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<p>Digital and social media are an effective and low-cost way of communicating with
the public.</p><p> </p><p>This Government has amended the law to strengthen the rights
of the press and public to report and film council meetings using digital and social
media. In August 2014, we published a plain English guide to help councils, the press
and the public with these new rights.</p><p> </p><p>We made clear that there is no
prohibition on councillors from tweeting and blogging at meetings, and they should
be able to do so provided it is not disruptive and does not detract from the proper
conduct of the meeting.</p><p> </p><p>Local authorities should have regard to the
local government Publicity Code, which seeks to prevent the misuse of taxpayer-funded
resources, including social media.</p><p> </p><p>Notwithstanding, last June, Ministers
challenged and criticised guidance to parish councils issued by the National Association
of Local Councils (NALC) that sought to prevent elected councillors from issuing media
comments without prior written permission of the council. NALC has now produced a
new Media Policy Example that takes into account the new national rules on filming
and recording at parish and town council meetings.</p><p> </p><p>In December, we invited
bids for local pilots to bring statutory notices into the 21<sup>st</sup> Century.
This could include supporting the increased use of digital and social media by councils
and commercial partners, as one of the ways that such notices could be improved and
reformed.</p>
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