Briefings and responses

We want every resident to have a good quality of life and to aspire to improve their circumstances regardless of their background or where they live.

To help councils and combined authorities close their skills gaps the Government should enable them to coordinate a localised approach to skills. This includes loosening Apprenticeship Levy restrictions. We welcome announcements made on this in the 2018 Budget, but the Government must now go further and faster. 

Research commissioned by the LGA reveals that the skills gap is worsening. By 2024 there will be more than four million too few high-skilled people to take up available jobs, two million too many with intermediate skills and more than six million too many low-skilled.

We welcome the recommendation of an ambitious, long-term strategy for adult skills and lifelong learning and that local authorities are awarded powers and funding to take on an enhanced statutory role for mapping, commissioning and delivery.

Locally commissioned employment support programmes can help to provide tailored support to people who have complex conditions and find it difficult to overcome certain barriers to access the jobs market.

We want to work closely with Government on proposals on the Primary Authority Scheme, apprenticeships, non-domestic rates and plans for a public sector exit payment cap.

The equal participation of women and men in local politics, as our elected councillors and as our leaders, is an important condition for effective democracy and good governance.

The programme of reviews, covering further education and sixth form colleges, is taking place in waves and is due to completed by end of March 2017. Read the full briefing:

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is preparing to launch a new Work and Health Programme (WHP) for people with health conditions and disabilities and those unemployed for over two years. It will replace the current Work Programme (WP) and Work Choice contracts.

Research commissioned by the LGA reveals that the skills gap is worsening. By 2024 there will be more than four million too few high-skilled people to take up available jobs, two million too many with intermediate skills and more than six million too many low-skilled.