Many of you will be in the midst of a pre-election period at present, at Richmond and Wandsworth we have a few committee meetings remaining until the local elections and are busily preparing for our Member induction programme. Incidentally, I have been pleased to see the term ‘purdah’ being struck out as an outdated term by many councils. With connotations relating to the human rights of women in the Middle East and South Asia being subjugated, it is a term that really needs to go.
ADSO Annual Conference, 17 & 18 November 2022
Arrangements are progressing well for our in-person annual conference on 17 & 18 November. The draft programme will be published shortly. We will then start to accept bookings. We ask that you book particularly early this year as we need to satisfy the hotel’s requirements for at least 100 rooms by early September. Further details will follow.
Admission of Ukrainian Children to Schools in England
We heard last week that the Government and Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi is encouraging councils to breach school Published Admission Numbers and infant class size limits ‘where necessary’ to accommodate Ukrainian children arriving in England. Ministers have set out plans to accept up to 100,000 Ukrainian children following Russia’s invasion in February. The Education Secretary also noted that councils could use the in-year fair access protocol to secure places outside the normal admissions round.
It is anticipated that schools will give a warm welcome to these vulnerable children and provide as much support as possible to ensure that these children settle well. For our part in Democratic Services, it will be interesting to see how this plays out in our appeal processes and the overall volume of appeals.
ADSO Webinar – Levelling-Up: The Implications and Opportunities for DSOs
A reminder that bookings are now open for the free webinar being presented on 20 April, 11am-12pm by ADSO’s Non-Executive Director, Professor Colin Copus. Colin is Emeritus Professor of local politics at the Department of Politics and Public Policy, De Montfort University and a Visiting Professor at the University of Ghent.
The webinar will focus on those aspects of the levelling-up agenda that will affect the work and activities of DSOs across the country. It will explore the following themes of relevance to DSOs:
- The role of local government in the levelling-up agenda
- The role of DSOs in facilitating the work of councillors and councils in addressing the aims and objectives of levelling-up
- Local government reorganisation and DSOs
- New forms of political governance and decision-making
- DSOs working across organisational and council boundaries
- Developing new forms of communication with the centre
- The change in member roles and perspectives
- How councillors and DSOs will contribute to levelling-up and in shaping the levelling-up agenda
The webinar will also examine how the policy, research and support functions of DSOs will be influenced by the expectations of the white paper and the levelling-up agenda generally.
Structures and Functions, 18 and 26 May
ADSO is hosting the interactive, virtual course ‘Structures and Functions’ which will be delivered as two, two hour workshops held virtually. Delegates will be required to attend both of the virtual workshops.
This course is aimed at Democratic Services Officers who wish to develop their understanding of the different kinds of local authorities, what they do and how they fit into the wider government landscape of the UK. The target audience will be those who are relatively new to democratic service teams and those with a few years’ experience.
The workshops will:
- Help learners understand local government in its wider context
- Describe the evolution of local government to the present
- Invite learners to discuss and dissect the structure of local government today
The workshops will include plenary presentations, case studies and smaller group working, enabling delegates to learn with delegates from across the country.
For more information visit here – https://www.adso.co.uk/adso-training/book-your-course/
That’s it for this week, wishing you all a great week ahead.
Priya Patel, ADSO Company Secretary