§ Dr. WrightTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, for each of the executive non-departmental bodies sponsored by her Department, whether the public has a statutory right to attend all board or committee meetings and to inspect(a) the minutes of meetings, (b) the annual reports and (c) the annual accounts.
§ Mr. JackThe public do not have a statutory right to attend board or committee meetings of executive non-departmental bodies; nor do they have the right to inspect the minutes of meetings.
In nearly all cases, legislation requires that the annual report and accounts are published and laid before Parliament. The exceptions are the Agricultural Wages Board and the agricultural wages committees, whose reports do not include the accounts because the costs of running the board and committees are met directly from MAFF and Welsh Office funds. Neither the board nor the committees control funds.
The annual reports and annual accounts of the bodies are available to the public, either free or at reasonable cost, except for the AWC and AWB, for which annual accounts are not prepared as noted above.