Quality Council Review and Re - Accreditation

QUALITY COUNCIL REVIEW AND RE ACCREDITATION

Defra commissioned the University of Wales to research Quality Council review and re accreditation. Details of the executive summary are available at http://www.defra.gov.uk/rural/pdfs/communities/qpsr-exec-sum.pdf

This report has confirmed that

Re-accreditations: existing accreditations will be extended until such time as the new statutory provisions come into effect.
Electoral Mandate: the 80% mandate will apply at first and subsequent accreditations (the requirement for a 100% electoral mandate at reaccreditation will be removed)

The report also highlights suggestions for additional Quality Council criteria of which three are proposed for further consideration.

Quality Councils to be expected to have implemented the SLCC/NALC agreement on pay and conditions of service. Apparently 90% of Councils already do so, so should not be too much of a problem.
It is expected that councillor development and training needs as a means of enhancing council capacity will be explored
Quality Councils should be required to show evidence of active engagement with their community including minority and "hard to reach" groups.

The last two groups would need appropriate criteria introducing which is flexible enough to recognise the differing circumstances of different local councils.

If enacted, the Governments Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill will confirm the power of well being to Parish and Town Councils. It is not certain whether attaining Quality Status will be one of the criteria suggested for attaining this power. An announcement on this should be made in coming months.

Well Being will give councils the power to do anything which the council considers likely to achieve the promotion or improvement of the economic, social and environmental well being of the whole or part of their area or for any persons resident or present in their area. This includes the power to

Incur expenditure
Give financial assistance to any person
Enter into arrangements or agreements with any person
Co-operate with, or facilitate or co-ordinate the activities of any person
Exercise on behalf of any person any functions of that person and
Provide staff, goods, services or accommodation to any person

This is obviously a lot less restrictive than the current Section 137 arrangements and could be used very creatively by councils.

I will keep members informed of developments as I when I hear of them, in the meantime the above is provided for information purposes only