Introduction -2021

Introduction

1. This is the thirtieth Annual Report of the ACMSF and covers the calendar year 2021. The aim of this report is to provide a brief background to the Committees' decisions. Those seeking further information on a particular subject can obtain details from the discussion papers and minutes, available from the Committee’s website or ACMSF Secretariat.

2. The various issues addressed by the Committee since its inception are detailed in this and previous Annual Reports and in a series of subject-specific reports.

3. ACMSF is committed to opening up its work to public scrutiny.  The agendas, minutes, and papers (subject to rare exceptions on grounds of commercial or other sensitivity) of the full Committee’s meetings are publicly available and are posted on the ACMSF website. Also, on the Committee’s website are summaries of meetings of the Working and Ad Hoc groups.

4. In common with other independent advisory committees, Committee members are required to follow a Code of Conduct which also gives guidance on how commercial interests should be declared. Members are required to declare any commercial interests on appointment and, again during meetings if a topic arises in which they have an interest. If a member declares a specific interest in a topic under discussion, and it is considered to be a conflict of interest, he or she may, at the Chairman's discretion be allowed to take part in the discussion but is excluded from decision-making. The Committee’s Code of Conduct is available here and the Good Practice Agreement for Scientific Advisory Committees can be found on the FSA’s website.