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Information FAQs About Parish Councils Q: What is a Quality Parish Council?

Q: What is a Quality Parish Council?

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(2 votes, average 4.00 out of 5)

A : Quality Parish Councils are those which have provided evidence to their County Accreditation Panels and qpclogopassed the specific quality tests.

In order to attain Quality Council Status, a parish or town council must demonstrate it has the attributes, ability and capacity to take on the enhanced role and responsibility expected of a Quality Parish Council.

Tests have been devised to measure these criteria and cover the following:

    • Electoral Mandate
    • Qualifications of the clerk
    • Council meetings
    • Communication and Community Engagement
    • Annual Report
    • Accounts
    • Code of Conduct
    • Promoting local democracy and citizenship
    • Terms and conditions
    • Training

      The scheme was updated in June 2008 to include 3 new tests, the criteria are as follows...  15338

      • Electoral mandate test - Councils will be required to show that at least two-thirds of councillors were elected. 'Elected' can mean either at a contested or uncontested election. However, they must have stood.

      • Council meetings test - Councils will be required to publish draft minutes of meetings within two months of it taking place and make them available for inspection by any elector in the parish, as a minimum

      • Communications and Community Engagement test (Mandatory):

      • Councils will be required to have a website which provides a list of council members and officers, details of how they can be contacted and which also provides access to the annual report. Councils will also be required to have an email address that is publicly available.

      • Councils now have the option of either producing their own newsletter or contributing to a community knewstickernewsletter. The information that is required to be included in the newsletter has not changed nor has the requirement that the newsletter is made readily available at public sites.

      • Communications and Community Engagement test (Discretionary) - Two new options have been added;

      • A Community Engagement strategy has been formulated; and

      • Councils provide a regular weblog on their website about council activity or encourage the community to talk to them through an online forum or through surveys on the website.

      • Code of Conduct test - Councils will be required to have formally adopted Section 12 (2) of the Code of Conduct which concerns the prejudicial interests of councillors and public participation.

      • New test - Promoting Local Democracy and Citizenship test - Councils will be required to demonstrate that they work proactively to support local democracy and citizenship.

      • New test - Clerks Terms and Conditions - Councils will be required to provide evidence that they have adopted (as a minimum) the NALC/SLCC Terms and Conditions agreement and provide evidence in the form of a statement that they have issued all paid members of staff with a contract of employment.

      • New test - Training - Councils will be required to provide a training 'Statement of Intent' which shows that the council has identified key areas of training need for both staff and members.

      The tests are straightforward and include measures, which will enable all councils, irrespective of size, to attain Quality Council status if they wish. Taken as a whole, the Tests exceed the minimum statutory duties, with which all parish and town councils should comply as a matter of course, and represent standards which an efficient, well-run, pro-active council engaged with its community should achieve.

      For the latest list of Quality Councils Click here...