This week has flown by as has the first two months of 2021. The week has been packed with meetings about things that our members will be able to tap into now and in the coming weeks.
First up was the Towns and Larger parishes call with Dorset Council on Monday. Here we had the usual informative update from Sam Crowe of Public Health Dorset and a briefing on The Armed Forces Covenant. On the latter topic Dorset Council are encouraging members to adopt the covenant in the coming months. A presentation was made about the covenant and if you would like to read more head over to the Dorset Council web pages:The Armed Forces Covenant
Dorset Council and DAPTC will be running two seminars on the Armed Forces Covenant in April via Zoom - 22nd April 2021 with a morning and evening sessions. These are available to both officers and elected members across Dorset. To register for one of the sessions head toDAPTC Seminarsand open up the session you wish to attend and follow the instructions.
Wednesday an informative Public Services Forum Chaired by Matt Prosser just reinforced what is great about Dorset and the collaboration and 'can do' spirit of what I can only describe as inspirational leaders from a number of public sector organisations - probably why we continue to top league tables for vaccinations and many other things. Virtual Meetings was the talk of our NALC national call along with devolution of services - sadly.....still no news for virtual meetings beyond 7th May so please make sure you have a Plan B for Annual Council and Annual Parish/Town Meetings. I see from Twitter a number of you are bringing dates forward.
Finally, I was asked to provide an update on the changes Debbie, Lisa and I have been making at DAPTC to Dorset Councillors. As a result we had some great feedback and we'll continue to work with DC to ensure the engagement of parishes and towns remains a key focus. Watch out for some news of a protocol to speed up responses between our members and Dorset Council as well as a dedicated web page.
Last of all....if you have a problem with councillors nodding off in a virtual council meeting there is some advice below. The good news, we hope later this year a return to face to face meetings will mean a sharp elbow in the ribs can come back as the preferred way of stopping the snoring of the member next to you!
Until then, keep smiling....
Neil
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.
INFORMATION | GUIDANCE | ADVICE
Don't forget to check out the links to Dorset organisations in the Other News section at the bottom of this newsletter, they are updated regularly.
1 . Sleeping Councillors
The NALC Legal Team recently received a request about a councillor who appeared to be sleeping during a remote meeting. The council went to NALC after the event. The scenario may be more common in remote meetings where fellow councillors are less able to use the subtle (or not so subtle) methods they would use in face to face meetings to prompt a councillor who has nodded off. Technically it’s likely a councillor who is not awake cannot be present so the desirable approach would be for the chairman to pause the meeting to ensure that councillors present are indeed present and correct.
2 . The 2021 Census - 21st March 2021 - CENSUS COMPLETION TIME
Every Dorset resident should this week have received a postcard from the ONS advising them that the 2021 Census is coming and that Sunday 21st March is Census Day. Your Census Engagement Manager for Dorset, Philip Eades, has offered his services to all Parish and Town Councils to attend your next meeting to explain the Census and advise local councillors how they can assist their local communities in completing the Census. The 2021 Census is designated as "Digital First" and the ONS have a target for 75% of returns to be made digitally. The hardest to count 10% of addresses (based upon the return rate in 2011) will automatically receive a paper census through the post
We are often asked about how a parish or town council can provide help to their local community through the giving of Grants. Many local councils, even the smallest, will use their Section 137 allowance to provide gifts of grants to small charities and organisations that are being run in their areas.
To enable your council to effectively administer the provision of grant funds, either Section 137 or through other spending powers, your council should adopt a Grants Policy. Along with the policy you could also create a Grant Application Form for organisations to complete where they can give details of how much they want and how they are going to use the grant funds. The council can then follow it's own policy to decide if the application will be successful and if funds can be donated. I've attached a couple of example policies below along with some application forms. If you council is interested in adopting a Grants Policy and agreement on a Grant Application Form, you could chose to use any of the examples as they are or with some minor amendments, or could take the best bits from a number and create your own.
4. Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Authority - Consultation of draft Community Safety Plan 2021-24
Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Authority are consulting on their draft Community Safety Plan, which sets out the key challenges and risks they are facing over the coming years. With future financial uncertainty, the plan details what they intend to carry on doing and what they intend to review and do differently, in order to continue to provide a high level of service to their communities. Visit their website to view the draft plan and the accompanying video. The consultation period runs from 17 February until 13 May 2021. If you wish to raise anything specific, or require any further assistance in accessing the information, please email direct toconsultation@dwfire.org.uk.
5. Website offer for smaller parishes
DAPTC have teamed up with the technology company Aubergine to enable smaller parish councils in our membership to obtain a very reasonably priced WCAG (Web Content Accessibilty Guidelines) compliant parish council website. The website is now very close to launch for our first council which is currently being tested, after this we will contact the other councils that expressed interest to let them begin the process of loading up their content. We'll be in touch before the end of February.
Further information on the offer can be found here.
If your council is interested in signing up to this offer, or hearing more please contact the DAPTC office.
6. DAPTC Quarterly Magazine
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
The New Councillor Induction training starts on 29th March 2021 from 5 to 6.30pm. but only LIMITED PLACES ARE AVAILABLE. The training will then run monthly, with a choice of 2-3.30pm or 5-6.30pm times, for any newly elected / co-opted Councillors. The training is made up of 4 components over the course of their first 4/6 weeks and is booked by the Clerk:
~ Attending a council or committee meeting where you have been elected or co-opted
~ Attending one of our monthly drop in sessions called 'What We Do' that gives an overview of the support DAPTC can give (75 mins)
~ The new e-learning module - Introduction to Local Councils (45 mins); available at any day and time as convenient
~ Webinar - New Councillor Induction (90 mins)
All Clerk’s need to do is to book aNew Councillor Induction(4) course for a date that suits and we will automatically enrol you on thee-learning Introduction to Local Councils(3) module. You are then left to pick a convenient date for'What We Do'(2) when we write to confirm 3 & 4. Depending on when you join council 1-4 components may not run in that order. It is more beneficial if you have attended a council meeting as the first step
We hope the above programme helps clerks and chairs get their new councillors hitting the ground running. The cost per delegate is £35 for all three sessions listed above.
The CiLCA Portfolio Guide 2021 has been recently updated. Take a look at the guide for more information on how the qualification is now administered and what subjects are included in the qualification.
NALC's dedicated Coronavirus webpagenow includes updated information on the possibility of the return of face-to-face meetings, suggestions to help prepare, risk assessment considerations and some tips to help manage remote meetings.
NALC launches Star Council Awards 2021
The National Association of Local Councils (NALC) has announced that it is once again running its awards programme this year as part of its work to recognise the local (parish and town) council sector’s achievements.
The Star Council Awards are the only awards in England to recognise and celebrate the local council sector’s brilliant contribution to its communities. Therefore, the awards are an excellent opportunity for councils, councillors, clerks, and county associations to showcase how they have made a real difference locally.
Following an unprecedented 2020, the theme for this year’s awards will be projects that have positively impacted communities in the context of COVID-19.
The five award categories are:
~ Clerk of the Year ~ County Association Project of the Year ~ Young Councillor of the Year ~ Councillor of the Year ~ Council of the Year
NALC will announce the winners at an online ceremony in September.
LTN 13 (Policing your Area), LTN 28 (Basic Charity Law) and LTN 87 (Procurement) have recently been updated and are available through the NALC website. Details of how to log onto the NALC website can be found in the Members Area of theDAPTC website here.
Dorset Councillors play their part in the NALC #makeachange campaign.
As part of the #Makeachange campaign NALC have recorded a series of videos which hears directly from councillors on why they became councillors and what their role is at their local council. Two of these councillors are from Dorset, Cllr Belinda Bawden from Lyme Regis Town Council and Cllr Josephine Parish from Corfe Castle Parish Council. Watch the series of videoshere. Make a Change - Become a Councillor campaign resources
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Dorset Council's Local Plan consultation began on 18th January 2021 and will last for eight weeks. For information on where you can view the plan and details of how the consultation will take place, please see the attached document.
You can view and comment on the consultation here.
Better Days - Day Opportunities and Support - Survey
Dorset Council Adult Social Care and Services are keen to hear from you if you use the following services:
Get the latest news from Dorset Council, including leisure centre offers, waste and recycling, libraries and more. Sign up to their various newsletters here.
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.
The NHS have now started the COVID-19 Vaccine programme. To find out more about the COVID-19 Vaccine please visit the NHS Vaccine Page.
Through our partnership with Dorset CCG, the communications team have asked that we share the attached social media assets which can be used on your website and social media profiles.
