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Further Education and Training Bill [HL]

Our objective is that the board’s strategy should be produced on the basis of wide consultation, engaging closely with the needs and views of London and of Londoners. In practice, we endorse the view of the noble Baroness that this should mean an open approach to the board’s work. Our expectation is that the board and the mayor would indeed want to allow public access to meetings and relevant papers as set out in the amendment, but there will be times when that is not appropriate. The second paragraph of the amendment recognises that the body should be able. "““to restrict such access on the grounds that an agenda item, report or minute contains material of a confidential nature””." However, our preferred approach is not to specify this practice in the Bill, rather to make sure that the mayor and others involved with the board are able to exercise their judgments. On the basis of our expectation that the mayor and the board would ensure reasonable public access to meetings and to relevant papers, we do not think that this is an appropriate issue to include in the Bill.