CONFIDENTIALITY POLICY

  1. Scope

For the use of Board Members and staff

  1. Policy

The work of the Association is in the main open to public scrutiny, approved minutes of meetings should be publicly available.

However from time to time there will be a need to discuss confidential matters especially regarding members of staff. If Board members are discussing individual members of staff they should be aware they are doing so in their trusted capacity as employers.

Anyone contributing to a Board discussion should have a reasonable expectation that what they say and any supplementary documents introduced should not go beyond that meeting. However, if people other than Board members are present or the minutes are made public these expectations do not stand.

If a confidential matter is to be raised at a Board meeting

  1. The matter should be noted ‘confidential’ on the agenda
  1. People who are not formal members of the Board should be excluded from these discussions
  2. It should be noted in the public minutes that a confidential item was discussed
  3. A separate confidential minute should be produced and circulated to Board members only.
  1. The Chair should specify where the confidential minute should be kept so that it is available as a record of the discussion and decision, but is not available for public inspection.
  1. Approval

This document was approved by the Board in February 2023.