Bulletin – 7th September
Transparency Fund 2017/18
A further reminder that the Department for Communities and Local Government is still making money available to local councils under the “Transparency Fund” in the current financial year. If a council is required to comply with the Transparency Code for Smaller Authorities; i.e. if the gross annual turnover is less than £25,000, and to do so it needs to purchase IT equipment or set up a web site, cash grants are available.
Please note that if a Council’s turnover is usually less than £25,000 but in any one year it exceeds this, meaning they are not eligible to apply for funding, then as long as a council does not exceed the turnover limit three years in a row, they will be eligible; this is a welcome and helpful change and means more councils will now be eligible to apply. Applicants falling under this category should leave the turnover question blank and provide details of its turnover under question 29. The authority needs to state its turnover, mentioning any other grant payments it received or is due to receive, and confirming that its turnover does not exceed £25,000 three years in a row.
Also, a council does not need to have its own website in order to be compliant. Councils may opt to upload relevant information on another organisation’s website, for example, a village website. These councils are also eligible to apply for funding to cover equipment costs (computer, scanner, software), website costs (annual running costs – question 17, and set up costs – question 18), as well as staffing costs, subject to meeting the usual criteria and thresholds.
Applicants are reminded that the purpose of the Transparency Fund is to cover the extra burden incurred by smaller authorities as a result of complying with the Transparency Code. For this reason, the Fund cannot cover the cost of modernising a council’s website or purchasing more modern equipment. For example, as long as a council can upload the necessary information onto their website, even if the website has a basic design, is running on a free of charge platform, and is not mobile compatible, the council cannot claim funding from the Transparency Fund to cover the costs of setting up a new website. Also, if the council already owns a computer that allows them to perform the necessary tasks to comply with the Transparency Code, they may not apply for funding to cover the costs of a second machine. However, if the council uses a member’s equipment (computer and/or scanner) and does not have its own, then it may apply for funding to purchase its own.
It should be noted that towards the end of the financial year, NALC and DCLG will follow up on a sample of applications, asking applicants to submit evidence on how the money was spent. Applicants are reminded that it is their responsibility to hold proof of the way the grant funding was spent.
NALC’s committee considers bids on a monthly basis and the deadline for submitting bids to SPCA to meet the next meeting date is Friday, 22nd September.
Subsidised Bus Journeys in Staffordshire
There is still time to respond to the County Council’s consultation on how the budget for subsidising bus journeys in Staffordshire can be best spent.
Although the county council does not operate bus services, it subsidises just under ten per cent of bus journeys in Staffordshire, largely because not enough people use them or not enough income is generated to make them profitable.
Next year, £1.3m will be spent on these journeys and the County Council is asking people, whether they use the bus or not, for their views on the four options possible with the budget.
The consultation closes on 17th September and can be responded to online at Printed copies have also been available in libraries.
Consultation on Broadband Universal Service Obligation
NALC will be responding to the above consultation on behalf of the local councils it represents and is inviting members to email thoughts on a number of key areas. These include:
A proposed minimum download speed of at least 10Mbps
- Proposed additional quality parameters of 1Mbps upload speed, minimum standards for
latency, a maximum sharing between customers (a ‘contention ratio’ of 50:1), and data
cap of at least 100GB per month
- The technologies which can deliver the USO.
- A proposed cost threshold of £3,400 per premise, and that demand aggregation should
be an essential feature of USO implementation to ensure as many people who want to
get connected, do get connected
- That there should be uniform pricing for the USO
- That the costs should be met by industry through a cost- sharing mechanism which will
be established by Ofcom once the specification for the USO has been set in secondary
legislation
- Measures to be taken in designing the USO that will help minimise market distortion
- The current level of market interest in becoming a Universal Service Provider(s) (Section
- Proposed arrangements for monitoring and review of the USO.
The deadline for responses to NALC is 5pm on Monday 2ndOctober. Please send your council’s views to
*********************************************************************************************
Message from HM Lord-Lieutenant
‘Singing for Syrians’
I have been asked by the ‘Hands Up Foundation’ to draw attention to a nationwide campaign they are running for the second time this coming December.
Last December they asked 100 schools, choirs churches and bands, communities and individuals to hold events where they are ‘Singing for Syrians’. They raised £140,000 for doctors in Aleppo, for a kindergarten and a prosthetic limb clinic.
This year the Foundation wishes to widen the awareness in the hope that they can raise £200,000.
A flyer giving the source for further information is attached.
Ian J Dudson CBE KStJ
HM Lord-Lieutenant of Staffordshire
*********************************************************************************************
Letter issued on behalf of Staffordshire County Council
Re: Libraries
Please find attached a letter for distribution to all Parish Council Clerks.
Many thanks
Yours sincerely
Gill Heath|County Councillor for Staffordshire Moorlands – Leek Rural
Cabinet Member for Communities
SPCA Bulletin 17/36 (7th September)