What is a Quality Parish Council?

In November 2000 the Government published the rural white paper: ‘Our Countryside: The Future. A Fair Deal For Rural England’. This set out a number of measures to give local people the opportunity to become more involved in the development of their communities. The Government believes that parish councils, as the tier of government that is closest to local communities, has a central role to play in improving local quality of life.

The white paper proposed a number of initiatives designed to enhance the role of parish councils; to develop a framework for partnership working; and to equip parish councils to take on a stronger role for the benefit of the local community. A central proposal was the introduction of the new concept of a Quality Parish Council.

Quality status aims to equip parish councils to take on a stronger role in their communities and should be achievable by any parish council, regardless of its size, location or current activities. It is part of the Government’s drive to modernise local government and ensure that all local authorities are more in touch with the people whom they serve.

Through this scheme the Government wants to encourage all parish councils to reach the standards of the best and, in doing so, to demonstrate their status as the local representatives of their communities. This should help them to work more closely with partners in the delivery of local services.

In essence a Quality Parish Council:

• is representative of, and actively engages, all parts of its community, providing vision, identity and a sense of belonging;
• is effectively and properly managed;
• articulates the needs and wishes of its community;
• upholds high standards of conduct;
• is committed to work in partnership with principal local authorities and other public service agencies;
• in proportion to its size and skills, delivers local services on behalf of principal local authorities when this represents the best deal for the local community;
• works closely with voluntary groups in its community;
• provides leadership to the community through its work on parish plans; and
• working with its partners, acts as an information point for local services.

The Quality Criteria

For a parish council to attain Quality Status, it should be able to demonstrate that it:

• is representative of, and actively engages with, all parts of its community, providing vision, identity and a sense of belonging;
• is effectively and properly managed; and
• has the ability and capacity to take on the enhanced role and responsibility that Quality status is likely to bring.

A number of tests have been devised to measure these criteria and a parish council must pass each test to be awarded Quality Status. The tests cover the following areas: 

1. Electoral Mandate
2. Qualifications of the Clerk
3. Council Meetings
4. Communication
5. Annual Reports
6. Accounts
7. Ethical Framework

Taking each test in turn you see that most requirements are relatively simple to achieve.

1. Electoral Mandate

Since neither Little Smeaton nor Kirk Smeaton currently hold Quality Status, in order to meet this part of the test at least 80% of all council seats need to be filled at the beginning of the current four year term by members who stood for election at that time.

2. Qualifications of the Clerk

A parish council must be able to demonstrate that it is well run and able to take on the enhanced role that Quality status will bring. All parish councils have a clerk (or proper officer) whose role is to act as day-to-day manager of the parish council’s affairs.

The clerk has responsibility for ensuring that the parish council acts within the law – whatever the size of the parish. S/he also ensures that the parish council is aware of what it can do and implements the decisions that the parish council takes. It is therefore vital that the clerk possesses the necessary knowledge, skills and competencies to carry out his or her duties correctly.

For accreditation as a Quality Parish Council, the clerk to the council must hold one of the following qualifications:

• Certificate in Local Council Administration awarded by the Assessment and Qualification Alliance (AQA); or
• Certificate of Higher Education in Local Policy or Local Council Administration awarded by the University of Gloucestershire (if before 2007).

3. Council Meetings

The requirements of this test are as follows:

• The council must meet on at least 6 occasions every year. The annual meeting of the parish council can be counted as one of the six occasions.
• Notices of the meeting must be publicly displayed at least 3 clear days before each meeting.
• The minutes of the meeting must be published (subject to any confidentiality requirements or statutory exemptions) within 2 months of the meeting and be available for inspection by any elector in the parish.
• Time must be allowed at each meeting for public participation.
• All councillors must attend the meeting unless, of course, there is good reason for absence.

4. Communication

There are mandatory and discretionary elements to this test. The mandatory requirements are as follows:

• The council produces and publishes a regular newsletter to local people at least four times a year.
• The newsletter must include information on the names of councillors and the clerk and how they can be contacted.
• A synopsis of the annual report should be provided to local people.
• The newsletter must be readily available at public sites across the parish.

The discretionary requirements comprise a list of other communications activities considered appropriate for a Quality Parish Council. Councils must be meeting at least 9 of the discretionary requirements. The list comprises activities such as mailing the Annual Report to each household, the maintenance of a parish council website, email facilities, councillor surgeries and consultation exercises.

5. Annual Reports

Many parish councils already publish an annual report to update their communities on the achievements of the council. The production of an annual report is an important link between the council and its electorate as well as demonstrating that the council is open and accountable. The publication of an annual report is a requirement to pass this test.

6. Accounts

Equally, it is crucial that all councils maintain accurate and transparent financial arrangements. All local electors should be allowed adequate and timely access to information, to encourage their involvement in council affairs.

All local authorities must comply with the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2003. These Regulations have updated the rules governing the way local authorities keep accounts, so that the accounting burden is proportionate to the size of the authority, and to make improvements to provisions relating to local authority corporate governance and accountability.

7. Ethical Framework

Parish councillors play an important role representing their local communities. In some cases, parish councils have budgets of tens of thousands of pounds; parish councils are also statutory consultees on planning issues. Local people have a right to expect that their local representatives are observing proper standards of conduct. Parish councils – like all other forms of council – were required to adopt a new code of conduct from May 2002, in line with the Local Government Act 2000.

A requirement of the code is that all councillors sign up to the code and register their interests. The code of conduct sets out the standards that are expected from parish councillors. Observing the code helps to protect councillors from accusations of improper conduct, and gives confidence to electors that their elected representatives are behaving impartially.

This article is a summary based on "The Quality Scheme Explained",
a publication from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.