Annual Assembly of Standards Committees

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Annual Assembly of Standards Committees
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Town and parish councils Capacity building,
peer mentoring and compacts

• Simon Aley, Monitoring Officer, Corby Borough
  Council
• Danny Moody, Principal Officer, Northamptonshire
  County
• Association of Local Councils
• Meera Tharmarajah, Solicitor and Head of Legal
  Services,
• National Association of Local Councils (chair)

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Session outline

• Overview of the capacity building project 2008
  2009
• Increase standards committees awareness of and
  role/relations with parish councils and the local
  bodies which represent them
• Encourage partnership working between standards
  committees and local bodies

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Aims of the capacity building project

• Improve governance at the most local level
• Prevent governance failures and relationship
  breakdowns
• Improve the application of the Code of Conduct in
  parish and town councils
• Identify good practice

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Two initiatives piloted

• Peer mentoring
• Compacts between CALCs and standards committees

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Who was involved?

• CLG, SfE, NALC
• County Associations of Local Councils
• Standards committees in each county area
• Society of Local Council Clerks
• Improvement and Development Agency
• Parish and town councils

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The peer mentoring programme pilot

• Aim? To test whether the group mentoring model
  would benefit parish and town councils
• How?
• The IDeA provided peer mentors
• The group mentoring model was used
• 8 councils in total
• 6 sessions in total per council
• Introduction 4 sessions final session

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The compact programme pilot

• Aim? To agree a written action plan/compact
  endorsed by CALCs and local branches of SLCC and
  standards Committees
• Why?
• Establish/improve communications between
  standards committees and parish and town councils
  
• Establish/improve communications/relations
  between standards committees and local bodies
• Establish/improve partnership working between
  standards committees, CALCs and local branches of
  SLCC

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Some improvements

• Potentially fewer complaints
• Removing barriers to governance
• Improved understanding for standards committee
  members
• Joint delivery of training
• Improved relationships
• Early/coordinated intervention

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Developing a compact

• Should standards committees have formalised
  arrangements/a compact to engage with and better
  support parish councils in their jurisdiction?
• Why and how ?
• Is this easier if the local bodies representing
  parish councils are involved?

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Outcomes from the pilot project compact (1)

• Improved partnership working
• Increased support from monitoring officers
• Help from the monitoring officer seen as
  supportive rather than threatening

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Outcomes from the pilot project compact (2)

• Better understanding by monitoring officers and
  standards committees of governance issues at
  parish level
• Better access to training for parish councillors
• A formal written document demonstrates commitment
  

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Outcomes from the pilot project peer mentoring

• Improving relationships
• Improved structures
• Developing new ways of working
• Improving community engagement
• Raising awareness of ethical standards for
  councillors

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Danny MoodyPrincipal Officer, Northamptonshire
County Association of Local Councils
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Questions

• What has gone wrong?
• What could yet go wrong?
• Who can help?
• What is needed?
• Who can deliver?
• How?
• When/at what stage?
• What outcomes are wanted?
• How do you get this into a compact?

20 mins
20 mins
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Simon AleyMonitoring Officer, Corby Borough
Council
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Town and parish councils Capacity building, peer
mentoring and compacts

• Simon Aley, Monitoring Officer, Corby Borough
  Council
• Danny Moody, Principal Officer, Northamptonshire
  County
• Association of Local Councils
• Meera Tharmarajah, Solicitor and Head of Legal
  Services,
• National Association of Local Councils (chair)

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Annual Assembly of Standards Committees