The Parish Council has a responsibility under its Governance which includes both the Transparency Code and the General Data Protection Regulations to publish various policies on their website. It also has a duty to respect and protect the privacy of individuals. It’s policies can be reviewed below together with a Consent Form.
Standing Orders:
Occold Parish Council reviewed it’s Standing Orders at the meeting held on 13 may 2024 and subsequently adopted them (minute reference 8G).
Standing orders are the written rules of a local council. Standing orders are essential to regulate the proceedings of a meeting. A council may also use standing orders to confirm or refer to various internal organisational and administrative arrangements. The standing orders of a council are not the same as the policies of a council but standing orders may refer to them.
Local councils operate within a wide statutory framework. NALC’s model standing orders incorporate and reference many statutory requirements to which councils are subject. It is not possible for the model standing orders to contain or reference all the statutory or legal requirements which apply to local councils. For example, it is not practical for model standing orders to document all obligations under data protection legislation. The statutory requirements to which a council is subject apply whether or not they are incorporated in a council’s standing orders.
The model standing orders do not include model financial regulations. Financial regulations are standing orders to regulate and control the financial affairs and accounting procedures of a local council. The financial regulations, as opposed to the standing orders of a council, include most of the requirements relevant to the council’s Responsible Financial Officer.
Financial Regulations
The new model Financial Regulations as issued by the National Association of Local Councils (NALC) were reviewed and adopted at the meeting being held on 15 July 2024.
Financial Regulations are the rule book for Council finance and regulate and control the Councils financial affairs and accounting procedures.
The Financial Regulations are reviewed regularly by the Responsible Financial Officer to the Council before being recommended for adoption by full Council.
Code of Conduct
Occold Parish Council reviewed it’s Code of Conduct at the Annual Parish Council meeting in May 2024 and resovled to re-adopt the new Code of Conduct as adopted by the local District and Council Councils and reccomended by the National Association of Local Councils and the Suffolk Association of Local Councils.
