Parish council correspondence

Question

Good morning.

I've searched for previous questions on this theme but not found an answer. When our clerk receives correspondence, any which relates to an agenda item for the next meeting, does not get put on the correspondence list. It is not circulated beforehand and usually the chairman reads it. I like to be prepared for meetings and find it difficult to recall all the details of what may be a few pages!
As always, any advice from all you lovely clerks would be appreciated.

Answer 1

Suggest you discuss this with the Chair and the Clerk.  As a general rule, our Clerk would include any correspondence relating to an agenda item as part of the papers for the meeting but not always exactly as received if there's a risk of a GDPR breach.  However, it's the clerk's job to ensure you are prepared for making decisions at the meeting and if a copy of any correspondence is important to that role, it should be supplied as part of your meeting pack.

Comments

Thanks Delboy's wife for your prompt reply.
"Meeting Pack", "papers for the meeting" !!! All we ever get is an agenda, limited correspondence list (see above), accounts and an action list. Never anything else from the Clerk.   I'd like to discuss with the Clerk and have done so by email. She has confirmed her policy. Unless I can refer to something that says, this is the clerks job, I don't think further discussion will be productive.

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That's disappointing.  Sadly not all Clerk's are professional!  I suggest you raise this with the council as a whole but in my council (and when I used to be a clerk, other councils), our agenda was supported by additional papers.  What is included does depend upon what's on the agenda but as a general point most proposals will include written papers explaining what is being proposed and why so for example, a proposal to amend a policy document would include why it needs amending and a draft of the proposed document.  Whilst this is not necessarily a parish council matter but surely true of any and all meetings where those taking part are there to made decisions not just to receive a presentation.  
As an aside, supporting papers are required to be published online in the same way an agenda is so maybe worth doing a bit of research by looking at other parish/town councils in your region to see what they publish before their meeting.

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This all comes under the heading of background papers and openness and transparency .   I seem to recall something about guidelines for the over £200k pa and below £25k councils but nothing for those in the middle.  The principle for me is that the public are entitled to see the same info as Councillors, Still learning all this

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I always felt that all correspondence sent to the council was to the council as a whole even though it is probably addressed to the clerk. He /she shouldn't decide what we get to see or hear.
 Our turnover is <£25,000 so we are required by the Transparency Code for smaller authorities to publish agendas, minutes and meeting papers. It will be even harder to persuade our clerk to provide meeting papers if they have to be published on our website as well.

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My understanding is that the requirement to publish papers on the website is not optional!

With regard to the clerk judging what should and shouldn't be seen by the council, I'd be careful what you wish for!  When I was a clerk (and it was a while ago), I would receive upwards of 30 - 40 emails a day.  Mostly rubbish or adverts but I very much doubt any councillor would welcome that level of spam being sent on.  You pay a clerk to do a job of work, so why do it yourself?  It is his or her job to bring items before you which a decision is required or which is relevant to your role as councillor.  If you really think being overwhelmed by every advert for play equipment, toilet paper supplies or road sweeping equipment is a good thing, good luck to you!

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I can very much relate to what del boy's wife has said ... but ... the original posting refers to "correspondence relating to an agenda item".  If that correspondence is likely to assist or inform the council in its decision making process then in my opinion it should be supplied to councillors beforehand so that they can read and understand it.

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This also has relevance to another thread concerning the right of the Proper Officer to decide what goes on the agenda or not .  Whilst there is an argument about the setting of the routine agenda the standing orders relating to motions submitted by Councillors are unclear in that they have now apparently been changed so that the clerk can now alone decide whether Councillors motions about the lawful business of the Council are admitted or not.  While in the grand scheme of things this should not matter if you do get a clerk who says you are going to do things my way, well it discourages Councillors.

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Thank you to Open Spaces and Delboy's wife for your comments and particularly to John1706 for focusing on my original post. The correspondence to which I am referring may be from officers from our principle authority, other T+PCs, our association of local councils, residents etc.
 If it's NOT an agenda item, it goes on the correspondence list and usually gets circulated but email. BUT if it relates to something on the agenda, it's not circulated and you have to attend the meeting to listen to it being read.

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I think there is  a clear difference between have a summary of the main issues and a copy of every actual letter. Incidentally I have just noticed in our SOs as it relates to expenditure "the clerk in conjunction with the Chairman of the relevant committee" can authorise expenditure up to £1000.  If that is the case and can be dealt with under the above, then do such items ever need to "reach" any agenda ??

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I think we're going a little off topic here as the original post was about correspondence and I'll go back to my original comment that if that correspondence is relevant to the decision to be made, then I'd expect it to be included or at the very least a summary provided in writing so that everyone has a chance to consider the implications before making a decision.  Again, I'd ask why this is not happening.