Is it law that the chair must physically sign minutes?

Question

I recently read something about the Chairperson of a council signing the meeting minutes. Is this required by law? I know it has not happened for the previous 2 years. I am now Chair and the Clerk has not asked me to sign any minutes even though she is now back in the office working.  (Our council is in Wales, some legislation differs slightly).

Thank you.

Answer 1

Article 19 of Schedule 12 of the Local Govt Act 1972 and "The Essential Clerk" published the Society of Local Council Clerks suggests this requirement is in force -  the Essential Clerk says:

"The parish council has a legal duty to keep records of its meetings which can then be used as evidence in a court of law. Minutes become legal when they are approved by the council and they are signed by the chairman as an accurate record. This normally occurs at the next meeting. Loose leaf minutes should be numbered consecutively and initialled by the chairman on every page.

Comments

Succinctly put by Graeme_r. Why any parish council would not ratify their own minutes beggars belief and it is good to see that you and your clerk are putting things to rights.This raises the question that has been posed before as to who checks the council is following their laid down procedures and holds them to account for mis-management.Other police forces investigate failures in other areas forces so why not Parish Councils having a self policing system in place to bring the PC into the 21st century as an efficient first tier of government.

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The reality is that nobody actually holds Town and Parish Councils to account for mis-management.
An appointed internal Auditor could in theory carry out some internal checks, but these are often Clerks or staff from Neighbouring Councils whose rigour varies.  External Auditors can if alerted (or it they uncover) issue notices to the Council calling on them to rectify  non conformances but it is not legally binding.  Only  FOI compliance Notices from the Information Commissioner carry any real weight in terms of consequences.  Successive Conservative Sec of States for Communities for Local Govt have resisted calls for the actions of Town/Parish Councillors to come under the remit of the Local Govt ombudsman.

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Graeme I completely agree with you, there are some dreadful Parish Councils near me including my own
The main problem is the apathy of the public as if every seat was contested then the pressure would force Parish Councillors to justify their existence
The thought of delayering local government and handing more power to Parish Councils fills me with dread
Finally let me make it clear there are many good Parish Councils and I don’t think they are given enough publicity

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Hi Jules, it would help if NALC devised some meaningful awards that residents could participate in, rather than handing out their present self serve paper medals and trumped up praise to Councils for just complying with legislation as per their current Local Council award scheme.

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The main problem is that the public do not see Parish Councils as a legitimate tier of government. For too long they have been seen and viewed as "vicar of Dibley" bumbling and inept rather than what they should be the one true local democratic tier of government closest to the communities they serve. It is essential that professionalism (which means training) is adopted and accountability given priority so that PC's can serve the communities they were elected by and for. On the matter of NALC (and their county associates) the one question that I cannot get answered is who elected or formed (and with what authority) them in the first place?