Citation, commencement and expiry

1. These Regulations—

(a) may be cited as the Flood Risk Management Overview and Scrutiny Committee (England) Regulations 2011;

(b) come into force on 6th April 2011; and

(c) cease to have effect on 6th April 2018.

Review

2. —(1) Before the end of the review period, the Secretary of State must—

(a) carry out a review of these Regulations;

(b) set out the conclusions of the review in a report; and

(c) lay the report before Parliament.

(2) The report must in particular—

(a) set out the objectives intended to be achieved by these Regulations;

(b) assess the extent to which those objectives are achieved; and

(c) assess whether those objectives remain appropriate and, if so, the extent to which they could be achieved with a scheme that imposes less regulation.

(3) In this regulation, “review period” means the period of five years beginning with the day on which these Regulations come into force.

Duty to comply with requests for information and responses

3. —(1) A request under section 21F(3) of the Act must be in writing.

(2) The duty under section 21F(3) of the Act includes a duty—

(a) to comply with a request made under section 21F(3) within 28 days beginning with the date on which the risk management authority received the request, or a longer period as agreed between the risk management authority and the overview and scrutiny committee;

(b) to indicate what (if any) action the risk management authority proposes to take, if a response to a report is requested; and

(c) for the risk management authority to attend before an overview and scrutiny committee to give information orally, if requested to do so by such a committee.

(3) If a risk management authority must disclose confidential information during a meeting of the overview and scrutiny committee in order to comply with regulation 3(2)(c) then, if requested by that authority, the overview and scrutiny committee must hold that meeting in private.

(4) Without the consent of a risk management authority, the overview and scrutiny committee must not disclose any confidential information it receives from that authority in compliance with a request under section 21F(3), except to the local authority that appointed that committee.

(5) In this regulation—

(a) “the Act” means the Local Government Act 2000; and

(b) information is “confidential information” if—

(i) it constitutes a trade secret;

(ii) its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any person (including the risk management authority); or

(iii) it was obtained by a risk management authority from any other person, and its disclosure to the public by the risk management authority would constitute a breach of confidence actionable by that or any other person.