How do I get a copy of my council's standing orders

Question

I have requested a copy on at least 3 occasions and it seems no-one is able to provide a copy - what should I do?

Answer 1

A lot of councils publish them on their websites Have you checked this?

When you requested a copy did you do so in writing, providing your full name and an address to receive the information. An email would be ok. If you did do this than you have submitted a valid request under the Freedom of Information Act - the council legally have to respond to you within 20 working days with either the information you requested or an explanation of why the information is exempt from the act.

If those 20 working days have already passed then write to the council again requesting an internal review into the handling of your FOI request. This formality may jolt them into action. If you still don't get an answer after another 20 working days then you can submit a complaint the ICO. Eventually (it might take a while) the ICO should issue the council with an enforcement notice that requires them to send you the information you requested. To not do so would be contempt of court.

Answer 2

Standing Orders should be available for public consumption as a matter of routine. 

The ICO issues a model publication scheme which ALL public authorities must comply with. 

https://ico.org.uk/media/for-organisations/documents/1153/model-publication-scheme.pdf

Since SOs ‘should be’ open source and since you have already requested, but not been given, a copy, you are probably just at the top of a significant administrative deficiency iceberg. 

SOs would normally be exempt FoI because they are already open source. If they are not it probably indicates that they either don’t have them, haven’t updated them or are not following them. 

Failure to comply with a legal obligation requires a “NO” answer at annual governance and accountability return - would be worth looking at that also. 

You could also ask to see the register of FoI requests. 

At a guess, I’d suggest you are probably at the beginning of a long road of scrutiny and exposure which will probably end up with you being classified as a vexatious complainer by the PC - that is the usual response to simple requests for access to public records!

Answer 3

Hi - Google NALC model standing orders and you should get as good as what the council has.  Then look at the council minutes and see if they have approved them at the May meeting.  This assumes your council is run in a proper fashion.  If they do not have standing orders then its not!  BTW did you write to the clerk or just ask verbally at a council meeting?

Comments

All above relevant but please remember the only standing orders and their contents are those passed and adopted by the council. They can choose to amend or edit any"suggested" blueprint or layout of standing orders by others. so they may have adopted S/O's that have only bits of templates mentioned.

Answer 4

Assuming your request was in writing then the parish council have breeched the FOI but in any case items like this should be available under the councils publication scheme

If requesting any information from a Parish Council use “ whatdotheyknow “ as it’s then all in the public domain and because of this it prevents clerks and councils showboating also the site helps you progress matters if they play awkward

I should ask for a copy of the publication and retention scheme as well !