Greater London Authority Act 1999

58 Openness

(1) Part VA of the [1972 c. 70.] Local Government Act 1972 (access to meetings and documents of certain authorities, committees and sub-committees) shall have effect as if—

(a) the Assembly were a principal council, and

(b) any committee or sub-committee of the Assembly were a committee or sub-committee of a principal council, within the meaning of that Part,

but with the following modifications.

(2) In the application of Part VA of that Act by subsection (1) above—

(a) any information furnished to the Authority and available to the Assembly shall be treated as information furnished to the Assembly;

(b) any offices of, or belonging to, the Authority shall be treated as also being offices of or belonging to the Assembly; and

(c) the proper officer of the Authority shall be taken to be the proper officer in relation to the Assembly.

(3) In the following provisions of that Act, namely—

(a) section 100A(2) (which requires the exclusion of the public from meetings and makes other provision to prevent disclosure of confidential information in breach of the obligation of confidence), and

(b) section 100D(4) (which prevents the inclusion in a list of documents of any document which would so disclose such information),

any reference to the disclosure (or likelihood of disclosure) of confidential information in breach of the obligation of confidence includes a reference to the disclosure of information of any of the descriptions specified in subsection (4) below without the consent of the relevant body concerned.

(4) The descriptions are—

(a) any information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person which was acquired in consequence of a relationship between that person and a relevant body;

(b) the amount of any expenditure proposed to be incurred by a relevant body under any particular contract, if and so long as disclosure would be likely to give an advantage to a person entering into, or seeking to enter into, a contract with the relevant body, whether the advantage would arise against the relevant body or another such person;

(c) any terms proposed or to be proposed by or to a relevant body in the course of negotiations for any particular contract, if and so long as disclosure would prejudice the relevant body in those or any other negotiations concerning the subject matter of the contract;

(d) the identity of any person as the person offering any particular tender for a contract for the supply of goods or services to a relevant body;

and in this subsection “relevant body” means Transport for London or the London Development Agency.

(5) In section 100C of that Act (inspection of minutes and other documents after meetings) any reference to the minutes of a meeting shall, in the case of a meeting of the Assembly under section 52(3) above, be taken to include a reference to—

(a) the text of any question put pursuant to section 52(3) above at the meeting, and

(b) the text of the answer given to any such question,

whether the question was put, or the answer given, orally or in writing.

(6) Nothing in section 100D of that Act (inspection of background papers) requires or authorises the inclusion in any such list as is referred to in subsection (1) of that section of any document which discloses anything which, by virtue of subsection (6) of section 45 above, is not required to be disclosed under subsection (3) or (4) of that section.

(7) In section 100E of that Act (application to committees and sub-committees) subsection (3)(a) shall have effect as if section 55 above were included among the enactments specified in section 101(9) of that Act.

(8) For the purposes of section 100F of that Act (additional rights of access to documents for members of principal councils) any document which is in the possession or under the control of the Authority and which is available to the Assembly shall be treated as a document which is in the possession or under the control of the Assembly.

(9) In the case of the Assembly, the register of members required to be maintained under section 100G(1) of that Act shall, instead of stating the ward or division which a member represents, state—

(a) whether the member is a London member or a constituency member; and

(b) if he is a constituency member, the Assembly constituency for which he is the member.

(10) For the purposes of section 100H(3) of that Act (acts which infringe copyright) the Authority shall be treated as a principal council.

(11) In the application in relation to the Assembly of Schedule 12A to that Act (access to information: exempt information) any reference to “the authority” includes a reference to the Authority.