Association of Local Councils Annual Report 2018-2019

Horden Welfare Park—Courtesy of Horden Parish Council Report of CDALC Chair 2018-2019 The main impact on parish councils during This was the result of a 2018/19 was the introduction of the Data year long review and Protection Act 2018 and General Data wide consultation Protection Regulations (GDPR) which process. were introduced on the 29 May 2018. The report reviews the This issue was a major concern for parish current framework councils not just in County Durham but governing the behaviour across the country. of local government It was pleasing to eventually read, very councillors and executives in and close to the Act receiving royal assent, makes a number of recommendations to that clause 7.3 of the Act exempted promote and maintain the standards parish councils from the requirement to expected by the public. Members could appoint a Data Protection Officer. be pleased to hear the following suggestions In some respects this provided, especially our larger councils, the opportunity to  a new power for local authorities to overhaul their data systems. Most carried suspend councillors without allowances out a data audit of their current data for up to six months and systems which resulted in councils  revised rules on declaring interests, gifts moving away from paper based systems and hospitality to cloud based systems which have  local authorities retain ownership of added security built in. their own Codes of Conduct Smaller councils were also impacted by  a right of appeal for suspended this legislation too, albeit where data councillors to the Local Government information is concerned, on a smaller Ombudsman scale.  a strengthened role for the Having said that all councils, regardless of Independent Person their size, needed to introduce correct policies and procedures as a result of this  greater transparency about the Act. number and nature of Code complaints. I trust everyone is up to speed now, has the appropriate policies in place and has Much of the above will require legislation taken the appropriate action to stop any to implement and the CSPL is to revisit data breaches from occurring. their document within a year to see what action Government has taken regarding On the 21 January 2019, The Committee their recommendations. on Standards in Public Life (CSPL) published its long awaited review on local There were also a number of Best Practice government ethical standards. recommendations made which do not require legislation. These can be implemented as soon as The newly created council has become a practicable. member of the Association. I look forward Some best practise recommendations are to seeing this new council exerting its already in use in County Durham. We are influence and becoming a major force in working with DCC’s Monitoring Officer to the City of Durham area. see these changes introduced. 2018/19 saw the first year of Mazars Llp, The Association continues to have an (our new external auditors) undertaking influence on the NALC Larger Councils audits for those councils that required Committee with three of our Larger them. All councils with an annual income Council members being elected to the or expenditure of less than £25,000 were NALC Larger Councils Committee. These exempted from this requirement. This positions are for two years lasting until accounted for over 50% of the councils in December 2020. County Durham. Association balances continue to decline Mazars are locally based in Durham City in line with the previously determined which is useful. Early in the process they policy arrangement agreed by our provided a useful training session for members. This years reduction is in the parish councils. During this they explained region of £7,000. As you will see from the the revised audit process and Annual financial report our balances are still in a Governance and Audit Return (AGAR) healthy position with around £91,500 forms and the pitfalls to avoid a qualified retained in reserves. audit process. This is in line with expectations as we are From the feedback I have heard it would now wholly reliant on membership appear that the service provided by subscriptions. Your Executive Committee Mazars was an improvement on previous will monitor the situation to ensure the audits. Association remains financially sound. We continue to send a representative to As instructed by members, we have NALC National Assembly meetings to transferred £50,000 of our reserves into a keep in touch with national parish council CCLA account which will provide affairs. increased interest receipts. This will also Looking forward to next year, the VE Day help with the financial protection of our 75 anniversary takes place on the 8-10 money as previously, all of our reserves May 2020. Government has moved the where held with one bank. May Day bank holiday from the Monday On 3 May 2018 elections were held to to the Friday to accommodate this elect the 15 representatives for a newly anniversary. It would be good to see all created City of Durham Parish Council. parish councils making arrangements for their Our Executive Officer acted as Interim community to get involved. Clerk for the new parish council from May until December when a permanent clerk Thank you for your was appointed. continued support. Councillor David Bell Parish Council & Parish Meeting Association

Membership at 31 March 2019 Only 1 of 104 parish councils in County Durham are not members of the Association (1%). Non member councils and meetings are marked (NM). Details of individual councils are shown i.e. CiLCA, Direct Access (DA), Foundation Award Council (F) Quality (Q), Quality Gold (QG) and General Power of Competence (GPC).

County Durham PC Wingate PC TC Little Lumley PC Winston PC (CiLCA, F, GPC) PC PC PC Belmont PC (DA) Lynesack & Softley PC Witton Le Wear PC Auckland TC (DA, F) Marwood PC PC PC Mickleton PC Woodland PC PC Middleton in & New- PC biggin PC Parish Meetings - County Durham PC (CiLCA) PC (NM) Brandon/Byshottles PC (CiLCA) Monk PC (CiLCA/DA) Barningham PC PC Bolam, Cum Quar. PC (CiLCA) Murton PC (CiLCA/DA) PC North Lodge PC Bradbury and the Isle Chilton TC Ouston PC (NM) City of Durham PC Ovington PC (NM) Cockfield PC Pelton PC Forest & Frith (NM) PC (CiLCA/GPC) TC (DA) (NM) PC PC (NM) PC Rokeby, & Egglestone Hitton (NM) PC (CiLCA, F) Abbey PC (NM) Croxdale & Hett PC PC Hope (NM) Dalton le Dale PC PC (NM) PC PC PC (DA) TC (CilCA /DA) Langledale & Shotton (NM) Easington Village PC Seaton with Slingley PC PC (CiLCA) TC(CiLCA, FS, DA, GPC) (NM) PC PC Nesbitt (NM) Eldon PC Sherburn Village PC Raby & Keverstone (NM) Esh PC TC (CiLCA/DA/GPC) Scargill (NM) PC PC (CiLCA/F,Q) Sheraton with Hulam (NM) Evenwood & Barony PC (CiLCA) Shotton PC Wackerfeiled (NM) TC (CILCA/DA) South PC Wycliffe with Thorpe (NM)

Fishburn PC PC PC TC (CiLCA, DA) Areas outside of County Durham Gainford & Langton PC (CiLCA) PC Borough Council area Great Aycliffe TC (CiLCA/DA/GPC) Stainton & Streatlam PC Heighington PC Greater Willington TC (CiLCA) Stanhope PC PC PC Stanley TC (DA) Hurworth PC (CiLCA/QG) PC PC Low Conniscliffe & PC Hamsterley PC Thornley PC PC Haswell PC TC (CiLCA) Whessoe PC Hawthorn PC (F,Q,QG) PC PC Trimdon Foundry PC MBC area Hedleyhope PC PC Lamesley PC Horden PC (CiLCA/DA) Waldridge PC (CiLCA/F) PC (NM) PC (CiLCA/F/ Sunderland CC area PC GPC) Hetton TC (DA) PC Ingleton PC PC PC Kimblesworth & Plawsworth PC Whorlton & Westwick PC Windlestone PC Lanchester PC (CiLCA) Executive Committee at 31 March 2019

President Mr G Morris MP

Vice Presidents (3) Cllr D Bell (Chairman )

Cllr R Harrison (Vice Chairman)

Cllr A Blakemore

Honorary Treasurer Cllr A Blakemore

Honorary Auditor Mr D Austin

CDALC Area Committees

Bishop Auckland & Shildon Cllr D Fleming

Chester le Street & District Cllr S Hann

Durham City Vacant

East Durham Cllr I Roberts

East Durham Rural Corridor Cllr A Hedley

Four Together Cllr H Neve

Great Aycliffe and Middridge Cllr W Mellors

Mid Durham Rural Cllr J Turnbull

Spennymoor/Croxdale & Hett Cllr R Highley

Stanley Cllr A Clegg

Three Towns Cllr T Batson

Teesdale Cllr D Kinch

Weardale Cllr D Ellwood

Areas outside of County Durham

Darlington Cllr P Foster

Gateshead Vacant

Sunderland Cllr D Geddes Executive Committee members continue Our National Assembly representative (Cllr to meet on a quarterly basis to discuss T Batson) has his travel and subsistence items of national and local interest to our allowances reimbursed by NALC. members. CDALC pays for any regional Members attend meetings on a voluntary representation expenses, for example basis and are paid no fees. Northern Group Meetings. Executive Officers Report 2018–19 For those of you offering toilet facilities in Revised Model Standing Orders were also your area you will be pleased to hear that introduced and a recent update has the Government has agreed to exempt been made to Financial Regulations. the payment of Business Rates on such premises. Members should ensure that their policies are kept up to date and remain fit for After a long and eventually successful purpose. An annual revision/reapproval of campaign by NALC, legislative changes policies should be carried out. are to be introduced which are expected to be in place to reduce your councils An ideal opportunity to do this could be business rates burden in 2020/21. at the Annual Meeting of the Parish Council held every May. Lets hope this legislation is not affected by the recent announcement that The County Association continues to Parliament will be prorogued early in attend Local Council Working Group September with a new Queens Speech meetings. They provide us with an scheduled for mid October. opportunity to meet with senior DCC members and officers to discuss items of During 2018/19 NALC issued a number of relevance for DCC and parish and town revised and new Legal Topic Notes for councils. member councils to use. These are all available through both the NALC and The three year moratorium of council tax CDALC members pages. referendums for parish councils is due to end and NALC will be lobbying  Councillors Powers to Discharge Government again to ensure that this their Functions. remains in place to ensure councils can The Chairman of Local Councils precept without limits. Parish&Community Council Meetings Elections It was pleasing to note that, overall parish Procurement council precepts increased by less than Handling Complaints (England) and the 5% agreed for principal authority Data Protection increases.

Legal Briefings were also introduced on During the year a new guide was Data Protection Fees published setting out how principal and Data Protection Bill local councils can work more effectively  Public Works Loans Board balances at in partnership.

31 March 2018 This could be extremely important in the  The Data Protection Act 2018 future as indicated by Government, the  Judicial Review Claim brought against current austerity measures will continue Ledbury Town Council for local government.  The Public Sector Bodies (websites and mobile applications) (no 2) Something to watch out for will be The Accessibility Regulations 2018 Public Sector Bodies (websites and mobile  Section 137 Expenditure Limit for applications) (no 2) Accessibility 2019/20 Regulations 2018. This will mean that by  Code of recommended Practice on September 2020 council websites will local authority Publicity (England) need to meet the Acts requirements. Honorary Treasurers Report. On the following page you will find details of the Association’s financial activity and bank balances at 31 March 2019. The Honorary Auditor has certified that, to the best of his knowledge, the accounts present fairly the financial position of CDALC’s income and expenditure for the financial year ended 31st March 2019. Please find below an explanation for the major variances shown in the accounts.

Executive Officers Salary .

Reduction due to increased employee pension contributions for 2018/19. This reduced the net pay of the Executive Officer. There was also a 2% increase in salary effective from 1 April 2018 HMRC and Pension Contributions. As above the employer pension contribution increased leading to additional costs for the employer. National Insurance contributions increased as a result of pay increase. Affiliation fees income increased due to Seaham town council re-joining CDALC and the newly created City of Durham PC joining the Association, consequently payments to NALC increased accordingly. NALC Conferences/ Meetings. There were less attendance at conferences in 2017/18. AGM/Executive Committee Meetings Reduced costs of printing etc for the AGM and Executive Committee Postages remain constant between years. Most correspondence done by email. Northern Group Meetings Northern Group contribution paid during 2018/19—not paid during 2017/18 and increased attendance at meetings. Forms and publication expenditure costs increase in 2018/19 due to the purchase of Good Councillors Guides. A corresponding increase in income was generated for 2018/19 from charging councils for these guides. Transparency Grant payments. These grant ceased in Feb 2018. Unfortunately two of the cheques released during 2017/18 went missing in the post hence the duplication of cheques amounting to £978.00 in 2018/19. Miscellaneous Income. Income generated of £3,333 (Transparency process income for CDALC) during 2017/18 which was not available to access during 2018/19.

Cllr A Blakemore Honorary Treasurer. Statement of Accounts for Year Ending 31st March 2019 2018-2019 2017-2018

Income Expend. Surplus / Budget Heading Income Expend. Surplus / Deficit (£) (£) (£) Deficit (£) (£) (£)

0.00 -23,923.64 -23,923.64 Executive Officers salary 0.00 -24,061.08 -24,061.08 55,903.68 -21,123.51 34,780.17 Affiliation Fees 50,224.76 -19,181.51 31,043.25 0.00 -14,986.12 -14,986.12 HMRC & Pension contribution 0.00 -13,605.66 -13,605.66 10,664.00 -9,067.41 1,596.59 County Training Partnership 12,859.40 -10,783.54 2,075.86

201.95 -1,401.65 -1,199.70 NALC Conferences/Meetings 0.00 -709.92 -709.92 0.00 -295.20 -295.20 AGM/Executive Committee Meetings 0.00 -365.14 -365.14 2,704.00 -2,024.00 680.00 Local Council Review 2,704.00 -2,002.00 702.00 0.00 -95.45 -95.45 Postage & Expenses 0.00 -89.23 -89.23 0 -167.40 -167.40 Executive Officer Mileage 0.00 -266.95 -266.95 0.00 -280.00 -280.00 Insurance 0.00 -280.00 -280.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Local Council Award Scheme 210.00 0.00 210.00 0.00 -394.15 -394.15 Northern Group Meeting/COG 0.00 0.00 0.00 943.77 -948.45 -4.68 Forms and Publications 483.26 -682.60 -199.34 0.00 -436.01 -436.01 Annual Web Charge 0.00 -848.61 -848.61 0.00 -978.00 -978.00 Transparency Fund Grants 19,065.53 -18,946.73 118.80 37.80 -81.60 -43.80 Misc. income/expenditure 3,333.00 -173.10 3,159.90

70,606.65 -75,202.59 -4,595.94 Total Income/Expenditure 88,879.95 -91,996.07 -3,116.12

2018-2019 SUMMARY OF BALANCES 2017-2018

CURRENT ACCOUNT

1st April 2018 7,806.39 Balance at 1st April 2017 15,063.92 66,553.28 Income 84,536,87 -75,202.59 Expenditure -91,996.07 60,0000.00 Transferred from Deposit Account 0.00 -50,000.00 Transferred to CCLA Account 0.00 -2,378.78 Previous unpresented cheques cashed -3,155.11 1,352.44 Unpresented cheques 3,356.78 25.98 Interest received from CCLA account 0.00

31st March 2019 8,156.72 Bank balance as at 31st March 2018 7,806.39

DEPOSIT ACCOUNT

1st April 2018 113,943.83 Balance at 1st April 2017 109,571.74 3,901.92 Income 4,343.08 -60,000.00 Transferred to current account 0.00 125.47 Interest 29.01

31st March 2019 57,971.22 Bank balance as at 31st March 2018 113,943.83

RECONCILIATION OF ACCOUNTS

8,156.72 Current Account Balance 7,806.39 57,971.22 Deposit Account Balance 113,943.83

50,000.00 CCLA Account Balance 0.00

31st March 2019 116,127.94 Total of Balances 31st March 2018 121,750.22

24,638.38 Less CTP Monies 23,041.79

31st March 2019 91,489.56 Association Balance 31st March 2018 98,708.43