As the half-term break is coming up we wish all those going away a very relaxing time; for those not going away, keep up the good work!
Hybrid/Remote meetings – update and survey results
The new Secretary of State at the rebranded Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (local government having been dropped from the department’s title altogether) has shown some confusion over the position of hybrid meetings as a recent report in the Local Government Chronicle reported: https://www.lgcplus.com/politics/governance-and-structure/gove-wants-to-keep-capacity-for-hybrid-meetings-22-10-2021/ It is heartening that he has indicated support for remote meetings, but seems, as the article reports, to be under the impression they are still legal.
ADSO and the LLG will be writing to Mr Gove next week, in the light of the rising level of Covid infections, to call for a reinstatement of remote meetings for local government.
The LGA conducted a survey on remote meetings back in April and the results are here: https://www.local.gov.uk/publications/remote-council-meetings-temperature-check-2021
That survey is to be repeated so we urge members to complete the survey when it is repeated.
District Council Network Conference report
The District Council Network held its annual conference in Kenilworth on 21st and 22nd October on the theme of Power in Place: Enriching the Recovery for Everyone. The conference was attended by a wide range of district councillors and chief executives who will no doubt be bringing some of the ideas discussed back to their councils. More information on the conference can be found here: https://districtcouncils.info/events/dcn-annual-conference-2021/
ADSO Events
There is still time to book for the annual ADSO conference which will be taking place virtually, via GoTo Webinar, on Thursday 25th and Friday 26th November. Please see here for further details and booking arrangements.
There are a few spaces left on our second free webinar on School Appeals taking place on Wednesday 10th November at 11am. The webinar will be led by Rachel Williamson and Ann Coldicott and covers Best Practice with particular reference to hearings, clerk’s notes and decisions. Click on the registration link in the Webinar event page to book your place.
Colin Copus, Non-Executive Director