the greater lincolnshire devolution deal what’s it all about? · former chairman of the...

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No. 158 2/2016

There has been much mention in recent weeks of the ‘Greater Lincolnshire Devolu-tion Deal’. So what changes will this bring about, and what is ‘devolution’? In short - the Government is offering English areas the opportunity to have greater responsibility and control over decision-making and financial arrangements in their region. This involves transferring powers and decisions which would usually be taken by central government to a more local/regional level. Currently, most spending decisions are made by central government, and local taxes go back to central government to redistribute as it seeks fit. ‘Devolution’ would alter these processes. Indi-vidual councils cannot bid for these extra powers and resources - it has to be done as part of a lar-ger joint authority, and there must be an elected mayor who oversees the grouping. In his spring budget statement, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, revealed that more powers and funding will be passed from the Government to the ’Greater Lincolnshire’ area. This will cover the region from the Humber to the Wash, and a devolution deal document has been agreed with Whitehall by all ten local authorities involved. However, this document is in effect a ‘heads of terms agreement’ at this stage and cannot at this point legally commit either side to any-thing - there are further processes to be followed first in terms of community engagement and en-dorsement. The ten authorities involved in this arrangement are North Lincolnshire Council, South Kesteven DC, West Lindsey DC, South Holland DC, City of Lincoln council, East Lindsey DC, Boston BC, North Kesteven DC, North-East Lincolnshire Council, and Lincolnshire County Council. Each individual authority will need to formally ratify the proposals at a full council meeting, following consultation with residents during the summer months. Although all of the principal councils will continue to exist in their present format, they will come together to form a ‘combined authority’ to exercise the new devolved powers - as is happening in other areas such as Sheffield and Man-chester. This ‘combined authority’ will have its own, directly-elected mayor to oversee its affairs. The funding and respon-sibilities will include housing, transport, skills training and flood risk management - with further commitments agreed on health and social care, and court and prison services.

The Greater Lincolnshire Devolution Deal....What’s it all about?

LALC AGM

The 2016 LALC AGM and Conference will be held on Tuesday 18th October 2016 at Waddington Village Hall from 5pm to 9pm.

The Guest Speaker will be Lynette Swinburne, Associate with Globe Consultants Limited, Lincoln, who will be discussing planning and neighbourhood planning.

Please use the attached booking form to book places or contact the LALC office (see back page) for more information.

Refreshments will be provided.

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Each individual council will have to endorse ‘the Deal’ at a meeting of their full council, after consul-tation has taken place with residents of each area during the summer months. What is the aim? To provide local accountability, making the new combined authority answerable to the one million residents of the Greater Lincolnshire area, and to give greater sustainability in the long-term. It is es-timated that these arrangements could boost the local economy by some £8bn, create a further 29,000 jobs and provide 100,000 new homes in the process. The combined authority will receive £15m per year for the next 30 years to support infrastructure projects to boost the economic growth of Greater Lincolnshire, and will have responsibility for a con-solidated, multi-year local transport budget to cover the area. This funding is only for new joint re-sponsibilities, and not for the individual authorities. The bid for a Greater Lincolnshire authority has also been supported by a number of other public bodies, such as Lincolnshire Police and Local En-terprise Partnerships (business-led groupings of local businesses, local authorities and others to promote local economic growth). More bureaucracy? - This combined authority will form a cabinet from the existing leaders of the ten participating local authorities, which will be chaired by the new mayor. The role of the mayor will be to unite the area, and work across the whole area, and to be held to account for locally made deci-sions. It is said that such an arrangement will be more efficient and more effective - providing greater democratic accountability and the authority to take decisions formerly taken in London. How will this all work in practice? • The new mayor will chair the Combined Authority. The mayor and Combined Authority Cabinet

will be scrutinised and held to account by a joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee made up of the Chairman of Scrutiny Committee from each local authority in the area.

• The mayor will need to consult the Cabinet on proposed strategies and spending plans and the Cabinet will have powers to reject decisions if two-thirds agree.

• The mayor will be held to account by voters with elections every few years, and the Greater Lincolnshire Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

• HM Treasury will carry out five-yearly ‘gateway assessments’ to look at the impact of any in-vestments on the economy.

• Only those electors in the Greater Lincolnshire area will get to vote for the mayor - with the first vote taking place in 2017.

Will it make a difference? Those involved clearly believe so - that it will provide greater resources and allow investment in pro-jects that will bring more jobs and homes to the local area, that it will encourage new skills and ex-pertise to grow the local economy and allow investment in major schemes, such as new transport infrastructure. There would also be the opportunity to bid for further devolved powers in due course.

S.137 allowance for 16/17

The Department for Communities and Local Govern-ment has confirmed that the ‘appropriate sum’ for the purposes of any expenditure under Section 137 (4)(a) of the Local Government Act 1972 for April 2016/March 2017 is £7.42. This is the amount that results from increasing the 15/16 amount by 0.8% - the percentage increase in the retail index between September 2014 and Sep-tember 2015, in accordance with Schedule 12B to the 1972 Act.

NJC Salary Scales for 2016-2018 now available For clerks on the NALC/SLCC contract and therefore subject to the NJC terms and condi-tions, the 2016-2018 salary scales have now been issued. They have been e-mailed out to all council con-tacts we have on record, are on the Members’ Area of the LALC website, or can be requested by e-mail or hard copy from the LALC office.

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TREVOR HOLMES

It is with very great sadness that the Association announces the death of the former Chairman of the Association, Trevor Holmes, who passed away peacefully at home on 30 January 2016 after losing his battle with cancer.

Regular readers will recall that Trevor made the difficult decision to stand down from his position as a Bourne town councillor, and thereby as LALC’s Chairman, in May of 2015, due to ill health.

Trevor had been an enthusiastic and active member of LALC’s County Com-mittee for 13 years, had served as Vice-Chairman since 2011 and had the chairmanship role ’thrust upon him’ suddenly in late 2013, due to the resigna-

tion, through unexpected illness, of the then newly-elected Chairman, Stamford Marthews. Trevor was a true gentlemen, well known for his wicked sense of humour and his love of sharing a good joke, and his visits to the LALC Office were full of fun and laughter, and often also accompanied by cream cakes or other goodies! He was a very kind, generous and caring individual, and a true pleasure to work with throughout the years.

He had an excellent knowledge of the local council sector, and huge enthusiasm for serving his local community. Trevor served on Bourne Town Council for 16 years - where he served two terms as Mayor in 2003/2004 and 2009/2010 - and also for some years as a district councillor on South Kesteven District Council

In latter years he was also very committed to his volunteering work, serving locally with the Bourne United Charities since 2007, and his practical involvement in the running of the town’s Butterfield Centre, which also led to him taking over the management of the finances, utilising his great knowledge and love of modern technology.

Trevor was also a great family man, a devoted husband and father, who treasured the moments that he spent with his wife Pam, daughters and granddaughters.

He will be greatly missed by all those who knew him and worked with him.

A reminder..... that councils should keep an eye on the News section of the LALC

website to ensure they stay up to date with ever-changing legislation, something that has gathered pace in recent times.

Recent alterations include the impact of the Public Contract Regulations 2015 on the Stand-ing Orders/Financial Regulations adopted by our member councils. The updated Regula-tions now impose detailed statutory requirements on councils when procuring and awarding certain types of contracts -

1. A public works, public service or public supply contract with an estimated value of £25,000 or more 2. A Public service or public supply contract with an estimated value of currently £164,176 or more 3. A Public works contract with an estimate value of currently £4,104,394 or more

(1) requires that any such contract over £25,000 must now be advertised on the government’s ‘Contracts Finder’ web-site, in addition to any local arrangements re procurement that might have been agreed by the Council. The require-ments of (2) and (3) are set by the European Commission and thresholds are adjusted every two years. This will affect only a very few councils but the requirements are quite complex, and any affected councils would need to seek further guidance. NALC’s Legal Topic Note 87 - available on the member’s area of the LALC website - gives detailed guidance about the application of the 2015 Regulations.

Council SOs and Financial Regulations therefore need amending to take into account the new requirements, and to that end, NALC’s Audit and Accounts Adviser, Derek Kemp, updated the model Financial Regulations in January to incorpo-rate the new 2015 procedures. These are also available on the LALC website, or on request from the office.

NEW PUBLICATIONS for 2016

‘The Good Councillors Guide 2016’ - produced by the National Training Strategy - available to view and download at www.nalc.gov.uk or from the members’ area of the LALC website. Hard copies available from the office - cost £2.50 per book. The updated ‘Governance and Accountability - A Practitioner’s Guide (England)(2016)’ -

s.1,2 and 3 - dealing with the completion of the Annual Return - are available on the NALC and LALC websites. This is THE formal financial guidance for town and parish councils, and all councillors and clerks need to be familiar with its contents...... Sections 4 and 5 (General Guidance) should be available by the end of June. Arnold Baker on Local Council Administration - 10th Edition - will be released in June 2016. Publishers are Lexis Nexis - as a NALC member, ask for the NALC 25% membership discount, or contact the office for further assistance.

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Employment Round-up......

Is a Council Liable for the Unacceptable Conduct of

Elected Members towards its Employees? A common concern for parish councils is unacceptable conduct by elected members towards staff. Quite often the target of such behaviour is the Clerk, however, they are by no means the only recipients. Other mem-bers of the Council, whilst disapproving and unhappy with such behaviour, often find themselves limited in what they can do. At a Local Government level, the Monitoring Officer is available at the District Council to deal with Code of Conduct issues; however, they are very limited in what sanctions they can impose. From an Employment Law perspective, if the subject of abuse has been employed by the Council for two or more years, they could claim Constructive Dismissal against the Council, as a result of the unacceptable conduct they have been subjected to. If the abuse makes reference to one or more of the protected characteristics within the Equality Act 2010, such as age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, the employee can take a claim of harassment against the Council to an Employ-ment Tribunal, regardless of their length of service. However, many council employees who are subject to abusive conduct rarely stay in a job for up to two years, preferring to move on rather than suffer such behaviour. In addition, abuse rarely ventures into issues to do with gender, race or disability. In our experience it is mostly outspoken criticism of the employee’s work. This is commonly done in public, such as Council meetings, and is described by the recipient as ridiculing, humiliating, demeaning and a serious cause of stress. It is not uncommon to find that under such circumstances, employees suffer long periods of stress and ill- health, which not only affects their ability to work, but all other aspects of their life. However, a recent Supreme Court decision (Mohamed v WM Morison [2016] SC) should sound a warning bell to coun-cils that they are responsible for the conduct of abusive councillors who are acting in a ‘representative capacity’ within the Council. Councils can be held liable for claims of assault, personal injury caused work related stress/depression and professional defamation of character which result from the unacceptable conduct of elected members. The case in question related to a supermarket employee who abused and assaulted a customer, and as a result, has provided a benchmark to all or-ganisations as to the limits of their vicarious liability. The Court decided that if any individual is acting in a ‘representative’ manner for their organisation when they carry out their assault/abuse, then their actions are clearly connected to their role within that organisation. In the case of an elected member who criticises a member of staff in public session and does so in an abusive and of-fensive manner, that councillor could therefore be considered to have been acting in their role as a representative of the Council. As the managing body of the employee, ‘the Council’ would be vicariously liable for any legal action that re-sulted. The Council could try to mitigate its employment liability by censuring the elected member. This can involve requiring that all communications from the problem councillor go through the Chairman or another member, rather than directly to the employee, prohibiting direct contact in the office or elsewhere outside of a meeting, or giving consideration as to whether someone should or should not serve on committees or on outside bodies. However, as Morrisons found in the above mentioned court action, even after they dismissed their abusive employee, they were still held liable in Court for his actions. Ideally, all councils should have their own conduct protocols which set out guidelines of acceptable conduct towards em-ployees, as well as internal penalties, which members should sign up to and adhere to.

PROFILE

Christopher Moses is Managing Director of Personnel Advice & Solutions Ltd and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and

Development. If you have any questions regarding these issues please feel free to contact him on (01529) 305056 or email [email protected]

While every care has been taken in compiling these notes, Personnel Advice and Solutions Ltd cannot be held responsible for any

errors or omissions. These notes are intended to provide general information. Guidance for specific legal problems should be sought separately.

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NATIONAL LIVING WAGE - RATE FOR 2016/2017 The Government’s National Living Wage came into force on 1 April 2016, replacing the National Minimum Wage for all workers aged 25 and over. The National Living Wage has initially been set at the rate of £7.20 per hour. The National Minimum Wage continues to apply to workers under the age of 25. The National Living Wage has no impact on the pay of clerks who have been employed under the NALC/SLCC model employment contract, as on band LC1, the lowest scale that applies to clerks/assistant clerks and RFOs starts at SCP 15, which is currently set at an hourly rate of £8.613. However, councils may have other staff who are affected by the introduction of the National Living Wage. The SCP5 rate having been deleted in October 2015, it still leaves SCP6 and SCP7 below the new rate. Any council employee who is employed on either of these rates must therefore be paid at the National Living Wage from now on. The Depart-ment for Business, Innovation and Skills has issued new guidance on calculating minimum entitlements to pay - this can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/511151/BIS-16-144-nnw-calculating-the-national-minimum-wage.pdf

Cemetery Management – The Golden Rule

Whilst I say Golden Rule, I should say Golden Law - as adherence to Article 10(6) of the Local Authorities Cemeteries Order 1977 will assist. It states that:

No body shall be buried, or cremated human remains interred or scattered, in or over any grave or vault in which an exclusive right of burial for the time being subsists except by, or with the consent in writing of, the owner of the right.

The Article goes on to state:

This paragraph shall not extend to the body, or remains, of the person who immediately before his/her death was the owner of the right . Therefore no permission is required if a burial is that of the registered grave owner.

The above also applies to rights to erect a memorial an adding an inscription.

Should an authority permit a burial without the written consent of the registered owner, it will find itself in a very difficult situation. If the registered owner comes forward and objects, the authority might have to cover the cost of exhumation and reburial - and compensation for distress. If a memorial has to be removed because the permission of the registered owner was not given, the authority might also have to reimburse the person that purchased the memorial.

It is a simple matter to check whether or not the registered owner has signed a burial or memorial application by referring to your register of purchased graves.

Adherence to the Golden Law can also help remove an authority from a family dispute. It has arisen where two factions of a family are in dispute over who should be buried in a grave. The simple solution is for the authority to quote the Golden Law and step aside. Should the party that is not the registered owner continue to argue with the authority, the simple response is to advise that party that they should seek their own legal advice and take any action that they consider appropriate in light of that advice. Such legal advice should conclude that the disputing party could do nothing.

When a registered owner has died and is to be buried within the grave, it is good practice to contact the applicant for his/her funeral and suggest that contact is made to arrange a lawful transfer of ownership when convenient. This will help ensure that you have a living person registered as owner who you can take instruction from in the future. Should a family not arrange a transfer after the death of the registered owner and some time later request a further burial in the grave, it will be necessary to arrange a lawful transfer of ownership BEFORE that burial can take place. The lawful transfer process will identify the person(s) entitled to take over the ownership, and hence keep the local authority out of any potential family dispute.

Use the law wisely - as it can help and protect you and your authority as well as cemetery users.

Tim Morris, FICCM(Dip), Chief Executive Institute of Cemetery & Crematorium Management

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Free websites... for parish/town councils are still available from the County Council. For smaller councils, this can aid compliance with the new mandatory Transparency Code? The site, once completed, is hosted on the County Council’s server f.o.c. and support is provided to train the administrator of the site. For further details, and to register an interest, please contact the Digital Engagement Team at Lincolnshire County Council. The Lead Officer is:

Gemma Mond Digital Engagement Officer Lincolnshire County Council

Room 41, County Offices, Newland, Lincoln, LN1 1YL

Please contact Gemma and her colleagues in the first instance by e-mail at:

[email protected]

A REMINDER...... That if it has not already done so, your Council can sign up to access the Members’ Area of the LALC

website at www.lalc.co.uk Registration is for one password per council, so members will wish to decide whether the Clerk uses the site on behalf of the Council, or whether the password is issued to all councillors. If so, and there is a change in Council membership, we would request that the password is refreshed to help maintain the security of the site. In addition, councillors can sign up to join the LALC councillors’ e-group to receive regular infor-mation, updates and consultation documents. Clerks are able to register for the online chat fo-rum (townsandparishesinlincs) or if they prefer, the information-only group (infofromlalc). For further information, or to sign up for any of the e-groups, please contact Lindsey at the office via [email protected]

A matter of convenience......

NALC has been lobbying government for some time now , on behalf of its membership, for a change in government policy with regard to the substantial amount of tax that is levied on public conveniences.

And there has been a breakthrough - an announcement in the 2016 Budget could possibly lead to parish councils finally being exempt from business rates on their loos!

The ‘toilet tax’ is levied on parish councils for running public conveniences they own or manage and is costing local tax payers thousands of pounds.

This is resulting in many public conveniences being closed all over the country - despite their fundamental importance and value within local communities.

The Chancellor announced - in Clause 2.125 of the spring Budget - that 'the government will allow principal authorities in England to use their discretionary relief powers to support publicly-owned public lavatories from 1 April 2018'. NALC will be pressing for an early discussion with the Government and others on what this commitment means, and how it will work in practice.

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A Light Touch… Lincolnshire County Council (LCC) is in the process of making its system of street lighting more efficient, sustainable, and relevant for Lincolnshire. This is above and beyond where existing street lights have already been improved using LED technology through normal capital investment.

Whilst there is no statutory duty to provide street lighting, the prime purpose of LCC owned street lights is to provide light to the publicly maintainable adopted highway.

It currently costs approximately £5M per year to operate and maintain the County Council's 68,000 street lights. Almost £3M of this is spent on electricity.

It should be noted that some footway lighting is also provided by district, town and even parish councils, and that these often also light the road. These are not part of the LCC changes. In most cases street lighting columns have a sticker that denotes the ownership – e.g. LCC along with an asset number.

The changes that people are most likely to notice are the:

• Conversion to LED of approximately 17,000 lights, which will also be dimmed later at night

• Introduction of part night lighting to 38,000 lights in residential areas – where street lights will turn on at dusk, but switch off at either midnight or 10pm and on again at 6am

• Switching off of up to 3000 lights on roads away from built up areas, following careful assessment alongside Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership.

We have giving careful consideration to the effects of dimming or switching off lights at each location. In some places, we find that changes wouldn't be appropriate, so the lights will stay as they are. Examples of where street lights will remain switched on all night include; town centres, locations where there are safety features in the road (e.g. Zebra crossings, speed humps etc) and in areas adjacent to care / nursing home.

Parish Councils and local LCC Councillors will be notified in advance of any action being taken to fully switch off any street lights within their boundary/ward.

The combination of changes are designed to:

• Save £1.7M revenue funding per year

• Reduce electricity usage by 12.5M Kwh per year

• Reduce LCC’s carbon footprint by 6,254 tonnes

• Reduce light pollution

• Reduce ongoing maintenance needs

These changes commenced in April 2015 and are expected to take around 12 months to introduce. Recently many Local Authorities, including LCC, provided the LANTERNS project with historic inventory data to enable them to research the impact that changes to street lighting had on accidents and crime across the country. The report confirmed that when risks are carefully considered, local authorities can safely reduce street lighting, saving energy costs and reducing carbon emissions, without impacting negatively on traffic collisions and crime.

Richard Hardesty, Senior Project Leader (Major Schemes) Lincolnshire County Council – Highways Alliance

Further information about the County Council's Street Lighting Transformation Project is available by going to www.lincolnshire.gov.uk and search 'street lighting' – where there is a list of Frequently Asked Questions.

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And now for a bit of light relief - a different perspective on the council/clerking world kindly submitted by one of our stalwart

Clerks, Jen Cooper - any similarities to any councillors or clerks, past or present, living or dead, are entirely unintentional.....!!

THE MODERN CLERK “Can you image”, said Cllr MS18, “what they had to do in 2012. Imagine having to leave your home and drive one of those funny things to sit in a cold old room to have a meeting?” “I know, “ said MS17, “how did they do it? To have to actually physically control one of those pollutant conveyors just to talk to each other!” “Excuse me sirs” XPVista20 Automated Clerking software interrupted the online conversation between the Councillors, “but the rest of the members are ready for the meeting”. “Thanks” - both Cllrs MS18 and MS17 settled in front of their screens ready for the meeting. The Chair of the Council opened the meeting and asked if there were any public questions. XPVista20 was poised to take electronic notes and respond as necessary. It had been programmed and knew the parish inside out and upside down, and regularly updated itself through the Government site so it was up to date with all new legislation and also local affairs. A light came on from the local free kindle room - a Member of the Public had an issue with someone who obviously was not feeding their canine household companion properly, and not using the new (and legally required) excrement dispenser food additive. There was dog poo on the conveyor between the shops and the housing complex which hadn’t dissolved, and what was the Council going to do about it? XPVista20 duly noted the problem and sent an automatic instruction to the robotic conveyor cleaner to charge itself and deal with the matter as soon as it was able. No other public lights flashed so the Chairman started the meeting. XPVista20 already had apologies from members, and knew any business interests they may have in the electronic agenda, so those items were quickly dealt with. The main issue on the meeting was the precept – what was the MS Council going to spend next year, and on what, now that the community volunteers did everything? The princi-pal items were displayed on each councillor’s screen:

• dog poo dispenser additive (for visitors to the area who had forgotten to pack theirs) - £5m • computer upgrades for XPVista20 software - £10m • new brushes for the robotic conveyor cleaner - £3m • warning signs for the floating roadway - £2m • software updates for members - £1m • cleaner for the artificial auto-renewed floral displays - £1m • virtual tree to commemorate and remember the past tradition of Christmas - £500,000 • upgrade to the anti-pollutant defence cap over the town - £1m • miscellaneous items - £200,000

A general precept of £24 million (rounded up) was agreed, with XPVista20 immediately conveying the decision to the central European management group for approval. When the Chairman closed the meeting, thanking all those for attending, XPVista20 automatically converted the transcript into minutes and sent those directly to each member’s personal computer, implanted behind their ears so the document appeared virtually before their eyes in a heads up display, even whilst asleep. It also automatically transferred the payments agreed to recipient XPVista20 machines, checked funds and sent messages to other ma-chines at higher levels before shutting itself down for the night – job done. At start up the next daybreak, XPVis-ta20 organised transfers from the climate controlled allotment growers funds to cover the cost of the additional dome over the growing areas to mimic rain, sun and blue skies which helped the old fashioned historical growing methods, allocated funds in and out through its software and checked balances at the government money centre, which then reconciled the accounts automatically. It also organised and checked the virtual marking and downloaded cloud rental space to book itself a place on the Society of Local Council Computers online conference later that year. A quick check with the Chairman’s PC showed no outstanding matters and XPVista20 shut down for that day. The following daybreak XPVista20 received an update from the government mainframe on new legislation, and after digesting and quantifying the changes, sent a broadcast to each member’s implanted computer. XPVista20 then set about sending communications to computers belonging to other local groups to invite them to a computer conference on behalf of the Chairman of the Council. This type of Civic Service alleviated the need for travel - although now everyone had the shoe suits issued once they reached the age of 14 which enabled them to fly easily from venue to venue, this wasn’t a problem, but a venue where the shoe suits could be easily stored and recharged often was. As the parish was neatly encased inside the huge dome with an artificial climate, wind, rain and snow also failed to impact on travel arrangements. Its work done, XPVista20 once again shut down. ...../.....

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This type of Civic Service alleviated the need for travel - although now everyone had the shoe suits issued once they reached the age of 14 which enabled them to fly easily from venue to venue, this wasn’t a problem, but a venue where the shoe suits could be easily stored and recharged often was. As the parish was neatly encased inside the huge dome with an artificial climate, wind, rain and snow also failed to impact on travel arrangements. Its work done, XPVista20 once again shut down. A week later XPVista20 was able to report to all councillors that the person responsible for the dog excrement incident had been caught and XPVista20 had used its powers to find the per-son guilty and due punishment had been metered out. That person’s dog had been removed and re-homed imme-diately with a new owner, who had been supplied with feed additives. There was no right of appeal; XPVista20 had the final say in such matters. An invitation had been received by XPVista20 for the Chairman to attend a com-puter conference set up by the XPVista20 machine for the adjacent area. Checking the Chairman’s electronic diary XPVista20 responded and booked the Chairman in for him to attend the virtual service. Buffets now no longer fol-lowed such events. Cllr MS17 sent a thought transmission through to Cllr MS18. “I’ve found some old minutes from 2014, and they are fascinating. Did you realise Councils paid a human to sit in a room all day and physically operate one of the old fashioned computers – you know the type with keyboards. They did that 5 days a week, all day. Our XPVista20s are so much more efficient”. “Yep,” agreed MS18, “and cheaper too”. “What happened to all those Council Clerks?” asked MS17. “They were euthanized in 2020, it was quite painless”..... ...John Smith woke with a start, in a hot sweat. Euthanasia hadn’t been on the agenda – what had he done? He then began to realise it was all a dream. He really must stop bringing council work home with him and letting the Councillors get to him. He was an experienced Clerk but really should step back a little before it was too late. Eventually he drifted back to sleep; in doing so he failed to see his bedside clock suddenly click over from 21/12/12 to 21/12/20, and the iPad in the corner flicker to life.....

The value of training ....... From a councillor’s perspective I became a councillor in May 2015 in the Town of Mablethorpe and Sutton on Sea. The decision to become a councillor was not taken lightly. It followed my attendance at meetings over several years as a member of the public.

It quickly became apparent that what I had observed during my attendance as a member of the pub-lic from a knowledge point of view was but the tip of the iceberg. It was obvious that I had a lot to learn if I was to serve the community as I ought. I, together with newly elected councillors of like mind, approached our town clerk for advice. He assessed our needs, then presented us with a timetable of courses run by the Lincolnshire Association of Local councils (LALC). They deliver a huge range of courses - covering such things as IT skills, new councillor training, food safety, first aid, burials, employment law and much, much more. I have now, in the short time I have been a councillor, attended more courses than I can remember and will continue, together with fellow councillors, to attend others. The content of the courses and the subject matters are professionally put together, the lecturers carefully selected, as are the ven-ues. Some of the Courses I have attended I have done so twice, to find that the laws and regula-tions are continually being updated by government. It would be a mistake for councillors, new or established, to think they are not in need of training. I, together with my other councillors, have been able to bring to the council new ideas and improved knowledge of our roles, and a better understanding of our responsibilities. In doing so, I believe we have contributed to the Council achieving Quality status, and we are finally on the road to Quality Gold status. In conclusion, I would urge all councillors to consider the needs of their role, and how training could better their performance to the advantage of their community.

Councillor A Mee Mablethorpe and Sutton Town Council

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2016 TRAINING EVENTS

VENUE DATE TIME

RISK MANAGEMENT AND CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITIES

AM: Council perspective on Health & Safety - tutored by Mick Burrows, ex Health & Safety in the Workplace Officer PM: Management of Community Buildings - including a presentation by Phil Odlin, Ex-Fire Officer, on managing fire risk

Cranwell Village Hall Old School Lane

Cranwell Sleaford

NG34 8DF

Wednesday 8th June

10:00 -12:30 LUNCH

13:30 - 16:00

NEW COUNCILLOR TRAINING SESSION

An introductory session for new councillors explaining the role of local council, powers and duties, policies and procedures or a refresher for more experienced councillors

Stickney Village Hall Hall Lane Stickney Boston

PE22 8BG

Wednesday 15th June

18:30 - 21:00

PLAY AREAS, FUNDING & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

AM: Provision, safe management and risk assessment of community play areas by Wicksteed Leisure, following by funding opportunities (LALC/LCC) PM: Community engagement and consultation presentation/workshop by LALC & Paul Drury of LCC

Manor Park Hackthorn Road

Welton Lincoln

LN2 3LY

Wednesday 22nd June

10:00 -12:30 LUNCH

13:30 - 16:00

I.T. SKILLS

Beyond the basics Microsoft Excel 2010 - A full day workshop Tutored by John Ritchie BEM

LALC Office Dunholme Old School 8 Market Rasen Road

Dunholme LN2 3QR

Thursday 30th June

10:00 - 16:00

CLERKS’ TRAINING DAY

For new clerks who wish to learn the basics and for more experienced clerks who would like to refresh their knowledge of administration and current legislation

Gedney Victory Hall Chapel Gate

Gedney Spalding PE12 0BJ

Thursday 7th July

10:00 - 16:00

PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE AM: Lincolnshire Prevent team inform Councils about the Prevent Strategy and how it links into Safeguarding their communities, followed by Community Engagement PM: Community Consultation for the first part of the afternoon, following by EMERGENCY PLANNING workshop delivered by the Community Emergency Planning Team

Nettleton Village Hall Moortown Road

Nettleton LN7 6AA

Wednesday 13th July

10:00 -12:30 LUNCH

13:30 - 16:00

FOOD SAFETY AWARENESS

As of the 13th of December 2014, anyone handling or packaging food must, by EU law, have allergen awareness training. Our in-house course program has been de-signed to ensure staff are sufficiently trained and aware of the issues surrounding

allergies as enforced in these latest rules and regulations - delivered by TutorCare

Dunholme Village Hall Honeyholes Lane

Dunholme LN2 3SU

Thursday 14th July

13:00 - 16:00

COUNCILLORS’ TRAINING DAY

In-depth all day course for councillors covering such topics as powers & duties, policy & procedure, financial management, employment, meeting procedures & planning


Dunholme LN2 3QR

Wednesday 20th July

10:00 - 16:00

FIRST AID AT WORK

First Aid at Work - certificated course delivered by Medrock Training

Dunholme Village Hall Honeyholes Lane

Dunholme LN2 3SU

Thursday 21st July

09:30 - 16:00




Dunholme LN2 3QR

Wednesday 3rd August

10:00 - 16:00

PLANNING/NEIGHBOURHOOD PLANNING

Presentation/workshop by Globe Consultants ’How to get started with a neighbourhood plan’ and ‘How to effectively comment on

planning applications’

Mablethorpe Town Council Offices

Stanley Avenue Mablethorpe Lincolnshire LN12 1DP

Tuesday 6th September

13:00 - 16:00

COUNCIL FINANCES

Dealing with day to day aspects of keeping the books, effective budgeting and finan-cial risk assessment, and an explanation of internal and external audit requirements

Village Hub Old School

48 Knight Street Pinchbeck PE11 3RU

Wednesday 7th September

18:30 - 21:00

FIRST AID AT WORK

First Aid at Work - certificated course delivered by Medrock Training


Dunholme LN2 3QR


09:30 - 16:00




Dunholme LN2 3QR


10:00 - 16:00

11

2016 TRAINING EVENTS

VENUE DATE TIME

BURIALS

Burial documentation - including rights of burial, lawful processes for transferring burial rights, sourcing necessary documents & drafting statutory declarations in absence of other legal evidence, identifying lawful next of kin and implementing a sound adminis-

trative system that protects the burial authority’s interests

Welbourn Village Hall Beck Street

Welburn Lincs

LN5 0LZ


18:30 - 21:00

EMPLOYMENT AND PENSIONS

Employment Law - The latest changes to employment legislation and associated ‘hot topics’

Pensions - the session will cover the responsibilities of councils under automatic enrol-ment legislation, information on the new Local Government Pension Scheme and other

pension matters in the news.

Kirkby Underwood Village Hall The Green

Kirkby Underwood Lincs

PE10 0SE


13:00 - 16:00

I.T. SKILLS

Basic Microsoft Excel 2010 - A full day workshop Tutored by John Ritchie BEM


Dunholme LN2 3QR

Thursday 29th September

10:00 - 16:00

CHAIRMAN AND CLERKS’ TRAINING SESSION In-depth evening session for Chairman and clerks covering such topics as meeting

procedures, planning....


Dunholme LN2 3QR

Tuesday 4th October

18:30 - 21:00

AGENDAS AND MINUTES

An evening workshop on how to create a good agenda, take notes effectively and pro-duce clear and concise minutes


Dunholme LN2 3QR

Wednesday 12th October

18:00 - 21:00

CHARITY LAW

One day course explains the law relating to trusts and provides operational guidance for the trusteeship of charities.

Presented by Roger Taylor, Hedleys Solicitors

Wragby Town Hall Louth Road

Wragby LN8 5PH

Wednesday 26th October

10:00 - 15:00

CLERKS’ TRAINING DAY

For new clerks who wish to learn the basics and for more experienced clerks who would like to refresh their knowledge of administration and current legislation

Nettleton Village Hall Moortown Road

Nettleton LN7 6AA

Thursday 3rd November

10:00 - 16:00




Dunholme LN2 3QR

Wednesday 9th November

10:00 - 16:00

I.T. SKILLS

Beyond the basics Microsoft Excel 2010 - A full day workshop Tutored by John Ritchie BEM


Dunholme LN2 3QR

Thursday 10th November

10:00 - 16:00

COUNCILS’ FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITIES & RISKS inc VAT

AM: Finance and risk management, with insurance guidance from Came & Co PM: The basics of internal audit, how to create an effective budget and understanding

the intricacies of VAT legislation for local councils

Cracroft Village Hall Boston Road

West Keal Spilsby

PE23 4BD

Tuesday 15th November

10:00 -12:30 LUNCH

13:30 - 16:00

NEW COUNCILLOR TRAINING SESSION

An introductory session for new councillors explaining the role of local council, powers and duties, policies and procedures or a refresher for more experienced councillors


Dunholme LN2 3QR

Wednesday 16th November

18:30 - 21:00

CILCA x 2 day course

A two day training course for anyone who wishes to obtain their Certificate in Local Council Administration


Dunholme LN2 3QR

Wednesdays 23rd & 30th November

09:30 - 16:30

Please remember that all bookings for councillors to attend training events should be made on

their behalf by their council’s clerk. Acknowledgement of all bookings will then be sent to the

clerk.

When making bookings for all day events, please can clerks advise LALC of any special

access requirements or dietary requirements for those attending so appropriate ar-

rangements can be made?

12

A publication compiled by the Lincolnshire Association of Local Councils for its members within the county - any views expressed herein are not necessarily those of the Association.

It is intended for circulation amongst councillors and the Clerk. Please read and pass on, making sure it is returned to the Clerk for reference. Alternatively, please copy /distribute to members as necessary. We can

provide additional copies @ £2.80 per set per annum.

The LALC News is also available in e-version—please ask the office to add you to the mailing list.

HOW TO CONTACT US: LALC . Dunholme Old School . 8 Market Rasen Road . Dunholme . LINCOLN . LN2 3QR

Tel: 01673 866596 & 01673 863417 E-mail: [email protected]/[email protected]/[email protected]/[email protected]

LALC OFFICE HOURS

The office is normally open Monday - Friday each week, with core hours of 10am - 3pm. Please note, however, that there are periods where the office is not manned due to meeting/training commitments elsewhere.. If we are unavail-able, please leave an answer-phone message/send an e-mail and we will get back to you as soon as we can but...... we would appreciate as much notice as possible of important queries - it is often not possible to meet requests for a response at short notice on the day of a council meeting. As it is ‘the Council' as a corporate body that is LALC’s member, we are unable to deal with specific enquiries from individual councillors relating to their own council’s business, although we try to assist by clarifying gen-eral points of law or procedure if appropriate. Requests for advice on individual council issues should nor-mally be processed via the Clerk as the council’s Proper Officer (or the Chairman in relation to employment matters involving the Clerk) unless the council as a body has previously resolved otherwise.

Introducing the new face in the LALC office.......

Paddy Ibbotson - LALC’s new Training and Support Officer Paddy commenced work with LALC on 3 May 2016, and is currently on a steep ‘learning curve’ to get to grips with the ins and outs of the Association’s business. Some of you will already have met him at training - others will no doubt do so during the coming weeks.

Once his induction period is over, Paddy’s main responsibility will be to ac-tively work alongside Katrina to prepare and deliver the content for our schedule of training events, or to oversee delivery by our outside presenters - Lindsey will continue to be the main contact in the office for making training bookings....

Paddy’s other responsibilities will also include preparation of the LALC News, updating the LALC website, and general office duties - such as assisting with office coverage, dealing with telephone and e-mail queries where time permits, and a no. of other general duties.

These changes are in anticipation of my planned retirement at the end of September 2016., at which point Katrina will be taking over as the Association’s Chief Executive with effect from 1 October 2016.

To contact Paddy, please use the telephone nos. below or e-mail him at [email protected]

Trisha

Everything You Need to Know About Street Lighting By Stanley W Hall

This new book contains a wealth of up to date practical information about all as-

pects of street lighting. It is divided into fifteen chapters about lighting principles,

design, maintenance and associated electrical installations and is supported with

dozens of colour images, diagrams, worked examples and case studies.

With explanations regarding legislation, regulations and design, etc. it will be of

value to those who are engaged on a course of study of public lighting and to

managers or project leaders who require a broad appreciation of highway lighting

principles to aid their decision making.

The book costs £100 and is available in paperback or hard back. For more infor-

mation contact [email protected].

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