Hang on in there, colleagues; the Christmas and New Year break is nearly upon us and hopefully a chance for all of us to have a well-deserved break after a year like no other. I’ve got two more main meetings next week, one of which is full Council, then I can look forward to some time off with close family. Despite the restrictions on meeting up, I do hope you all have plans in place to celebrate and relax with your nearest and dearest.
AGM and Awards Ceremony:
This is my first weekly message since our fantastic virtual AGM and Awards ceremony on 26th November. Thanks again to everyone who supported the event and my colleague Directors for their terrific support in the planning, organisation and delivery. We have already discussed the lessons learned from the event as a Board and have reached out to the regions for thoughts and suggestions about future awards ceremonies. It was also the first board meeting for our new colleagues, Priya Patel and Michelle Beaumont – we are so pleased to have both of them on the board and their positivity and constructive ideas are already shining through.
Training and development:
ADSO will be running a full training programme in 2021. Bookings are now being taken for the Structures and Functions course (Virtual) that will be run in January. If you are interested in that, please register here: https://www.adso.co.uk/adso-training/book-your-course/
Lennox Beattie and I are also working on virtual modules for newly-appointed DSOs, which is currently a gap in our training offer that we are keen to fill. There’s been a really helpful thread on the Members’ Forum and we will do our best to weave in as many of the content suggestions as possible. These have included:
- Overview of the key pieces of legislation
- Structure of local government
- Governance arrangements overview
- Political awareness
- Tips for minuting meetings and organising meetings
- Member roles and the code of conduct
- Networking opportunities and action learning
- The DSO ‘survival guide’ and where to go for further help/information
It sounds like the kind of course I would have loved to go on in my first few weeks as a new entrant to the sector many years ago! Look out for further details on the website or from your regional representative.
The Virtual Meetings Regulations:
You will recall that the LGA (supported by ADSO, LLG and others) recently lobbied the Secretary of State to allow Councils to continue to hold remote meetings beyond the deadline of 7th May 2021 – on the basis that Councils would be able to choose which of its meetings should be held remotely. The LGA has received a response from Luke Hall MP (Minister for Regional Growth and Local Government) which included the following:
“To extend the facility for councils to continue to meet remotely, or in hybrid form, would require primary legislation. There is no option to extend the current regulations under the Coronavirus Act 2020 as section 78 (3) contains the sunset date of 7 May 2021. There is considerable pressure on the Government’s legislative programme. However, I appreciate the arguments you have put forward and I will consider the case for this with colleagues in the Government.”
This is not an encouraging response. The LGA has prioritised the matter and is considering its options.
We feel that political pressure needs to be put on the Minister to make the necessary changes to the legislation. Could you therefore bring this to the attention of the relevant councillors within your authority and ask them to consider lobbying the Minister either individually or as an authority as a whole. Councillors in some cases are expecting the provision to happen – they need to be aware that there is a risk of it not materialising before the deadline.
We are sure you’re familiar with the arguments for the Minister agreeing to the LGA request, but some of the key ones are:
- Time is running out – there are only five months left before the deadline of 7th May
- Remote meetings support councillors in balancing their meetings, especially in large counties/rural council areas
- They encourage more diverse councillor membership – those with children/caring responsibilities, who are working to stand as councillors
- There is a positive environmental impact of not travelling to meetings by car etc.
- Public participation and member attendance at meetings have generally increased.
- Provision could be extremely helpful in situations where, for example, a short meeting is convened which brings 20 people in from across the whole authority’s area
- There would remain flexibility to hold in person meetings where appropriate or indeed hybrid/blended meetings if required.
Thank you. We will keep you informed of developments as they occur and would be interested to hear of any discussions that take place in your authority – contact John Austin (john.austin@adso.co.uk)
Workplace bullying:
Workplace Bullying remains high on the list when it comes to parish clerks seeking advice from the Society of Local Council Clerks (SLCC) and from Monitoring Officers. The bottom line is that it can cause ill-health, it affects morale and is the cause of untold misery to people in the parish sector. These concerns are at the forefront of the work SLCC, supported by ADSO and LLG, are undertaking to improve standards and professionalism across the local council sector.
In 2017, the SLCC commissioned Hoey Ainscough Associates to conduct the first piece of evidence-based research into professional standards. SLCC have now commissioned them to do further surveys to give an accurate snapshot of whether things have improved during that time or become worse. One of the surveys is for Monitoring Officers who have parish councils in their area and we would ask you to look out for an email from Paul Hoey in the coming days asking you or your MO to complete the survey which should take no more than ten minutes. Please check that your MO has received the survey. I appreciate that your time is extremely valuable and you are currently working through the challenges of the pandemic but we would be grateful if you could support SLCC in this work.
Peter Sass, Vice-Chair