NORFOLK PTS

Our chairs' networking sessions are a forum to talk to others in the same role to sound out ideas and ask us for support. These informal sessions have received fantastic feedback so if you are a chairperson or vice-chairperson and would like to connect with others with the same role, join us!

Two-part course for Councillors: 15 & 22 January 7-9 pm  

Understanding how Parish and Town Councils work and your role and responsibilities is not easy, particularly if you are new to local government. This induction course explains the legal framework giving you the confidence to take a full part in your Council and make a difference in your local area. 

Do you want to learn more about the Internal Auditor Role? Would you like to gain the confidence to become an Internal Auditor? Then this course is for you.

Every local council must have an internal auditor: someone who is independent of the management of the council and competent to carry out the role.  This role has become significantly more important for ‘exempt’ councils: those with a turnover under £25,000. 

You'll be taken step-by-step through the process of preparing a Neighbourhood Plan for your parish. We'll look at the advantages of having a Neighbourhood Plan, the stages for producing a plan, and the time and resource commitment required.  This course includes a case study example of a Norfolk village Neighbourhood Plan – what has worked and what hasn’t.

If you've been a councillor for a while and feel you could benefit from an update on your role, responsibilities and what's new in local government, this course is for you (even if you didn't attend our induction course first). This councillor refresher course explores key topics in detail to help you feel more confident in your role. 

You've been to many meetings in your working life but how are local council meetings different?  Our course provides you with the techniques to structure council meetings professionally and get the best contributions from the meeting participants.

When elected or co-opted every councillor signs up to their council's Code of Conduct but do they then really undertand what this means? 

This course takes you through when the code applies, councillor obligations and avoiding conflicts of interest.

Full day course for Councillors

Understanding how Parish and Town Councils work and your role and responsibilities is not easy, particularly if you are new to local government. This induction course explains the legal framework giving you the confidence to take a full part in your Council and make a difference in your local area. 

Identifying risk and establishing ways of reducing risk is a key part of our governance and a legal requirement.  The session will cover the detail of a risk management policy to take account of the range of risks councils face, from public money to council activities, insurance, health and safety, and financial risks. There is an overview of policies and regulations which should be in place to support risk management.

Parish Online is an essential tool for simply viewing and printing maps, all the way to storing asset registers, producing neighbourhood plans and engaging with the public. This makes councils more efficient and resilient, ultimately resulting in better services for the public.

Do you currently use Parish Online Mapping but don't fully understand it or have questions that you would like to ask? Have you thought about signing up but would like to know more before committing? Would you like to know more about how it works and what it can do? Then, this session is for you.

Most Parish and Town Councils will have at least one or two projects they would like to see come to life in their parish, but they don’t have the funds to make them happen.  Laura has a track record in securing external funding for community projects and understands what funders are looking for.  This course will run through the lifecycle of a typical project from the idea phase to project opening and evaluation.

Parish and Town Councils have a duty and they also have a power! This course explains the complex legal background to allotments and the formalities in running them.  It explains the managing of allotments and the problems which can occur, and how best to deal with them.  Attendees benefit from receiving useful template documents as part of the course.

Understanding how the planning system operates and routinely considering planning applications are key responsibilities of parish and town councils.  We look at the process from both the parish/town council and district/borough council perspective and how to manage the expectations of the public who are likely to attend our meetings.

Our Spring Seminar is the perfect opportunity to update yourself on topics relevant to parish and town councils and network with clerks and councillors.

The day includes sessions led by the Norfolk PTS team and invited speakers, as well as break-out sessions during the afternoon.

Town and Parish Councils are subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and anyone can make a request. Most are straightforward but occasionally they prove to be complex and time consuming to answer. 

Although the course is primarily aimed at clerks, it will also benefit interested councillors, especially those on a relevant committee.

The effective processing of personal data at town and parish council level is key to efficient handling of subject access requests, among other things.

This  2-hour online course covers the essential elements of data protection legislation, featuring the GDPR. It will also tell you what you need to do to create a credible privacy framework, and how to deal with enquiries.