South West Virtual Regional Training Seminar Agenda

This session will be covering the most popular queries that Crispin receives from clerks, that may include:

• ‘Non-business activities’
• Assistance to community organisations
• Refurbishment projects
• Opting to tax
• Taxable supplies

But we’d like to hear from you. Please send any questions or topics that you’d like to discuss to crispin.taylor@slcc.co.uk with the subject line ‘South West VRTS VAT Session’.

Government’s reforms of the planning system – What Clerks Need to Know
Andrew Towlerton, SLCC National Planning Advisor

The Government’s Planning White Paper ‘Planning for the Future’ proposes ‘radical’ and ‘far-reaching’ reforms of the planning system in England which will ‘streamline’ and ‘modernise’ it.
The session will explain the key aspects of the reforms that will have implications for the sector and how they are likely to work in practice.

It is being led by Andrew Towlerton, National Planning Advisor to the Society of Local Council Clerks. A qualified planner, Andrew has worked in various senior planning roles in the public and private sectors. He is also a parish clerk so is familiar with local councils.

How to host virtual council meetings more effectively
Cloudy IT, your VRTS Sponsor

CloudyIT and Decisions are proud to support the Society of Local Council Clerks’ (SLCC) one-day regional training seminar for council employees in the South West of England on Wednesday 24 March 2021.

Taking place from 12 – 12.45pm, CloudyIT will host the session in collaboration with technology partners, Decisions, to deliver an unrivalled learning opportunity that showcases how IT solutions are changing the way council meetings are run to be more engaging and productive when managed online.

CloudyIT Managing Director, David Hall, says:

“Since the Covid-19 crisis struck, we have been helping councils to quickly and easily move to modern, digital, working practices that improve their internal and community engagement.

Our aim is for council clerks to leave this training session feeling inspired by digitised agenda pack creation and empowered by the affordable and easy-to-use tools at their fingertips for managing council meetings more effectively.”

The session will demonstrate how Microsoft 365 and Teams can seamlessly bring together all your council’s working practices by digitising processes and automating meeting tasks that help to remove pain points around paperwork and manual admin.

Showcasing digital solutions like the Decisions meeting management app, this 45-minute masterclass will show the specifics of how CloudyIT digital solutions can help you to:

• Make agenda pack creation quicker and easier to manage
• Make collaboration on meeting documents more efficient
• Simplify communications among meeting invitees and attendees
• Facilitate online polls/ votes in meetings
• Automate meeting management tasks for light-touch handling

 This online event will be relevant to those outside the South West region who wish to attend and will serve as a practical introduction to the ½ day Meeting & Document Management Virtual Summit that CloudyIT will be hosting online on Tuesday 30 March 2021.

For more information, visit: www.cloudyit.co.uk/events

Bullying: an accepted part of being a Clerk?
Claire Rolston, Solicitor/Director, CLR Law

What do tomato plants, lawn mowers and allotments have in common?  They have all been at the heart of a bullying claim by clerks. Clerks seem to have a disproportionate chance of being bullied for simply doing their job.  Find out how to identify what bullying and harassment looks like and what to do about it if it happens to you.

@clrlaw

Preparing for New Councillors
Vanessa Ricketts FLCC, Clerk to Wareham Town Council

This session will cover holding pre-election events, the legal requirements of newly elected Councillors, training and managing expectations.

Making the Most of Your Powers!
Annie Child, Clerk to Salisbury City Council

Making the Most of Your Powers ! A case study looking at environmental enforcement and combatting anti-social behaviour making our city centre a safer, cleaner  place to be.