It’s nearly 2 years since a Foreign & Commonwealth report, following a root and branch Triennial Review concluded that their were serious concerns around commercial accountability, financial transparency, conflicts of interest and fair competition with the private sector.
Since the review the British Council has made efforts to improve transparency, stating on its website that it is ‘fully committed to transparency in our decision-making processes, how we work and the programmes and services we provide. Transparency is an important aspect of the British Council’s accountability to the UK public, Parliament and the people who participate in our programmes and projects‘.
Part of that transparency is to publish the minutes of its Board of Trustees meetings. At the time of writing, they hadn’t got round to this yet in 2016, so we should look back to 2015 to see how the Council’s commitment to transparency is going. Here are some highlights:
- Chair’s Business
Information in this section has been redacted/removed as it is likely to be exempt from disclosure on the grounds that it is “likely to prejudice the effective conduct of public affairs” as defined in Section 36 (Prejudice to the effective conduct of public affairs) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000*.
- Triennial Review
Information in this section has been redacted/removed as it is likely to be exempt from disclosure on the grounds that it is “likely to prejudice the effective conduct of public affairs” as defined in Section 36 (Prejudice to the effective conduct of public affairs) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000*.
- Status Resolution: Macau
The Board approved a resolution to authorise the British Council’s branch in Hong Kong to register with the Macau Tax Department. The resolution was proposed by Usha Prashar and seconded by Gareth Bullock.
- Examinations: Secure English Language Testing (SELT)
Mark informed the Board that the IELTS consortium of Cambridge Assessment, IDP and British Council has been named by UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) as a preferred bidder for one of two SELT concessions for testing within the UK, and for one of either one or two concessions for testing in the rest of the world. He also corrected the figures in the paper which should read that the potential additional income is R£DACTED
- COO Report
Information in this section has been redacted/removed as it is likely to be exempt from disclosure on the grounds that it is “likely to prejudice the commercial interests” of either the British Council or another party, as it is defined in Section 43 (Commercial interests) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000*.
- Report from the Audit CommitteeThe risk reserve had been cut by £4million as the Committee had agreed that risks from tax exposure had been reduced the Global Finance Change Programme was on track:Information in this section has been redacted/removed as it is likely to be exempt from disclosure on the grounds that it is “likely to prejudice the commercial interests” of either the British Council or another party, as it is defined in Section 43 (Commercial interests) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000*.
New entities for our operation in Russia
Information in this section has been redacted/removed as it is likely to be exempt from disclosure on the grounds that it is “likely to prejudice the effective conduct of public affairs” as defined in Section 36 (Prejudice to the effective conduct of public affairs) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000*.
- Any other business Information in this section has been redacted/removed as it is likely to be exempt from disclosure on the grounds that it is “likely to prejudice the commercial interests” of either the British Council or another party, as it is defined in Section 43 (Commercial interests) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000*.
So, about as transparent as REDACTED then.