Inspectorate of Town and Parish Councils

Question

Hi all,

Reading the many posts on here (and from personal experience) it appears that many councils are facing similar issues. What are peoples thoughts about campaigning for an ‘Ofsted’ style inspectorate for the sector? Councils would be subject to regular inspection and enforceable sanctions if necessary . The inspectorate would also have the power to dissolve councils if sanctions aren’t adhered to. Whilst there is already the external audit, in my experience even when problems are highlighted (eg law broken by contracts of high value not being advertised properly) the council can just sweep these findings aside and do nothing.

Answer 1

The big stumbling block to such a suggestion would be that members of a council are elected by the people and only the electorate can remove them.

Comments

As usual I agree with Mentorman but personally I feel we need a root and branch restructuring of local government including town and parish councils
As I’ve mentioned before I look in envy at my local city which is only a mile or so away and which seems extremely successful because it only has one tier not three like us
Has anyone ever known Parishes clubbing together to reduce costs as suggested in the Good Councillors guide ?

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Jules, I have just been in contact with our Borough Council highlighting the wastage from all these  individual purchases of regular ongoing annual payments.  A solution would be for Borough Councils to offer block packages of regular purchase items at differing levels to all their PCs for a set amount including an admin charge.  This would save time and money for PCs, ensure best quality, uniformity, easy of purchase and let the PCs concentrate on doing their actions within the community.     We don't need another level just closer collaboration.

Answer 2

I agree with your idea although the range of powers maybe should not go as far as abolition.  The issue is that the govt have shown no appetite for introducing any kind of regulation for Town & Parish Councils whatsoever.

Answer 3

It would be a start to have a register of good practices so people can refer to ways that may help them run as a parish council