RWMAC Annual Report 2001/2002

Chapter 7: RWMAC working methods, organisation and administration

Procedures by which advice is agreed

7.1 The formulation of advice for Ministers, and other RWMAC work, is the responsibility of the Committee as a whole. The preparation of initial drafts is carried out by one of RWMAC's working groups (WGs), details of which, including membership, are at Annex 2. The WG structure is adjusted from year to year to take account of changing patterns of work, although two groups - those dealing with Environmental Radiation (disposal of waste under RSA93 and radioactively contaminated land) and Policy Review (essentially the process of reaching agreement on how radioactive waste should be managed) - have effectively become standing bodies.

7.2 The WG in question submits its findings, normally at interim and near-final stages, to the plenary Committee. Following the incorporation of changes required by the full membership, the last stage normally consists of scrutiny of the work by the Chairman of RWMAC, Professor Charles Curtis, and the relevant WG Chairperson. Professor Curtis then sends the advice to Ministers under a covering letter. Most consultation responses are despatched by the RWMAC secretariat.

7.3 Implementation of recommendations made in the Office of Science and Technology's (OST's) Code of Practice for Scientific Advisory Committees (see below) are unlikely to require significant changes to these procedures. In a number of recent studies, including that on the conditioning, packaging and storage of ILW, RWMAC has sought the views of a wide range of stakeholders. Careful arrangements are made, building on practices built up over recent years, to ensure that stakeholders have the opportunity to comment on the factual accuracy of reports.

Membership

7.4 A list of current RWMAC members is given in Annex 1. The composition of the Committee reflects the views of Ministers on the "expert specialisms" required by RWMAC to carry out the work programme. The expertise that is needed is formalised in the RWMAC membership template agreed by Ministers in 1997. The template was published in the RWMAC 19th Annual Report ¹ and can be viewed on the website.

7.5 Vacancies on RWMAC were advertised during 2001 in relation to the earth sciences/chemical modelling, local government/planning, environmental and societal perspectives, and health and safety specialisms. No appointments have yet been made.

7.6 The responsibilities of RWMAC members, collective and individual, are set out in a Code of Practice, last published in the 20th Annual Report ². A copy is available from the RWMAC secretariat office. Members are also given guidance on claiming fees and reimbursement of expenses and on declaration of financial and other interests. The current register of member interests is set out in Annex 3 of this report.

Plenary meetings during 2001-2002

7.7 The Committee met in plenary session seven times during the period covered in this report. There were five ordinary meetings, the last of which, in September 2002, took place at the offices of the Scottish Executive, and included discussion with officials on a wide range of issues. Two extraordinary plenary meetings were arranged. The first, in January 2002, was held as part of the Committee's consideration of its response to the Managing Radioactive Waste Safely consultation; the second (May 2002) discussed the near final text of the NuSAC-RWMAC Regulatory Review.

Costs

7.8 The running costs of the Committee during the financial year 2001-2002 amounted to £167,000. A breakdown is given in Annex 4. This excludes the salary and associated costs of the RWMAC secretariat which is supplied, and paid for, by Defra.

Publication of information about and by RWMAC

Freedom of Information Act 2000

7.9 The Act received Royal Assent in November 2000 and the timetable for its proposed implementation was announced by the Lord Chancellor in November 2001. The Act places requirements on all public authorities to make certain kinds of information publicly available. It includes information on the aims, functions and organisation of the body.

7.10 The Act requires that "publication schemes", detailing the information that is made available and how it may be accessed, should be prepared, approved by the Information Commissioner, and placed in the public domain. The timeframe for doing so varies according to the nature of the public authority concerned. RWMAC falls into a class of Non-Departmental Public Body that will be required to put a publication scheme in place by 2004. Guidance from RWMAC's lead sponsor department (Defra) on the contents of publication schemes has not yet been formally issued. However, this chapter, and its associated annexes, already provide much of what will eventually be required to be reported on RWMAC's status and functions. It is long-standing practice for RWMAC advice to Ministers to be made public, most often in free-standing topic reports or (where the advice is brief) in Annual Reports. Since August 2000, all advice has been posted in full on the RWMAC website (www.defra.gov.uk/rwmac/index.htm).

Code of Practice for Scientific Advisory Committees

7.11 The OST Code of Practice for Scientific Advisory Committees ³, referred to above, provides additional guidance on publication of the work of advisory committees. The Code was subject to two rounds of consultation and a summary of the RWMAC views provided was given in chapter 2 of the 21st Annual Report ⁴.

7.12 In accordance with the requirements of the Code, agendas are posted before RWMAC plenary meetings. The minutes are posted once they are approved by the Committee at its next plenary meeting. The two most recent sets of minutes can be accessed on the site at any one time. The Ministerial work programme is published on the website as soon as it is agreed. The site also lists past RWMAC reports (whether or not in print) and provides the texts of recent press releases. All consultation responses remain posted until they are no longer current.

7.13 There is a range of papers drafted in the course of preparing advice that do not necessarily represent the agreed views of the Committee and these are not, therefore, normally published. They include the minutes of working group meetings, views provided by individual Members, position papers on specific issues, and advice while still in draft form. On occasions, RWMAC has provided its views in the form of initial advice or an initial response. These are published in full or summary form. In exceptional circumstances where working papers are, in themselves, "substantive and significant" (see paragraph 72 of the Code of Practice ³) and do represent the agreed views of the Committee, they will also be released once the advice to Ministers is published.

7.14 In preparing advice, the Committee draws on a range of supporting information. Reports which have been, or will be, published are referenced by title, publisher and date.

7.15 The Code of Practice requires advisory committees to prepare and communicate to others "a policy on the handling of confidential information" in order that "those submitting it know what to expect". It makes clear that decisions will need to be exercised consistently with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act.

7.16 For many of its studies, RWMAC formally requests written submissions from others, and may be given access by them to unpublished reports and statements of corporate or individual views. These may be provided by government departments, regulators, other advisory committees, waste producers and NGOs (Non-Governmental Organisations). Some of these are public authorities caught by the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act. RWMAC policy on the handling of information supplied by others, to take effect from the 2002-2003 Ministerial work programme onwards, is as set out in the following paragraph.

7.17 RWMAC will make clear to the supplier that the written submissions will be released if a request is received. It will be for the supplier body to judge whether it is permitted, under the terms of the Act, or under other provisions, to refuse consent for its written submissions, along with supporting documentation, to be released. Bodies that are not public authorities under the Act have the right to refuse permission for their material to be released if they so wish.

References

¹ Nineteenth Annual Report of the Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee, Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions, August 1999.

² Twentieth Annual Report of the Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee, Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions, November 2000.

³ Office of Science and Technology, Code of Practice for Scientific Advisory Committees, December 2001.

⁴ Twenty First Annual Report of the Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, October 2001.