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March, the month when Spring officially starts and the sight of the first daffodil with its cheerful yellow tones brightens our mood.  Already three months into 2021 and the final month of the tax year. 
Information Rights: Last week the SLCC Conference was held virtually, an annual event that is well attended by Norfolk Clerks, and it seems even more signed up this year with it being an online event.  A session on Use & Abuse of Information Rights by Jonathan Goolden LLP provided a lively overview of the main pitfalls and how to mitigate their impact.  Information rights is largely underpinned by Freedom of Information Act 2000, Environment Information Regulations and Data Protection Act 2018.  The ICO is the independent body that upholds information rights and is a valuable resource for both councils and individuals.  Here are some of my takeaways from Jonathan’s session:
  • Check your council’s information related policies and procedures comply with the legislation.
  • Have a vexatious person policy – put it in place before you need it.
  • Use your Council website to publish more than you have to – this gives you a quick closure on many information requests that can be signposted to your website.
  • Training for all members and staff, especially chairmanship skills for existing and potential chairmen.  See below for relevant up-coming courses.
Some things to do in March:
  • Prepare for end of year accounts – read the latest Practitioner’s Guide
  • Expect AGAR EMAIL (from PKF Littlejohn) – check your spam!
  • Asset register review
  • Confirm date and arrangements for Annual Parish Meeting – any date from 1 March to 1 June (think about having it virtually before 6 May!)
  • Policy reviews – don’t leave them all for the Annual Council Meeting in May.
Holiday Allowance: as we come to the financial year end, it is time to check what is outstanding on holiday allowances for staff – equally important for the part-time Clerk as well as the larger staffing team. Annual allowances will be identified within employment contracts and will be equal or better than the statutory minimum allowance of 5.6 weeks.  For most, the calculation of annual allowance and identifying what is still outstanding will be a relatively simple one, but the calculator on the .gov website will give you assurance if you are calculating from a statutory minimum base. 
Play area inspection courses – delivered by CAN in Dereham. 
Book your place by email: office@communityactionnorfolk.org.uk
  • 12 May, 10am to 1pm
  • 5 August, 10am to 1pm
  • 10 November, 10am to 1pm
Operation London Bridge - delivered by Philip Peacock SLCC, clerk to Huntingdon Town Council One of the significant events to prepare for in the future, with an unknown date, is the passing of HM the Queen, Duke of Edinburgh or the Prince of Wales. Nationally, the State Mourning and Funeral plans have been prepared by the Earl Marshall, for a number of years and are regularly reviewed. Is your council ready for this major historic event, for which no date can be given and you will only get one chance to get it right? This webinar will look at the areas your council may wish to consider in making plans for Operation London Bridge.

Huntingdon Town Council continues to maintain all of its Civic traditions, and with his previous voluntary role as Chapter Steward at Ely Cathedral, Philip is used to managing both Civic and Church Protocol, along with how Church and State need to work together on National events.
Parish Online - delivered by Graham Stoddard-Stones
Graham is a Parish Councillor and a keen and expert user of Parish Online. Graham set up and runs the excellent Parish Online User Group (Somerset) (PUGS) which holds regular training and application sessions for Somerset councils. Graham also encourages councils from outside Somerset to join his sessions, so that, in effect, PUGS is becoming a country-wide User Group.  Graham has set up the PUGS website, still a very much work-in-progress, which is designed to give hints and tips to users of Parish Online, to provide access to the recordings which may be of use, and keep users up to date with progress (this is one of those areas particularly still being developed!).  It is visible here https://gcstones52.wixsite.com/pugs

Graham also hosts three standardised events, all of which are free: 
  • Weekly informal get-togethers on Fridays at 3pm: these are Zoom meetings for anyone - whether novice or expert in Parish Online - to come and ask questions (usually ad-hoc) of the assembled group on any aspects of the software.  Discuss different ways of doing things, workarounds, and generate questions for Geoxphere on wishes or bugs.  
  • Fortnightly demonstrations of Parish Online, on Mondays at 3pm: these consist of about a 25 minute demonstration, on Zoom, covering all the facilities within the product, and why you would want to use them ("Get all of your data out of that locked, inaccessible and inhospitable filing cabinet, on to a visual, geographical, digital online facility available 24/7").  There is a Q&A session after the demo, duration entirely determined by the attendees!  Attendees receive an email afterwards with a list of useful contacts and other bits of helpful info.
  • Monthly "Clinics", usually on a middle of the month Wednesday at 3pm: informal sessions structured around a Guest Speaker presenting, via Zoom, upon a specific topic.  The latest one, cunningly named "Using Parish Online to create your Neighbourhood Plan", was simply the newest in a series of quite absorbing subjects.  Since these sessions, with their subsequent Q&As, often stretch to 60 minutes or more, there is also a "video timeline" provided, which lists the major topics and their start time in the video - so that you can jump to just the interesting bits, and save time).
Each event has a Zoom registration link.  Although the invitation states a specific time and date, following the link gives you the choice of selecting any one from a range of future dates.  Details as follows: 
Some upcoming courses – book your place
  • Introduction to Neighbourhood Planning with Rachel Leggett, Tuesday, 2 March 7pm – just two places left
  • Managing burial ground memorials with Alan Fairchild, Wednesday, 10 March 11am – just two places left
  • Preparing the AGAR with Pauline James, Thursday, 11 March 2.30pm – just one place left
  • FOIA/EIR Essentials for Clerks and Councillors with Phil Brown, Tuesday, 23 March 10am
  • GDPR Essentials for Clerks and Councillors with Phil Brown, Wednesday, 24 March 7pm
April and beyond – we have courses on planning, year end accounts, charities, charity administration, community engagement, neighbourhood planning and more.
Finance courses – a membership benefit is access to a range of specialists and practitioners, such as Steve Parkinson who specialises in local council finance.  He regularly delivers a rolling programme of the following courses and you can book direct and secure our negotiated rate of just £30 per booking.
  • Finance for Councillors
  • VAT for local Councils
  • Year end accounts & audit (focus is on medium to large councils)
  • Internal Controls for local councils
New Clerks – our four-session Role of the Clerk course provides you with a firm foundation knowledge.  Our next course begins on Wednesday 7 April at 9.30am and continues the same day and time for four weeks.  This course is delivered by our SLCC CiLCA recognised Trainer and is an excellent foundation for your professional development onto CiLCA.
New Councillors – our popular Effective Councillor two-part course is the essential starting point for your professional development.  This course runs every month and varies between evening and daytime, so there is sure to be a date that suits you. Our April course is the 6 and 13 April at 10am each morning.
Don’t forget our twice a month online Clerk Café Clusters - 1st and 3rd Wednesday of every month, 2pm.  Each month, we have a special guest on one date and a free-flow session on the other. Free and only open to Clerks – book your place on any or all of these events.   March – our focus is on year-end accounts with Pauline James.  
Other learning opportunities
  • SLCC – the membership association for Clerks
  • Future learn – many free online courses that will provide professional and personal development
  • Leadership learning – another opportunity (for those who attended the SLCC Conference) to hear from Suki Bassi, Chief Happiness Officer at HappyMaven
To book a training course click here
To view current Vacancies click here
  
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