible, with this in mind they may be asked to wait until a suitable break before leaving.

Those attending Commission meetings should respect the conduct of business and take care not to disrupt proceedings in any way.

Please:

  • Follow all instructions from officials.
  • Keep all bags with you.
  • Switch off mobile phones and pagers or switch to silent mode.
  • Do not eat during the meeting.
  • The following actions are not permitted during the meeting:
    • Communication with Commission members or attempting to influence decision-making.
    • Applause or shouting out.
    • The display of any banners or slogans.

Guidance on determining how business will be considered

Meetings of the Commission are held in public and the Commission is committed to being as open and transparent as possible in the way it conducts its business.

The Commission may decide, under paragraph 16 of its Standing Orders, to hold all or part of a meeting in private. The intention of the Standing Orders is that business will be considered in public, unless there is a specific reason why it would not be appropriate to do so.

The Commission recognises that it is good practice to take a decision to consider business in private as early as possible. If the business likely to be scheduled for a future meeting is clear, it is good practice for the Commission to take a decision at the prior meeting on whether or not to take that future business in private. This will allow proper notice to be given to all interested parties and avoid members of the public turning up to hear an item, only to find the Commission agreeing to take it in private. If a decision has been taken at an earlier meeting, then the agenda item for the business concerned will clearly indicate that the agenda item will be taken 'in private'.

Where it is not possible to decide at a prior meeting whether certain items of business will be taken in private, this will be done at the start of the meeting. Where possible, the order of items on the agenda will be managed in a way that maximises continuous public access rather than alternating public and private items throughout the agenda. The secretary will also be able to advise enquirers where it is thought likely that the Commission may decide to consider business in private.

When the Commission considers any business in private, the minutes will record the nature of the business considered and any decisions reached during the private as well as the public items.

Where the Commission considers business in private, the papers considered and the detail of the Commission’s discussions remain private and are covered by sections 3.8 and 3.9 of the Code of Conduct for Members which prevents members from disclosing private information.

Deciding to take business in private is a matter for the judgement of the Commission and each decision to consider business in private will be taken based on the facts and circumstances of the particular item of business. Where the Commission decides to consider business in private, the reasons for this will be stated and recorded in the minutes.

The Commission wants to strike the right balance between being open and transparent about the way it makes decisions, and ensuring that it is able to have candid, robust discussions about sensitive matters without there being a detrimental impact on the quality of decision making. The Commission believes that transparency can contribute to greater public confidence in the integrity of the audit process. It must approach this in a way that ensures that auditors are not inhibited in carrying out their functions effectively, audited bodies and other external sources not discouraged from engaging with the Commission, and internal sources not constrained in the provision of unwelcome advice. The Commission will have particular regard to the categories of information that are likely to be exempt from disclosure under Freedom of Information and Data Protection legislation.

The Commission is, therefore, likely to consider taking business in private where a particular item of business cannot be discussed without -

  1. disclosing confidential or personal information relating to specific identified or identifiable individuals which ought not to be disclosed;
  2. disclosing material involving matters of commercial confidentiality or evidence from vulnerable or intimidated people;
  3. inhibiting either the free and frank provision of advice, or the free and frank exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation on the content, conclusions or recommendations of a draft report it proposes to publish when finalised;
  4. disclosing either legal advice supplied in confidence, or information supplied in confidence by, or confidential correspondence with, a person or organisation (including a public authority) which was not under any legal obligation to disclose that information and has not consented to its disclosure to the public;
  5. reference to a document or documents which would be excluded or exempted from disclosure under legislation.

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