NORFOLK PTS

A course aimed at motivating clerks, council officers and councillors to complete the CiLCA (Certificate in Local Council Administration) qualification.  Our experienced tutor will take you through each of the 30 learning outcomes, explain how to compile your portfolio and provide you with ongoing mentoring to achieve this qualification. 

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. 

Our autumn 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.

Preparing a budget is one of the most important pieces of work a Responsible Financial Officer (RFO) does. The task can be confusing and daunting but there is a method!  As part of the course we'll give you a template Excel spreadsheet to help you to present your budget clearly.

Many councils either have a finance committee or one or two nominated councillors that assist the Responsible Financial Officer with preparing the budget each autumn for the following financial year, those councillors can also benefit from this training.

If you are new to this process or would like to pick up tips on what's required/what to look for/questions to ask during the budget-setting process, then this course is for you.

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.

Are you a councillor or clerk who feels you would like to have a better grasp of your council's finances? Local councils spend public money but who specifically controls the finances?  This course gives a comprehensive overview of the council's financial year. 

Preparing a budget is one of the most important pieces of work a Responsible Financial Officer (RFO) does. The task can be confusing and daunting but there is a method!  As part of the course we'll give you a template Excel spreadsheet to help you to present your budget clearly.

Many councils either have a finance committee or one or two nominated councillors that assist the Responsible Financial Officer with preparing the budget each autumn for the following financial year, those councillors can also benefit from this training.

If you are new to this process or would like to pick up tips on what's required/what to look for/questions to ask during the budget-setting process, then this course is for you.

Could your agendas or minutes benefit from a refresh? Do you always know what to include or what to leave out? How about meetings, when should you chip in and where does your involvement end? This course will help with all of these and more.

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.

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.

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.

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.