Mark Lloyd's address to the LGA Annual Conference on 2 July 2019.
Good afternoon and welcome to the LGA Annual Conference 2019.
I am delighted to welcome you to the biggest event in the local government calendar. It’s Local Government’s Glastonbury one councillor told me with a big smile.
We hope you will find it the best ever, with an exciting programme of 100 sessions.
We will also be welcoming over 1,400 delegates and 100 exhibitors for you to enjoy.
Our Conference and Innovation Zone have been based on what you’ve told us are the big issues in your councils. We have put together a programme of some 30 plenary sessions, almost 30 fringes and over 40 events in our Innovation Zone for you.
This is your chance to meet, to chat, to ask, to learn more about everything local government does, from adult social care to children’s services, tackling rough sleeping to building homes, community cohesion to the Spending Review.
I hope that you get a lot out of the next 48 hours and I cannot wait to see you all around the Conference.
At this point, I would like to offer some well-earned thanks.
Our longstanding main sponsor CCLA – whose backing helps ensure that the next few days are possible. Thank you to everyone at CCLA for your continued support.
I pay tribute to my colleagues at the LGA who make all this possible and have done an amazing job once again on the conference planning and in all our work for councils throughout the year. I am in awe of the efforts they put in.
Thank you as well to all of those wonderful politicians who – over and above their roles in their councils – come together at the LGA to contribute to our national work.
Can I also offer my congratulations to those politicians who will be leading our political groups over the coming year:
- Councillor Izzi Seccombe for the Conservatives;
- Councillor Nick Forbes for Labour;
- Councillor Howard Sykes for the Liberal Democrats; and
- Councillor Marianne Overton for Independent and other parties’ councillors
Their role – alongside our board members – is to make sure that we do our very best for the residents and communities you represent.
And of course, there is our new Chairman, Councillor James Jamieson. Many congratulations on your election to this hugely important role. It will be a pleasure to work with you and I know that the LGA will keep going from strength to strength under your direction.
Congratulations also to everybody appointed to serve on our boards this year. I find your commitment to local government inspiring and look forward to supporting you.
And none of any of this would be possible without the hard work and dedication of our wonderful councillors up and down the country and the outstanding officers that work with them, in your councils.
Across the whole country you do amazing work. Making lives better, building prosperous communities, working to ensure your economies thrive and creating places where people want to live, work and visit.
At the LGA we come together to promote your vital contributions to our country. As the national voice of local government, we will keep making the case for you. Calling for you to get the powers, funding and flexibilities you need to continue to be the difference.
And we will keep providing a helping hand whenever councils need us. We’ll continue to support councils in many ways including through our peer challenges and political leadership programmes.
Your local leadership allows us to champion the issues that matter most to our residents.
Your priorities, your residents’ priorities, will always drive everything we do in the LGA.
As you know, we are approaching a Spending Review. We will make the case that Government needs to prioritise local public services in its Spending Review and give councils certainty about funding.
This will ensure that councils are able to continue improving people’s lives.
The current levels of inadequate funding have to be addressed if councils are to develop the right local solutions to local challenges, including how we;
- educate our children;
- support and care for vulnerable people;
- ensure our communities are safe;
- build the homes we sorely need;
- keep our high streets and economies vibrant;
- safeguard our environment;
- deliver economic growth and prosperity; and
- prepare for post-Brexit Britain.
Our record speaks for itself.
Council maintained schools deliver better results for our children. Council-run public health services are improving the health of our nation. And where councils can influence the local skills agenda, businesses can grow to play a major economic role in the nation’s future prosperity.
Together with your communities, we change lives for the better.
When councils have the freedoms and funding to make local decisions, there is clear and significant evidence that outcomes improve and the country gets better value for money.
Local government is ready to be the driving force that changes our nation for the better.
Investing in councils is investing in our country.
That is the message from your Association to our colleagues in national government and Parliament.
I hope you have a great conference, and I look forward to seeing you over the next few days.
I started with a reference to the Glastonbury Festival.
It’s now time for our very own Legends’ Slot. Filled of course this year by my very good friend Lord Gary Porter, who has stood down after four years as our Chairman.
Gary has lived and breathed this role and will be sorely missed by everyone at the LGA and in local government.
He has been a fierce advocate for councils in public and in his private conversations with Government.
We all have a lot to thank Gary for and I hope you will all take the opportunity over the next couple of days to shake his hand and wish him well.
It’s now my pleasure to welcome to the stage our Chairman from 2015 to 2019, Lord Porter of Spalding.