NALC Services and Staff

NALC is divided into five main service areas. These are:

Development

The development team is charged with encouraging best practice and bringing funds and grants to member parish and town councils. It carries out this work via work streams in the Quality Status scheme, National Training Strategy, Best Value, and the Beacon scheme. They are available to any county association and member council who wishes to find ways to increase their capacity and output to the benefit of their target audience and local community respectively.

Policy and parliamentary affairs

The policy and parliamentary affairs team monitors the work of Parliament and other legislative bodies. They represent the interests of parish and town councils in its responses to legislative proposals, Government consultation papers and policy documents from other bodies. As well as ongoing lobbying of MPs and ministers and the submission of amendments to proposed Bills, the team is engaged in continuous dialogue with government departments on the development of the local government agenda. The team provides policy advice via County Associations in order to assist in full participation of member councils in NALC’s evolving policy development.

Legal

The legal team provides detailed legal advice on matters requested by member councils or County Associations. They also produce, for the benefit of all member councils, regular guidance on legislation relevant to the parish council sector, by way of legal topic notes and briefings.  In addition they provide legal training to member councils via the County Associations. To fulfil their role, the legal team have established contacts with various organisations in the local government and legal sector.

Communications

The communications team handles public relations, media relations, publications, conferences and events input, and website matters. One of the teams chief responsibilities is to diseminate information in a positive manner about the sector to all relevant parties. The most common way the membership links into their work is via the flagship publications – LCR and Direct Information Service. The team are also available to any county association or member council for desktop communications advice.

Administration and finance

The administration and finance team provide administration support to all other service areas, as well as dealing with the personnel and financial management and administration of NALC.

Subject Matter	Date Issued
Staff Structure and Contacts	April 2008