Weekley message from Colin Copus, Non-Executive Director

ADSO/LLG High Court Action – Remote Meetings
By now you will know the outcome of the legal action taken by ADSO and LLG and that the court dismissed the application for the continuation of remote meetings. The ADSO chairman, John Austin, worked tirelessly on the case along with colleagues from LLG and it is thanks to their efforts that the case was brought and developed so well and drew so carefully on existing practice.

It is just a pity the court didn’t support the arguments made and that as a result many in local government will have been thrown into turmoil; but as always local government will rise to this new challenge. So while parliament continues to meet through a hybrid system, we must, it appears, return to face-to-face meetings and quickly.  The outcome of the case underlines our centralised system and the over regulation of our sector. ADSO and LLG will be requesting a meeting with the Secretary of State to continue to press our case and discuss the way forward.

We are expecting further clarification from the High Court shortly in relation to public attendance at meetings after 6 May. We will post on the members’ forum once we receive that additional judgement.

Governance Survey
A big thank you to those who replied to our survey on governance arrangements; much appreciated. We had 93 responses and I will be filling in the gaps. Once that is done the results of the survey will appear on the ADSO website. Thanks again for taking the time to respond.

ADSO Awards 2021
The Board has approved changes to the way in which the ADSO awards are run. From this year, the three individual awards (Learner, Rookie and Distinguished Service) will take place annually; with the Team of the Year being run every two years (next one in 2022). The nominations process will commence soon for the individual award categories. Look out for further details on the website in due course.

ADSO’s Virtual Training Programme
Our new ‘Becoming a DSO’ course mentioned in last week’s newsletter is now open for bookings via our website.  The course is designed for those taking their first steps into Democratic Services, aimed at those in the first eight weeks of starting. Full details can be found here: Becoming a DSO – an introduction (ADSO) , 20 May 2021 09:30am

Due to high demand, we have arranged another date for ‘Just a Minute’ to run in July.  Follow this link to book a place.  Just a Minute (ADSO Course) – additional date, 6 & 13 Jul 2021 09:30am

Our new virtual ‘Law and Practice’ course has also proved popular and we are running it again in September for those who missed it.  Bookings are open via this link:  Law and Practice of Local Government (Additional Date), 8 & 15 Sep 2021 09:30am

Regional meetings
Here’s a reminder of our upcoming regional meetings which are a valuable way of making and maintaining contacts and keeping up with changes and developments.  For full details of these and other events, visit our calendar page

  • 11th June, East Midlands
  • 23rd June, North East, Yorkshire and Humberside
  • 30th June, South East

Colin Copus, non-Executive Director

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