Guest
Julie King
Partner
Norfolk Parish Training and Support
Unlock the Power of the Big Yellow Book
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Show notes
This one's different. The episode opens with a heads-up from John: don't listen to this in the car or walking the dog — it's a hands-on workshop, and you'll need the 14th edition of Arnold-Baker on Local Council Administration (the Big Yellow Book, the Local Council Bible, the CAB, whatever you call it) sitting open in front of you. Julie King, Partner at Norfolk Parish Training and Support, walks listeners through the book they've all got on the shelf but maybe never quite figured out how to navigate.
Julie starts with what the book actually is — a brief history of Charles Arnold-Baker (MI6 officer turned barrister turned head of what's now NALC), Paul Claydon, and current author Roger Taylor. Then the structure: Part 1 (England & Wales) chapters 1–33, Part 2 (Wales only) chapters 34–36, Appendix 1 (Statutes), Appendix 2 (Statutory Instruments), the Index. Out come the post-it notes to mark up Chapter 1, the start of the 1972 Local Government Act on page 413, and Schedule 12 on page 505 — the bits everyone goes back to.
Then four worked examples, the same pattern each time — Index → Chapter (legal interpretation) → Statute (the actual legislation). Quorum (7.9 → Schedule 12 paragraph 12: a third or three, whichever is greater, of total membership — not current sitting members). Register of interests (7.12 → Localism Act 2011, Section 29 — yes, it must go on your council website even if it's on the principal authority's site too). Churchyard grass cutting (25.2 / 33.3–5 → 1972 LGA Section 214 — parish councils are burial authorities for this purpose, so yes you can contribute). And the six-month rule for councillor absence (7.13 → Section 85 — and crucially, it's six months from the last meeting attended, not six missed meetings; if you meet quarterly, that's just one miss).
Plus a Q&A pass on whether older editions are still usable (mostly yes; the Procurement Act is where you start to fall foul), how AOB on agendas works (you can list it; you just can't make decisions under it), and a closing reflection on why the proper officer role is impossible without this book. Julie leaves with the message she'd most like listeners to take away: make the Big Yellow Book your friend, not your foe.
Pay-it-forward: Julie answers Beckie Whitehouse's "if kindness was a currency, how would you spend £10" question (sweets for everyone in her household sitting exams) and leaves a new question for Tom Sykes — joining the podcast next on procurement: what piece of legislation would you change, if you could, and why?
