Question

do parish councils have to record a vote to spend funds on equipment

Answer 1

Do you mean record that a vote was taken or record how many votes were for or against ?

If it’s the former then yes

Personally I believe every vote should record who voted for against and abstained

Comments

I am at one with Jules on this that the results of votes giving who voted for and against a motion should be a matter of record thus fulfilling the PC's requirement of transparency. It also relays to the public what councillors are supporting or opposing matters of council business. All councillors should be accountable to the electorate not hide their voting away in the dark. It is easy to do. Just alter the standing orders of the council........what's stopping you?

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I may be wrong but I thought that any Councillor can ask for how each councillor voted to be recorded on the minutes? So anyone feeling strongly about this could ask for it to be done until if and when standing orders are amended.

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You can ask for a recorded vote but it needs the agreement of the majority of Councillors present
Following on from Mentorman’s  comments last time I looked I was the only Councillor out of 16 to have my personal address on the Parish website
Mail addressed to Parish Councillors sent c/o the Council Offices is opened if it’s not marked confidential but Parishioners are not made aware of that

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Contact details on PC website is an entirely different subject to having a named vote.
The only reason a council would seek to avoid a named vote (IMHO) is so that councillors can avoid being held to account for the votes they cast.
There is absolutely no reason or advantage in NOT having a named vote - other than to obscure openness and transparency.

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Yes but isn’t it a symptom of the same disease that many Councillors want to remain anonymous and unaccountable when the principle role should be to be in contact their Parishioners represent their interests and demonstrate that’s  what they are doing

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Certainly take your point about the need for accessibility and availability - but there is a but.

It is entirely possible to be 'available' by email (which should be a dotgov account), by mobile and / or landline and via social media at an individual councillor level as well as the collective 'correspondence in' facilities of the corporate council.

All of that being said, there are (at least) 2 important factors to consider:

(1) personal and online security - notably home addresses - must always be at the individual discretion.  Scammers, ne'er-do-wells and those with a grievance have more than enough opportunity to harvest online info without giving them additional data.
(2) mindful of course that (PCs) are entirely voluntary, there should also be some degree of control over how, when and why one might choose to take individual queries - many councillors will have work, home and social commitments that simply don't facilitate 24/7 access.

I do take your point about availability and accessibility and I do share your apparent passion for it, but my enthusiasm is constrained by certain realities.

What we should all perhaps strive for is greater public interest and attendance at PC meetings.

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Exactly (Jules)....... hear hear! I forgot to point out that abstentions should also be recorded.
No reason whatsoever that named voting should not be recorded fully and automatically in the minutes. NALC local offices (well ours at the time) actively discouraged clerks from recording such things. It was a teaching atmosphere of " the less you put in minutes the less accountable you can be held"
This leads to the" only decisions" to be recorded mantra. Whilst I for one am sure most people in the community would like to see a noting of how debates, discussions and votes went. It is called transparency and accountability!