Latest News
New guide to elector's rights to challenge parish council accounts at audit time
As a local resident people have legal rights to inspect, ask questions about and challenge items in your council's accounts.
The National Audit Office has recently published this new guide on these rights, which are enshrined in law.
Click here for the guide.
Posted: Tue, 09 May 2017 14:06 by Jake Atkinson
Top tip – Election of Chairman and Annual Parish Council Meetings
By the end of this month every Parish Council should have held their Annual Parish Council Meeting, and the Chairman of the Parish Council should have called the Annual Parish Meeting (which must be held by 1st June each year).
LRALC is aware from some of the notices, minutes and agendas that we have seen that there is still confusion in some quarters about the requirements in relation to these meetings.... Read More »
Posted: Mon, 08 May 2017 16:05 by admin
New Good Councillors Guide 2017 Published
The all new Good Councillors Guide is now published (see link below) and is recommended for all local council Councillors as essential reading. Its also great for Clerks!
As always, delegates attending LRALC Chairman's training and Councillor training will receive free hard copies, but councils will also be able to order hard copies from us shortly (an online order form will be added here shortly).... Read More »
Posted: Fri, 28 Apr 2017 10:10 by Jake Atkinson
General Election and Purdah Rules
A General Election will take place 8 June 2017, this follows an announcement by the prime minister on Tuesday and a vote in the House of Commons on Wednesday. Purdah for the General Election is likely to start on the day that Parliament is dissolved – expected to be 3 May – and continue until after polling day.The purdah period before General Elections is not regulated by law, but governed... Read More »
Posted: Tue, 25 Apr 2017 13:30 by Jake Atkinson
Standards Day - The Code of Conduct and Standards Arrangements event
Your Chief Officer is attending a Code of Conduct and Standards Arrangements event today in London (hosted by CCLA) which is discussing the eternally thorny subject of the national Standards regime for parish and town councils.
There are times when Code of Conduct complaints, once investigated, point more towards internal council issues (governance, accountability, transparency, and even on occasion... Read More »
Posted: Thu, 06 Apr 2017 13:33 by Jake Atkinson
Parish Councils and Grant Giving
Unfortunately from time to time a case arises nationally where it is clear that a Parish Council has given a grant to an external body with "no strings attached", i.e. no form of written agreement or conditions specified, even in terms of simple reporting back by the beneficiary of the grant. Virtually every other source of grant funding nationally and locally comes in the form of a contractual agreement,... Read More »
Posted: Wed, 05 Apr 2017 11:03 by Jake Atkinson
New Governance and Accountability guide published
Finally the Joint Practitioners Advisory Group (JPAG) has published the new Governance and Accountability Guide. At their February meeting JPAG approved some modest amendments to the wording of the guide and while the content is not greatly changed a minor error affecting parish meetings has been corrected and some of the explanations in Part 5 have been made clearer.
This new 2017 edition of the guide... Read More »
Posted: Mon, 03 Apr 2017 21:35 by Jake Atkinson
NALC Devo Plus Toolkit - PCs Taking On Devolved Services
Follow the link below for the new NALC Devo + Toolkit
www.nalc.gov.uk/library/our-work/devolution-1/2328-devo-plus-toolkit-december-2016/file
Posted: Tue, 28 Mar 2017 11:37 by Jake Atkinson
NALC Purdah Guidance
In advance of the upcoming mayoral combined authority, county and parish elections (in some areas) NALC has reissued its legal briefing L02-17 Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity [England] (March 2017) which includes guidance on purdah.
Posted: Mon, 20 Mar 2017 10:28 by admin
Leicestershire County Council Election Purdah Period
The pre-election 'purdah' period for the Leicestershire County Council elections has now begun (as of 13th March). All parish and town councils in Leicestershire need to be aware of the rules around purdah. The briefing here provides guidance.
Posted: Tue, 14 Mar 2017 22:56 by Jake Atkinson
