Second Phase of DAPTC Constitution Review - Area Committees
All of our member councils will have received an email this week from Chief Executive of DAPTC Neil Wedge, asking for your opinions on the current DAPTC Area Committee structure. We would like to know how you, your councillor's and whole council feel about the meetings, how they are run and whether they are working for the organisation as a whole.
The Executive Committee has given its Strategy Working Group the remit to investigate possible future options on how DAPTC will structure committees after a full consultation with our members over the coming few months.
As a starting point we would like to hear as many views as possible, from the widest possible audience, and to facilitate this we have set up six questionnaires. There is a survey relating to each DAPTC Area Committee and one that relates solely to the Towns and Larger Councils Committee.
The links to the surveys are shown below, we encourage you all to complete the appropriate one for your council area committee.
The Executive Committee will review members feedback on how the existing structure is working early in 2021. The closing date for comments is 5pm on 22nd January 2021.
Please forward this update to elected members so they can also keep up-to-date and have an appreciation of what's happening in the sector.
Along with the many changes that have been happening at DAPTC this year, we have decided to update our brand with a new suite of logos. The logo shown above will be the main one used and the new Training logo will go on all training administration, promotion and course content. We hope you like the changes.
INFORMATION | GUIDANCE | ADVICE
1. Precepts 2021/2022
You should have by now received information from Dorset Council regarding the coming financial year and the form that your council needs to complete and return requesting details of your required precept. If you have not received any communication you can contact Dorset Council via precepts@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk
2. Important information from the Dorset County Pension Fund
If your town or parish council contributes to the pensions of employees who hold Local Government Pension Plans with the Dorset County Pension Fund you will need to take a look at the information providedherewith regards to what is required when employees stop contributing to the fund.
3. Website offer for smaller parishes
DAPTC are very pleased to announce that we have partnered up with technology company Aubergine to allow us offer those smaller councils in our membership a very reasonably priced WCAG (Web Content Accessibilty Guidelines) compliant parish council website.
For further information on the offer pleaseclick here.
If your council is interested in signing up to this offer, or hearing more pleasecontact the DAPTC office.
4. The 2021 Census - 21st March 2021
DAPTC will be working with Dorset Council and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council to give some practical tips on how your council can help to engage your communities in the lead up to the Census going live next year.
The person who is taking the lead on the 2021 Census in the Dorset is Philip Eades. Philip can be reached viaphilip.eades98@field.census.gov.uk
Philip has provided us with a number of resources and links to further information that your council will find useful. These are all shown below:
As well as providing you with this regular E-News, we intend to introduce a quarterly publication which showcases the work being done around the county by our members. Please send into us your news with a view to it being included in the publication.
We would be very happy to receive any photographs (along with your permission to reproduce them) and news articles as soon as you have them. Please send them in to the DAPTC office
DAPTC’s 2020 training programme is now complete, other than Important Planning Concepts on 17 December for which only ONE place remains. Please see below planning training dates in 2021.
Looking ahead to January and February 2021. All listed training is suitable for both officers and councillors.
18 February 9.30 – 11.30am How can you effectively find and encourage people to stand or be co-opted as town or parish Councillors? Join us to discover effective ways Councils and Councillors can encourage more people to come forward – this interactive session explores practical ways to do just that. More information and booking for Finding New Parish & Town Councillors
FINANCE TRAINING
Please be aware these are national courses with limited spaces - please supply a second choice date at the bottom of the booking form as we may not be able to book your first choice.
Training is available on a selection of financial subjects:
Internal Controls
Roles of Internal Audit
Year End Accounts and Audit
DAPTC is providing an opportunity for member councils to ensure their officers and elected officials understand key topics, through the following 12 e-learning training options:
Modern Slavery | Display Screen Equipment Assessment | Customer Service Essentials | Leadership Essentials | Managing & Reducing Stress | Personal Safety Essentials | Freedom of Information Essentials | Fire Safety Essentials | Health & Safety Essentials | Data Protection Essentials | Equality & Diversity
Join the DAPTC team for this FREE OF CHARGE session to help new and existing Clerks, elected members and prospective councillors understand how we support members in Dorset. Neil, Debbie and Lisa will be on hand to talk you through the resources available and an overview of the Dorset Association of Parish and Town Councils (DAPTC) and how we link up with the National Association of Local Councils (NALC), Dorset Council and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council (BCP). We finish each hour with a Q & A. We are also happy to run these sessions for individual councils.
NEW PUBLICATION - The Good Councillor's guide to community business.
NALC has today launched The Good Councillor's guide to community business, in partnership with the Plunkett Foundation and Power to Change.
The guide for parish, town and community councillors will set out the principles of what a community business is and help local (parish and town) councils to consider whether this form of business could be appropriate in their community.
The Guide can be viewed on the NALC Website in the Members Area. To gain access to the Members Area you will need the Dorset NALC user id and password. Details of these should be available through your parish or town Clerk.
Make a Change - Become a Councillor campaign
NALC continues to update it's #MakeAChange campaign guidance for the May 2021 elections. To find out more, NALC have further information on their Make a Change webpage here.
On the webpage you will be able to find all new resources such as:
Posters
Flyers
Branded images
Information for prospective candidates
Suggested tweets
A local media press release
Local Council Awards Scheme (LCAS) National Panel deadline.
Applications for the next accreditation round of the national panel will need to be sent tonalc@nalc.gov.ukby 8 January 2021.
To find all the dates relevant to the national panel for 2021, they can be found here.
Dorset Council's Local Plan consultation will begin in January 2021 and will last for eight weeks. For information on where you can view the plan and details of how the consulation will take place, please see the attached document.
Get the latest news from Dorset Council, including leisure centre offers, waste and recycling, libraries and more. Sign up to their various newsletters though thislink.
Community Engagement - Website Content & Navigation
We are looking for more volunteers to join our group to help us review the structure of our content and website navigation to ensure it is user-friendly, accessible and easy to understand. Do you think you could help? To get involved and join the group, please complete our quick survey here.
Latest news from the Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)
Standards In Public Life - NALC are asking for responses by 17pm on Friday, 15 January 2021. topolicycomms@nalc.gov.uk. Each DAPTC member council received an email direct from DAPTC with the background information and a short list of questions. The email was issued 23/10/20. More information on the consultation can be found in this briefing note.
