On behalf of its membership, the cross-party LGA regularly submits to Government
consultations, briefs parliamentarians and responds to a wide range of parliamentary inquiries. Our recent
responses to government consultations and parliamentary briefings can be found here.
Councils want to work as partners with the OEP to defend environmental law and are well-placed to do this as place-shapers, convenors of communities and partners, delivery agents, commissioners, and owners of assets.
It is essential that the new Act clearly recognises the local leadership role of councils and identifies the roles and responsibilities of councils in respect of both statutory and non-statutory mental health duties, working in partnership with the NHS and local voluntary and community services.
The LGA supports in principle the ambition to transform public procurement. However much of what is being proposed within the Green Paper is more around the legal process for procurement without sufficient discussion on how the Government believes we will meet the stated objectives “to speed up and simplify our procurement processes, place value for money at their heart, and unlea
Steps taken by DWP to influence the design of Jobcentre Plus (JCP) and co-design the Work and Health Programme with local areas are positive. However we are calling on the DWP to take a holistic approach to all employment services, and ensure funding for these services is devolved to all areas across England.
The LGA is calling for powers, funding and responsibilities on employment and skills to be devolved to councils so they can plan investment in their area, reduce long term unemployment and maximise opportunities for joint working.
Instead of pushing for more permitted development, Government must continue to work with local government and the mobile industry to share best practice and guidance to help the streamlined deployment of mobile infrastructure within the current planning regime to allow communities to engage in the development of their local areas.
This submission makes the case to Government for a radical reinvestment in local and combined authorities that enables councils to turbo-charge local growth and create preventative public services that save money and improve the lives of some of the most vulnerable in our society.
This review is timely and much needed in light of the challenges posed to the visitor economy by the pandemic, which has exacerbated pre-existing weaknesses as well as creating significant new issues.
The LGA supports the Government’s undertaking to address the abuse and exploitation of our online environment and social media through the creation of duty of care on online platforms, the creation of codes of practice, and the role of a regulator in monitoring and enforcing compliance. Whilst the internet and social media has undoubtable enriched our lives, councils have a strong interest in making our online environment safe and should be regarded as important stakeholders in the development of this policy.