Well what a week, many more of us find ourselves subject to more restrictions and an ever changing landscape. It seems that toilet rolls and pasta are desirable items again… perhaps early Christmas stocking fillers…
In the newsletter this week, I am focusing on seeking your involvement and input, you are at the heart of everything we do and we are seeking your views to help us develop and improve our offer for you.
Newsletter feedback needed
John Austin recently started a thread on the Forum on what you would find useful from the newsletter in terms of frequency, content and format, thank-you for the comments so far. I am heartened to have received a number of new subscriber and password reset emails following that communication and since my last newsletter we have a number of new social media followers – so thank-you and welcome! However, we are still really interested in views from more of you, so please do join the discussion here and tell us what you think we should include in the newsletter, how frequently and when we should send it out and what format it should be in, we will consider all feedback and take on board as much of it as we can.
ADSO Director nominations 2020-21
There is now only a very small window left for you to put yourself forward to stand as a Director at the AGM this year, the deadline is midnight on 14 October. Please find more information on our website including Board member profiles, do get in touch with Pete Savage, Company Secretary or one of the other Directors if you would like to speak about the roles.
Lobbying for virtual meetings
Next week I am joining a meeting on behalf of ADSO with the LGA and other partners to discuss the lobbying for continuation of the legislation permitting virtual meetings. We will provide an update on this meeting in a future newsletter, thank-you for your comments over the last few months in the Forum on virtual meetings, we will use this in our discussions.
Democracy Direct Bulletin
If you are involved in Standards, do open the Democracy Direct Bulletin where you can find out more about the current work of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, they are now carrying out a public consultation and public sector survey on standards, this is open until 18 December. Also in the update this week you will find the links to the Regulations made in the last week, it is interesting (to me anyway!) to read how the legislation has been written.
Local Government reform
I like many others now await more on the local government reform, latest rumours in the public sector press seem to suggest that for some of us it will be on the backburner due to the lack of resources to progress it; with Brexit on the close horizon and the fact that we are still in the middle of a pandemic it isn’t a surprise, but it will be interesting to see what is said in the next few weeks.
CfPS to Centre for Governance and Scrutiny
Lastly, you may have heard but just in case you haven’t, from next week the Centre for Public Scrutiny will be known as the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny.
That is all from me this week, do remember to get involved in the forum or contact us if you are interested in standing as a Director in November.
Joanna Boaler, Director of Communications