The Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Decisions, Documents and Meetings) (Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2021

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Decisions, Documents and Meetings) (Wales) Regulations 2001 (S.I. 2001/2290 (W. 178)) (“the principal Regulations”).

The principal Regulations apply to meetings of executives of county and county borough councils in Wales which are operating executive arrangements under Part 2 of the Local Government Act 2000.

These Regulations amend the principal Regulations to reflect the fact meetings of executives and their committees may be held partly or solely through remote means. They also require notices and agendas for executive meetings, reports connected with those meetings, written statements of executive decisions, reports considered when taking executive decisions and background papers to be published on an authority’s website, although background papers are not required to be published on the website of an authority if it would not be reasonably practicable to do so.

Amendments are made to the provisions which require certain matters to be recorded following the taking of executive decisions and to the provision made for local authority members who are not executive members to access certain documents.

The supplementary provisions of the principal Regulations relating to the publication and inspection of documents are amended, including to place a requirement on authorities to put in place facilities for members of the public who would otherwise not be able to do so, to access documents directed by any provision of the Regulations to be published on an authority’s website or to remain accessible electronically.

The offences under regulation 14 of the principal Regulations of obstructing rights of inspection or copying under Part 2 of those Regulations or of refusing to supply a copy of certain documents under regulation 13(2) of those Regulations are omitted.

Transitional provision is made in relation to certain provisions of the principal Regulations which were temporarily modified by the Local Authority (Coronavirus) (Meetings) (Wales) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/442 (W. 100)).

The Welsh Ministers’ Code of Practice on the carrying out of Regulatory Impact Assessments was considered in relation to these Regulations. As a result, a regulatory impact assessment has been prepared as to the likely costs and benefits of complying with these Regulations. A copy can be obtained from the Welsh Government, Cathays Park, Cardiff CF10 3NQ and on the Welsh Government’s website at www.gov.wales.