< Open and accountable local government Footnotes Open and accountable local government The new national rules are in The Openness of Local Government Bodies Regulations 2014 (S.I. 2014/…) and The Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements)(Meetings and Access to Information)(England) Regulations 2012 (S.I. 2012/2089). A parish or town council may also be called a city, community, neighbourhood or village council. Any reference to parish council in this Guide also refers to these bodies. The Guide should not be taken as providing any definitive interpretation of the statutory requirements on councils, members, officers, or of public rights: those wishing to address such issues should seek their own legal advice. A council’s cabinet is its main decision making body, consisting of an elected mayor or leader and a number of councillors. Part 2 of the Openness of Local Government Bodies Regulations 2014 (S.I. 2014/…) “Private meeting” is a meeting or part of a meeting during which the public are excluded for limited and certain circumstances described in the Local Government Act 1972 and the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements)(Meetings and Access to Information)(England) Regulations 2012 Regulation 4 of The Openness of Local Government Bodies Regulations 2014 Guidelines on prosecuting cases Any area designated for the public should be appropriate for filming, audio-recording and photographing. Each council has its own rules for doing business – its constitution and standing orders- which must be in line with any national rules. An “executive decision” means a decision made or to be made by a decision maker in connection with the discharge of a function which is the responsibility of the executive of a local authority. “key decision” means an executive decision which, is likely: to result in the relevant local authority incurring expenditure which is, or the making of savings which are, significant having regard to the local authority’s budget for the service or function to which the decision relates; or to be significant in terms of its effects on communities living or working in an area comprising two or more wards or electoral divisions in the area of the relevant local authority. All references to ‘a council executive’ should be construed to include the executive’s committees and sub- committees, joint committees, and joint sub-committees. A document can be the written record of executive decisions made by an executive member or officer or any other background papers. This fine could change to reflect any future changes in legislation and/or national policy. Each council or local government has its own rules for doing business – its constitution and standing orders- which must be in line with any national rules. Regulation 7(2) of the 2014 regulations. If a local government body does not have offices or a website, other appropriate means should be used to allow you to access these documents, such as publishing the information on a website of another local authority body in the area. These decisions do not include decisions taken pursuant to an existing framework of rights. As the financial position of bodies affected by these rules varies, what constitutes the material threshold is a judgement that should be made by individual bodies. A document can be the written record of decisions made by an officer, or any background papers. This fine could change to reflect any future changes in legislation and/or national policy. A parish or town council may also be called a city, community, neighbourhood or village council. Any reference to parish council in this Guide also refers to these bodies. A parish meeting is a meeting for all of the local government electors of the parish. This can be in the case of an annual meeting in an area where there is a separate parish council, or any meeting of local government electors where there is no separate parish council. Regulation 7(2) of the 2014 regulations. If a parish or town council does not have offices or a website, other appropriate means should be used to make the papers accessible to the public, such as publishing the information on the website of the local principal authority. These decisions do not include decisions taken pursuant to an existing framework of rights. As the financial position of bodies affected by these rules varies, what constitutes the ‘material threshold’ is a judgement that would be made by individual bodies. A document can be the written record of decisions made by an officer, or any background papers. This fine could change to reflect any future changes in legislation and/or national policy. The government has recently consulted on a new transparency code for certain authorities with a turnover not exceeding £25,000 pa, which will act as a substitute for routine external audit. The draft code is available at: Draft Transparency Code for-parish-councils Under the new Audit framework, this right is restated in Section 26 of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014. The Government will be consulting shortly on draft regulations in relation to the new arrangements. Some changes are proposed to the framework for exercising public rights, but broadly the aim is to simplify and clarify arrangements. The intention is for the regulations to be in place for the accounting period 2015–16. TOP