The Government spells out its plans for parishes

The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) minister, Marcus Jones MP told the National Association of Local Councils (NALC) Annual Conference on 27 October 2015 that the Government has ambitious plans for a devolution revolution, which include Devolution Deals, but stressed that this not just for principal authorities. He said that parish councils have a key role to play and they should be speaking to their principal authorities about opportunities for further powers and functions to be devolved.

Marcus Jones MP further said that NALC was chosen by the Government to deliver the Transparency Fund via local county associations to meet local needs of parish councils to fulfil the code which enables citizens to see what is going on at their local council.

The minister is supportive of the sector-led approach to supporting and promoting good governance in the parish sector. So the Government endorses and is helping to fund the independent ’sector-led body’ to procure audit for smaller public bodies from 2017. This body will be led by NALC in partnership with the Society of Local Council Clerks (SLCC), and the Association of Drainage Authorities (ADA).

View Marcus Jones MP full speech at the NALC Annual Conference 2015