The August recess (for what it was) already seems like a long time ago and we’re all back into the swing of meetings. I hope all of you managed to get some time away from the office during the summer to rest and recuperate.
Formal meetings
The return to in-person meetings has not been without its challenges and I’m sure I’m not alone in having to deal with Members who remain wary about coming into the office to attend formal meetings. I feel particularly sorry for those Members who live with a vulnerable partner or other family member – they are especially worried about inadvertently taking the virus home to their loved ones.
The law as it currently stands gives us no choice, of course, and ADSO remains committed to working with Government on virtual meetings and we are looking forward to the Government publishing the results of its call for evidence. We don’t understand the delay in publishing this; neither is it acceptable in our opinion for two letters from ADSO to MHCLG in recent weeks to go un-answered – in fact, not even acknowledged. Perhaps, we’ll get more engagement with the new Ministerial team. ADSO will continue to keep the pressure up but colleagues all over the country can help too by asking their Councils and Members to continue to lobby their MPs for a change in the law to allow Councils to have virtual meetings.
Annual appointment of ADSO directors
If you are intending on standing to be a director of ADSO for the forthcoming year, the deadline for nominations is midnight on 13th October. Here is the link to the nomination form: Annual General Meeting – ADSO
At last week’s Board meeting, a recommendation was made to the AGM in November to increase the remuneration for Directors, which hasn’t altered since it was first introduced in 2016. If agreed, each Director will be entitled to receive a total remuneration of £6,000, which includes a 25% performance-related element.
The Board is very proud of the hard work that all of our directors do and whilst none of us do it for the money, we are always very keen for new blood on the Board and we hope that the remuneration on offer might tempt one or two of you to apply this time.
We are a friendly and hard-working team of governance professionals, committed to supporting our sector as much as we can through providing training, the qualifications, a fantastic website, the annual conference, the awards and much more.
Annual Conference
Speaking of the conference, bookings can still be made here: ADSO Annual Conference and Awards Ceremony 2021 – ADSO Don’t delay if you want to join us this year.
ADSO Awards
At last week’s Board meeting, it was agreed that the awards ceremony would take place at 6.00pm on Thursday 25th November – following the end of day 1 of our virtual annual conference.
The awards panel has completed the shortlisting for the Rookie and Distinguished Service awards and will be meeting the shortlisted candidates virtually in late September and early October before making a decision on the recipients.
The Learner of the Year award deadline is fast approaching ADSO Awards 2021 – ADSO. If you are an assessor for ADSO and wish to nominate one of your learners, the deadline for nominations is 30th September. All completed nomination forms to me, please: peter.sass@richmondandwandsworth.gov.uk
South East Employers/ADSO Advanced Democratic and Committee Administration Programme
I am pleased to send you details of the successful Advanced Democratic and Committee Administration Programme that will take place virtually via Zoom on the 12th and 13th January 2022.
The newly revised two day programme is targeted at those with two or more years’ experience and will take place between 10.00am -4.00pm on each day. The programme is priced at £399 for SEE/ADSO Members and £450 for non- SEE/ADSO Members.
The programme will continue to be led by John Austin (Chair of ADSO) and Peter Edwards (Former Head of Democratic Services Surrey CC); both John and Peter have now led the programme for eleven years and are highly experienced and knowledgeable facilitators. This popular programme has just 20 delegate places so early booking is advisable. Details of booking arrangements are provided below. Following positive delegate evaluation of the 2021 programme we have decided to continue to offer the annual programme on a virtual basis.
For further information and booking details, see here: Advanced Democratic and Committee Administration Virtual Programme – South East Employers (seemp.co.uk)
Peter Sass, Vice-Chair