ABSTRACT
Minutes are always necessary to confirm what was agreed at a meeting. Without agreed minutes, different people's recollections of what transpired are bound to differ, and they are likely to differ increasingly with the passage of time, thus allowing occasion for misunderstanding and recrimination. The fullness of the minutes will depend upon the kind of committee and upon the nature of each item. If the committee is large, with the probability that several members are missing from each meeting, full minutes help these members to keep in touch with developments at the meeting they missed. When a report is required, it facilitates its preparation if there is sufficient interval between successive meetings to allow time to draft those sections of the report covering points agreed at the last meeting. To ensure consistency of style and content, the final report should as far as possible be the work of one hand.
