LGA Conservative Group report and review 2023/2024

As everyone reading this report will be only too well aware, the past three years have been extremely challenging for the Conservative local government family – and regardless of the size of the group that you are a member of, whether you are in opposition or control, and which part of the country you come from, you are all emphatically part of one Conservative local government family – with the loss of a significant number of councillor colleagues and control of many councils.

Of course, these local election results presaged the truly terrible general election result in July which means that the Conservative Party both nationally and locally is now starting simultaneous rebuilding processes.

We would therefore like to use this part of our annual report to both review the past year and look ahead to what we plan to do over the coming twelve months.

Last June saw significant change as we took over as group leader and deputy group leader at the same time as Labour reclaimed the LGA chairmanship, thus ending nearly twenty years of us being the largest party at the LGA. Shortly afterwards our new Group Executive met in Warwickshire to plan the year ahead and discuss how we would operate within a Labour-led LGA, how to best work with the government, and how to support the thousands of Conservative councillors across the country.

As a result of those discussions we published Rebuilding the road to victory, our medium-term action plan, and this annual report provides an ideal opportunity for us to update you on the progress that we have made in terms of the key action points contained in that document and on our plans for the coming year.

Until the General Election was called, we continued the weekly ‘Blue Team’ meetings with the then Secretary of State, The Rt Hon Michael Gove and his Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities ministerial team. We used these meetings to raise, in private, the issues that you told us most concerned you. For example, we lobbied strongly for significant improvements to the disappointing Provisional Local Government Finance Government, and these materialised in the final settlement. We would particularly like to thank Tim Oliver, Chairman of the County Councils Network, and Sam Chapman-Allen, Chairman of the District Councils Network, for their work on this and on wider funding issues.

Along with Tim, Sam and Phil Broadhead, the Conservative Councillors Association (CCA) Chairman, Kevin attended a meeting of the Conservative political cabinet earlier this year at 10 Downing Street. Whilst you will understand that the details of the meeting must remain confidential, this was an invaluable opportunity to have a constructive but frank conversation with the Prime Minister and his most senior ministers on behalf of the Conservative local government family.

At the 2022 LGA Conference, Michael Gove announced the creation of the Office for Local Government (Oflog). Further details emerged in 2023, so by that year’s LGA Conference we had an interim Chair and discussions were in full swing. There has been scepticism amongst colleagues about Oflog, but our group leadership has been of the firm view that we should work constructively to ensure that it was shaped as much as possible by our priorities.

As Chair of the Improvement and Innovation Board (IIB), Abi has led on this and sought to ensure that Oflog’s remit was developed in collaboration with the sector and does not duplicate existing activity. This resulted in the creation of the Oflog Political Advisory Group, which as well as the LGA Chair and group leaders comprises the chairs of London Councils, District Councils Network (DCN), County Councils Network (CCN), Special Interest Group of Municipal Authorities (SIGOMA), Unitary Councils Network (UCN), Key Cities Group, Core Cities Group and the M10. We have also had good direct engagement with Lord Morse (Interim Chair) and Josh Goodman (Chief Executive), who have attended our group meetings, the LGA Councillors’ Forum and the IIB. 

Under the leadership of William Nunn, our National Lead Peer, and his team of regional lead peers, we have also strengthened our member peer pool. As part of this process, following conversations with their regional lead peer and then with William, all existing peers and new applicants have been required to attend an in-person interview at Smith Square. Whilst the vast majority of those who have gone through the process have been successful, it has certainly not been a ‘tick box’ exercise as we have ensured that our pool reflects the needs of the Conservative local government family as it is today rather than what it was previously. This has meant that, despite the high calibre of peers and applicants, not all applications have been approved. 

We are both grateful to those who have previously served as peers and those who have taken the time to apply - whether successful or not – and to group executive colleagues for serving on the interview panels. 

We have also strongly encouraged our member peers to attend the LGA’s specific peer training sessions, and we are delighted that we have filled our group’s allocation for each session as well as filling gaps left by other political groups.   

In addition to the Warwickshire meeting, the Group Executive convened in Lincoln earlier this year, where we were joined by local county and district leaders. We will again be meeting in Warwickshire in August to map out the year ahead, and we plan to hold further meetings outside London over the coming year. 

We have held regular meetings with our lead members on the LGA policy boards to ensure a two-way flow of information and joined-up working, and we are grateful to David Fothergill, Chair of the Community Wellbeing Board, for coordinating this work.  

We have also moved back to in-person attendance for our Councillors’ Forum group pre- meetings, resulting in improved attendance, colleagues getting to know each other, and us being the largest group attending the main cross-party Councillors’ Forum meeting.

Finally, with Michael Gove in attendance, we launched our group manifesto LGA Conservative Group Manifesto at the party conference last year. Copies were sent to all MPs and special advisers, and through our email bulletin to all Conservative councillors. We are very grateful to Colin Noble, Chairman of the Manifesto Working Group, and the other members - John Fuller, Robert Alden, Linda Taylor and David Renard - for all the work that they put into this.

Once the election was called, Colin secured a meeting with Jack Airey, one of the officials responsible for writing the Conservative Party manifesto, which he attended along with Abi Brown, Phil Broadhead, Tim Oliver, Sam Chapman-Allen and Teresa O’Neill. This was a useful opportunity to highlight our main asks and to discuss some key policy areas in more detail. 

In terms of the manifesto itself, we secured some important wins, including a commitment to multiyear financial settlements in adult social care, increased punishments for fly tippers, and doing away with bureaucratic nutrient neutrality regulations which were imposed before Britain’s departure from the European Union. 

However, now that the election is over, we need to look forward and start the rebuilding process. As we write this in the summer of 2024, significant progress has already been made and we have ambitious plans for the year ahead.

Firstly, we had our first ‘Blue Team’ meeting with Kemi Badenoch, our new Shadow Secretary of State, very soon after her appointment. Kemi is well known to many of us as a former DLUHC Minister, and it was great to meet with her so quickly. We are looking forward to continuing to engage closely with Kemi and her ministerial team, which includes David Simmonds, a former LGA Conservative Group Leader, who many of you will also know.   

Our new Group Executive also met shortly after the general election. A week earlier we had held our Group AGM prior to the virtual LGA Assembly, at which the wider Conservative membership had mandated us, through their unanimous passing of a motion, “to devise proposals to change and strengthen our ability to represent councillors and councils within the LGA and party structures.”

Following these meetings, Kevin wrote to Richard Fuller, the new Party Chairman, to congratulate him on his appointment and request a meeting, which was arranged shortly afterwards. The meeting provided a useful opportunity to emphasise that, with over 5,000 Conservative councillors and 77 Conservative-led councils, the Conservative local government family will be integral to the rebuilding of our party. Kevin also stressed the importance of next year’s local elections and the need for us all to be properly supported by Conservative Campaign Head Quarters (CCHQ) in relation to our local campaigns. 

Kevin also wrote to Bob Blackman, the new Chairman of the 1922 Committee, to congratulate him on his appointment and to notify him that we will be setting up a ‘2024 Committee’ comprising Conservative local government leaders to promote the views and interests of our councillors and to request that he and Philip Broadhead are invited as observers to 1922 Committee meetings, with a reciprocal offering being made in relation to the ‘2024 Committee.’ Bob was due to attend our July group meeting but was unfortunately not able to do so due to a clashing Party Board meeting to agree the rules for the leadership election. However, we look forward to meeting with Bob and to working with him and his colleagues in the Lords over the coming year.

Finally, the group executive agreed that a letter should be sent to all candidates for the party leadership. This will include key pledges that we will ask each to sign up to, policy proposals for a future Conservative government and suggestions on how we can re-set the relationship between the parliamentary party and local government. 

We hope that you will agree that the above represents a solid record of achievement over the past year in the context of a very difficult national position and that we have hit the ground running in the immediate aftermath of the General Election.

We have crucial local elections next May, and working with you, our Conservative local government family, we are determined that the fightback begins now.

The LGA Conservative Group Executive oversees and directs the work of the Conservative Group at the LGA. The members of the Executive for 2023/2024 were:

Conservative Group Leader and LGA Senior Vice Chair – Councillor Kevin Bentley (Essex County Council)

Conservative Group Deputy Leader and LGA Deputy Chair – Councillor Abi Brown OBE (Stoke-on-Trent City Council)

County Council Executive Member – Councillor Rory Love OBE (Kent County Council)

Non-Met District Council Executive Member – The Lord Fuller OBE (South Norfolk District Council)

London Borough Council Executive Member – The Baroness O’Neill of Bexley OBE (London Borough of Bexley)

Metropolitan District Council Executive Member - Councillor Antony Mullen (Sunderland City Council)

Unitary Council Executive Member – Councillor Linda Taylor (Cornwall Council)

'At Large' Executive Members (four positions)

• Councillor Kelham Cooke (Lincolnshire County Council)
• Councillor David Fothergill (Somerset Council)
• Councillor Joanne Laban (London Borough of Enfield)
• Councillor Colin Noble (Suffolk County Council).

Ex-officio: Chairman of the Conservative Councillors’ Association – Councillor Philip Broadhead (Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council). 

Invited to attend Group Executive meetings

National Lead Peer - Councillor William Nunn (Breckland District Council and Norfolk County Council)

Chairman of the County Councils Network – Councillor Tim Oliver (Surrey County Council). 

Chairman of the District Councils Network – Councillor Sam Chapman-Allen (Breckland District Council). 

LGA Deputy Chairs – Councillor Izzi Seccombe OBE (Warwickshire County Council) and Councillor Morris Bright MBE (Hertsmere Borough Council and Hertfordshire County Council)

The LGA is a politically-led organisation, and the members who are appointed to serve on its policy boards are responsible for developing its lobbying and policy positions. 

The LGA’s political groups make annual appointments to the policy boards. The number of places and lead member positions (Chairman, Vice Chairman and Deputy Chairman) that they allocate are determined by the LGA’s proportionality figures, which are calculated every May after the local elections.  

Councillors are appointed to serve on these boards annually. Nomination forms are sent to Conservative group leaders in June, the appointments are made in July, and they take effect at the start of the new LGA year on the 1 September. 

In September, the LGA holds a cross-party briefing day for all councillors who have been appointed to the boards. This is an opportunity for senior members to outline the LGA’s priorities for the coming year and for those attending to ask questions or raise issues. 

Each Conservative council group leader can nominate up to three councillors from their group. Those councillors who are interested in being appointed are asked to indicate which board(s) they are interested in serving on and whether they wish to be considered for the lead member position. Applicants are also asked to provide a short statement outlining their experience and suitability for the role.  

We make a conscious effort to appoint opposition councillors as well as those from groups that are in control to ensure that a wide range of voices and experiences are heard.   

In making the appointments, the LGA Conservative group leader considers various factors. The experience and expertise of each applicant combined with the information included in the personal statement is obviously important. We also seek to ensure that the appointments reflect our strength geographically as well as representing all the tiers of local government.

Each year we are heavily oversubscribed, with some boards being particularly popular, so we cannot offer a place to everyone who puts themselves forward. However, vacancies do occur and we keep every application form on file for consideration when necessary.    

When making these appointments we want to ensure that we have a strong and varied team that is representative of Conservative councillors across the country, which promotes and showcases the very best in talent from Conservative local government, and which will provide a strong Conservative voice within the LGA.    

The following summaries from our lead members outline the work that they and their board colleagues have undertaken on your behalf over the past year.

We hope that you find these summaries useful. Further information about each board, including a list of all the Conservative representatives who serve on them, is available on the LGA website.

It has been another busy year for the board, with our work covering a wide range of issues and topics affecting children and young people. 

For example, in advance of the expansion of entitlements, we refreshed our resource pack on early years education and childcare.

We also published a guide exploring the key legislation, policies and good practice for providing quality placements for children in care, and during National Care Leavers’ Week we launched our #StepAhead campaign, which aims to improve direct support to care leavers whilst also increasing the assistance that is provided to councils in relation to this.

We also met with the Association of Directors of Children's Services (ADCS), the Department for Education and the police to discuss the implications of Right Care, Right Person (RCRP) for children. Actions were agreed to ensure children’s needs are met, including the development of a set of shared principles on RCRP and a review of police force guidance to support collaboration. Please contact [email protected] with any comments about your experience in relation to RCRP.

We also updated our must know for youth services guide following changes to the statutory guidance last September. The guide outlines the statutory duty for councils, where to go for further support, and some key questions to be asking of service leads.

Many councils have been establishing 'family hubs', bringing together partners in a ‘one stop shop’ so families can access the right help at the right time. In recognition of this work, the LGA has produced case studies which capture the diversity of approaches to developing family hubs and their successes.

Concerns related to poor mental health and the impact that this is having on young people’s lives are well documented, with councils and their partners having to support increasing numbers of young people. We have therefore established a working group to share good practice. If you have a project or initiative that you would like to highlight please contact [email protected]

The Department for Education has launched two resources to help schools and colleges to promote and support mental health and wellbeing. These are a mental health lead resource hub with practical resources to help with the development and embedding of a whole school or college approach and a targeted support toolkit to help you review your approach.

Finally, it was great to see so many Conservative colleagues from across the country at the National Children's and Adult Services Conference in Bournemouth last November. 

Ahead of the conference, the LGA warned of the spiralling costs of providing support for children with the most complex needs. Our survey of councils highlighted how the number of placements costing more than £10,000 per week has risen by over 1,000 per cent in five years, from 120 in 2018 to more than 1,500 in the past year, while the proportion of councils taking these out has increased from 23 per cent to 91 per cent over the same period. The highest cost placement was £63,000 a week, and for most councils the highest cost fell between £9,600 and £32,500 a week. This is an issue of concern for many councils, and the Board will continue to lobby government in relation to this over the coming year.

The City Regions Board provides a clear voice for city regions and urban authorities within the LGA. This year we have focused on identifying and addressing the needs of urban areas regarding to strategic transport and strategic housing whilst also continuing to develop work in relation to employment and skills, growth funding, levelling up and devolution.

We work closely with our colleagues on the People and Places Board, and in partnership with its Conservative Vice-Chair, Louise McKinlay, I was pleased to support the work of the Youth Employment UK Youth Commission, which explored the short-, medium- and long-term friction points in relation to Level 2 and 3 education reforms. It concluded earlier this year with the publication of a final report whose key recommendations included:

• improved apprenticeship support and careers guidance
• the creation of a Young Person’s Entitlement
• improved collaboration with key partners, including councils. 

Again, in partnership with the People and Places Board, we commissioned Henham Strategy to develop a series of action learning sets to provide an opportunity for local areas to work through the challenges and opportunities of integration. The report is now complete and has been published on the LGA’s website.

Meanwhile, both boards have actively lobbied government regarding some of the challenges that councils and combined authorities have experienced with the introduction of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF). This included submitting written and oral evidence to the Work and Pensions Select Committee on the challenges of the People & Skills Priority. 

Ahead of the general election, the LGA produced Work Local: our employment and skills offer to a new Government to boost inclusive growth. Through a working group representing councils, devolved authorities and local government partner bodies, we developed practical steps to accelerate the devolution of employment and skills through three interlinked offers: Youth Pathways to help young people at risk of, or who are not in education, employment or training (NEET), to find their first job or put them on a career path; Working Futures, to support adults disadvantaged in the labour market; and Skills for All, to create a better local match of skills supply and demand and promote lifelong learning.

In January, the Board met in Manchester to discuss our new strategic transport remit. We heard from a range of key speakers, including Jason Prince, director of the Urban Transport Group, and Henri Murison, the Chief Executive of Northern Powerhouse Partnership. We are clear that greater local leadership of transport planning and investment must be underpinned by a clear vision and integrated into the wider economic agenda for cities. 

Finally, I would like to thank my Conservative colleagues on the Board, Councillor Barry Anderson (Leeds City Council), Councillor Julia Lepoidevin (Coventry City Council), Councillor Antony Mullen (Sunderland City Council), Councillor Aled Richard-Jones (London Borough of Wandsworth), Councillor Tim Warren (Bath and North East Somerset Council) and former Councillor Ellis Turrell from Wolverhampton for their support over the past year and for ensuring that the voice of Conservatives in urban and metropolitan areas is heard within the LGA.

Good health and wellbeing is of critical importance in enabling people to make a full and positive contribution to their families, neighbourhoods and wider society. Councils' responsibilities for public health, adult social care, and as the interface between local government and health, enable us – in partnership with our local communities and stakeholders, including of course those who draw on care and support – to drive forward action to improve and sustain individual and collective health and wellbeing. 

However, funding has been a longstanding issue for the sector, and I therefore welcomed the previous Government's announcement earlier this year of an extra £500 million for children’s and adult social care. This was the result of significant private and public lobbying by the LGA as well as concerted campaigning by colleagues from across the sector. Whilst any extra funding is of course welcome, we continue to robustly make the case for further investment in order to achieve a fully funded adult social care system, and the LGA will lobby the new government as strongly as we did the previous one in relation to this.    

Meanwhile, a decade on from the Care Act receiving Royal Assent, our publication, The Care Act 2014: Ten years on from Royal Assent, reflects on the extent to which the aims of the legislation have been achieved and, where they have not, what changes are needed to deliver fully on its ambitions. 

In partnership with the NHS Confederation, we published a report on the future vision, direction and role of Integrated Care Partnerships. Its primary purpose is to enable ICPs and their leaders and partners to learn from each other, and it includes key recommendations to government on how they can ensure that ICPs succeed in improving health outcomes.

The 2024/2025 Public Health Grant allocations to local government were published earlier this year. Whilst welcoming the real terms increase that was announced, we also highlighted the fact local public health teams continue to have limited resources to maintain essential services such as sexual health support and specialist community public health nursing. 

Meanwhile, our report Maintaining our momentum: public health in local government, marked the tenth anniversary of the transfer of public health from primary care trusts to local government. We spoke to key figures close to the reforms, including Lord Lansley, to find out what they had worked well, what can be improved, and the lessons to take forward.

In my role as Board Chair, I was delighted to co-chair the annual National Children and Adult Services Conference in November. The conference took place over three days, and – with 1,000 attendees, more than 40 sessions and a large exhibition space – it offered a fantastic opportunity to discuss the most important issues affecting the sector. Keynote speakers included Helen Whately, the then Minister of State for Social Care, and Amanda Pritchard from NHS England, whilst the interactive workshop sessions were designed to ensure that people with lived experience of services were involved as speakers and delegates.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my Conservative board colleagues for their support both in our meetings and at outside events. For example, in February, Councillor Rebecca Hopfensperger chaired a webinar on ‘Health in an Ageing Society’ which was attended by over 200 delegates and included a presentation from Professor Chris Whitty.

Finally, to end on a high-profile LGA 'win', I was delighted that the previous government listened to our longstanding lobbying on behalf of member councils by outlining plans to ban disposable vapes – which is expected to come into force in the first half of next year. Single use vapes blight our streets as litter, are a hazard in bin lorries, and are expensive and difficult to deal with in recycling centres. 

Our lobbying for a smoke-free generation and for all vaping products to be subject to the same rules as cigarettes – sold in plain packaging and kept out of reach and sight of children behind shop counters – also saw success in the form of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, which unfortunately did not make it through Parliamentary washup following the calling of the General Election. We were however pleased to see provisions in relation to this in the new Tobacco and Vapes Bill contained in the recent King’s Speech.

The CTS Board has a wide remit, and our discussions over the past year have covered a broad range of subjects, including the creative industries, the leisure sector, the visitor economy and sport at all levels.

We have also had the opportunity to welcome various interesting speakers to our meetings. For example, in November we heard from Paul Simons, Chair of World Heritage UK, who gave a fantastic presentation on the role that local authorities play in World Heritage, ranging from community and stakeholder engagement to planning and economic development.

Meanwhile, in January we were delighted to welcome Lucy Frazer, the then Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS) to our board meeting. This provided a great opportunity to discuss the importance of the partnership between local and central government in delivering cultural, tourism and sport services to local communities. We also took the opportunity to ask Lucy questions on a range of subjects, including the Swimming Pool Support Fund, how to improve our evidence base, delivering skills for the creative industries, and how we can fund the curation of local places to promote the visitor economy.

We also had positive engagement with other members of the previous Government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) ministerial team, including Stuart Andrew, the then Minister for Sport, and Lord Parkinson, the then Minister for Culture. 

We also worked closely with Baroness Sanderson, who conducted a review into Library Services which spoke highly of the LGA’s contribution. Board members and officers have also met with other key stakeholders, including DCMS service teams, Arts Council England, Historic England, Sport England, National Lottery Heritage Fund, VisitEngland, The National Archives, and the Office of the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales.

Following on from the launch of the LGA’s Sustainability in Council Services hub, our leisure route map and culture route map aim to support councils to embed sustainable practices into culture and leisure services. 

I would also like to draw your attention to the LGA's publication on the contribution public sport and leisure services make to promoting health and wellbeing and active communities.

Finally, as this has been my first year as the Conservative lead member on the board, I would like to thank my colleagues for the support that they have given me and for the contributions that they have made to the Board's work both internally and externally.

For example, Councillor Peter Golds attended a children’s activity roundtable hosted by Dame Rachel de Souza, the Children’s Commissioner, where he emphasised the need to join up the offer from schools and councils. Peter also attended a ukactive health summit which discussed how leisure services can also be a wellbeing service that helps to reduce pressures on social care and the NHS. 

Earlier this year, Councillor Gary Ridley hosted our Leadership Essentials training for sports portfolio holders. This programme, which is funded by Sport England, supports portfolio holders on policy and funding issues as well as sharing best practice from across the sector.

Finally, Councillor David Jeffels has led the board’s engagement with British Destinations, the national trade association for the UK’s leading visitor destinations, whilst I was pleased to represent the LGA at Elevate, the largest sports conference in the UK.

It is great to have such a cohesive team, and I am delighted that working together we have been able to provide a strong and constructive Conservative voice on the board. 

The Board was integral to the LGA’s lobbying activity to highlight the financial pressures facing councils in the run up to the 2023 Autumn Statement. This activity included myself and the other lead members on the Board, alongside the LGA Chair and the political group leaders, approving the LGA's official submission which highlighted our funding gap analysis and provided a comprehensive overview of the challenges facing council finances and services. I also gave evidence in person to the DLUCH Select Committee in November 2023, resulting in the key LGA lines being widely reported in the media. It was encouraging that my evidence was heavily cited in the committee's final report which was published in February.

We also published a joint letter with key stakeholders on the financial pressures in children’s social care as well as material to support our campaigning, including online explainers on the use of reserves and on how £1 of council funding is spent. The Group Office was able to help me make direct connections with the then Chancellor of the Exchequer on SEND and related issues, which are often aggravated by policies in other departments such as the DWP.

This activity also provided the backdrop to our lobbying ahead of the 2024/2025 Local Government Finance Settlement. In response to the provisional settlement we issued an on the day briefing and a press release. A cross party delegation of LGA members and sector stakeholder bodies met with Simon Hoare, the then DLUHC Minister, to reiterate the key financial challenges facing councils, and Michael Gove subsequently issued a written update announcing £600 million of additional funding which was confirmed in the final settlement.

Our new funding gap analysis was published in June and used in our White Paper and associated press notice. Our figures were highlighted in the media and the Institute for Fiscal Studies has used them in their analysis. Given the ongoing pressures facing councils we will continue to use this analysis in our lobbying over the coming year.

Over the past year we have continued to work closely with councils and government on the design and delivery of the Household Support Fund (HSF), including influencing the guidance to allow councils to spend some of the funding on advice provision – a key win for the more preventative approach favoured by councils. 

We also successfully worked with stakeholders to demonstrate the need for the HSF to be continued as the previous government announced an extension in the Spring Budget, securing councils a further £500 million in funding. We continue to lobby for a more sustainable solution as part of our 100 asks of the new government. 

We have also continued to highlight the need for a pragmatic response to address the backlog in local audit - 576 still outstanding by the end of May 2024 - as well as the need for longer-term reform to prevent the backlog recurring.

Finally, in October, the LGA Board agreed that our Board should have lead responsibility for election issues, and we have therefore engaged with government and developed relationships with key stakeholders. For example, we held a roundtable with the then Elections Minister, Simon Hoare MP, on the implementation of the Elections Act which led to a change in policy to allow returning officers to reclaim the costs of reserve polling staff at reserved elections. We have also highlighted changes to government advice on the use of council addresses on campaigning imprints to monitoring officers to ensure councils had the opportunity to pre-empt issues related to councillors inappropriately using council resources for political campaigning.

It has been a pleasure to chair the Improvement and Innovation Board for a second year, championing the great work of the LGA’s in supporting councils and councillors. Following negotiation with DLUHC, our 2024/25 Sector Support programme focuses on the key themes of governance, leadership, finance and workforce and transformation, directly informed by engagement with the sector whilst also offering our expanded range of officer and councillor development opportunities.This includes new training for statutory officers, councillor-focused Transformation support, and, with Solace, the introduction of a new foundation programme for newly appointed chief executives which was successfully piloted in 2023/24.

The programme also launched the LGA’s flagship National Recruitment Campaign and our enhanced Corporate Peer Challenge (CPC) approach.CPCs will continue to focus on the five core areas – local priorities and outcomes; organisational and place leadership; governance and culture; ­financial planning and management; and capacity for improvement - but with a stronger focus on performance, governance and culture. I feel that it is important that regular review and reflection of the CPC process helps to ensure that it remains credible, and the enhanced model does this. 

The LGA continues to offer an extensive sector support offer, including: 

• Children’s services
• Partners in Care and Health
• Cyber, Digital and Technology
• One Public Estate (OPE)
• Planning (PAS and Pathways to Planning)
• Procurement
• Sustainability
• NGDP Finance
• Adult Social Care Peer Challenge
• Culture and Sport. 

To find out more about the Sector Support Programme, please view our updated sector support summary

The LGA has been raising concerns about councillors' security for several years as part of the Debate Not Hate campaign, so I strongly welcomed the Home Office's announcement of a new £31 million package of security measures for MPs and other elected politicians. I was also pleased to see that the announcement clearly references all elected representatives and candidates having a dedicated named police contact to liaise with on security matters. 

If your council wants to get involved with the LGA’s Debate Not Hate campaign and gain access to a range of communications resources, including posters, social media assets and virtual meeting backgrounds, please email [email protected]

As part of ensuring that the LGA provides support to all councillors, whatever their role, it’s worth highlighting some of the resources we’ve published this year, including a series of short guides on key aspects of local government finance. These cover:

• how to get the annual budget process right
• how to achieve the greatest value from working with auditors
• the importance and role of the statement of accounts.

Meanwhile, the updated councillor’s workbook on community leadership reflects changes in the way councillors might interact with residents and community organisations following the pandemic. It can be found within the suite of councillor workbooks on the LGA website.

The revised scrutiny e-learning module has also been updated to reflect changes around governance and is designed to help new councillors gain a good grounding in the principles of scrutiny. To register for e-learning, or to find out more, please visit councillor e-learning.

Finally, a reminder that LG Inform is our free, award-winning, online tool which provides benchmarking data on a range of service areas and themes, enabling councils to review and compare their performance with other authorities. For more information on using LG Inform or subscribing to LG Inform Plus (our paid data benchmarking subscription service), please contact [email protected] or [email protected]

I am pleased to report the Board has recorded a number of lobbying wins over the past year, including the announcement of the Nutrient Mitigation Fund, which made £110 million available for schemes to enable new development to go ahead in areas affected by nutrient neutrality advice; an announcement in December by the previous government of an uplift in planning application fees by 35 per cent for major applications and 25 per cent for other applications; and, following our response to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) consultation, the announcement of recycling reforms, which included flexibility on recycling collection and confirmation that councils can continue to charge for garden waste collection.

It has also been positive to see Defra making progress on reforms to funding the recycling and disposal of packaging waste. With the LGA represented on the interim steering group for the packing extended producer responsibility scheme, we continue to work across government and with councils on the key issues, which include a clear and deliverable time frame, ensuring sufficient funding to cover the costs of running waste services, and a positive scheme-wide approach to supporting improvement. We are working with councils to understand the level of funding the sector should expect to receive to cover costs.

Meanwhile, to echo the comments made by my colleague Councillor David Fothergill in his report, joint working between the Community Wellbeing Board and our Board has been successful in raising awareness of the environmental impact of disposable vapes and the harm to young people’s health. 

On housing, we set out our key asks to support councils to resume their historic role as major builders of affordable homes through our six point-action plan. We have reiterated these asks through our ongoing lobbying work, including in the LGA’s:

• Make it Local publication
• Autumn Statement submission
• Spring Budget submission
• Local Government White Paper.

We have also supported councils to improve building safety by working with the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) to implement the new legislative framework created by the Building Safety Act (BSA), which came into effect in April 2024. This has included highlighting the requirements on councils to register high-rise residential buildings with the BSR and working with Core Cities to prepare for the new building assessment certificate (BAC) process. 

The LGA has continued to attend the BSR’s Joint Regulator Group (JRG), which has developed the mechanisms for building control and fire and rescue services to support its work. A particular challenge for councils has been the requirements for their building control staff to register with the BSR as the new body overseeing the profession and prove their competence to practice. We were pleased to secure an extension to the deadline for completion of the competency assessment process as without this there could have been a significant reduction in building control capacity across the sector.

The LGA has also continued to host the Joint Inspection Team (JIT), which supports councils to take enforcement action against those owners who have not made enough progress in remediating high-rise residential buildings. We were able to secure a further change to the JIT’s indemnity to enable it to provide advice in relation to buildings over 11 metres in height, to widen the range of external wall systems it could inspect, and to provide training on the use of remediation orders. 

Finally, as Vice Chair of the Board I have been pleased to have had the opportunity to represent the LGA in Parliament.  For example, when I gave evidence to the Transport Committee inquiry on Accessible Transport, I highlighted issues relating to pavement clutter and pavement parking, reiterating the LGA’s support for banning pavement parking. The challenges facing home-to school transport were also discussed as well as the inability of councils to enforce against taxis registered operating in their area but registered elsewhere.

I also gave evidence to the Environmental Audit Committee’s inquiry into heat resilience where I argued that the UK is currently not prepared for the impacts of extreme heat and that councils want to work with government to accelerate the adaptation of residential homes and the urban environment as well as ensuring new builds are fit for future heat. However, I also emphasised that we need a clear framework and funding to achieve this.

The country’s non-metropolitan areas – towns and rural and coastal places – play a crucial role in our national economy and in delivering our shared ambition to level up. Whilst many of our residents benefit from a high quality of life, non-metropolitan areas also have their own distinct challenges, and the board exists to provides a clear voice and resource for them within the LGA.

As Councillor Robert Alden, the Conservative Vice Chairman of the City Regions Board, notes in his own report, our two Boards work closely together, and we jointly commissioned My Local Economy to carry out a technical analysis of current and historic growth funds, to identify the benefits and challenges of current methodologies, and to explore an alternative model of growth funding which would provide certainty and flexibility for councils. The report is currently awaiting publication and will be used by the LGA to influence the government as part of our lobbying ahead of the spending review. 

The Boards have also worked together to develop principles on how local government can promote economic inclusion through better access to training and employment opportunities. This work can be viewed on our website LGA Economic Inclusion Principles paper.

Digital connectivity is a key topic for the Board, and Councillor Mark Hawthorne, our Digital Connectivity Spokesperson, co-hosted a parliamentary roundtable on this in March which focussed on access to telecommunication services, the role of councils, and how to tackle digital exclusion. All the major telecoms firms attended alongside other key stakeholders. 

It was agreed that further collaboration was needed, and we will continue to work with the telecommunications industry to encourage greater collaboration. Feedback from attendees also included expanding the LGA’s ask around digital champions to identify how they can be funded and to set out exactly what their responsibilities would include.

We have also continued to support councils with the digital switchover. Following publication of the digital switch readiness survey to understand councils’ awareness, planning and implementation, the digital switchover hub was updated in collaboration with key partners. Social media assets and a leaflet contained within the communications toolkit were also revised incorporating feedback from councils.

The LGA has also continued to engage with the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport (ADEPT) Digital Connectivity Working Group, a task and finish group of local government digital leads focusing on the delivery of improved broadband and mobile connectivity, to discuss the implications for the sector and feed this back to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and industry.

We have also engaged with Mobile UK on the challenges experienced by communications providers and local planning authorities, and we submitted evidence to the Public Accounts Committee Inquiry on Supporting Mobile Connectivity.

Finally, as part of our Parliamentary engagement, we also submitted written evidence to the House of Lords Public Services Committee inquiry into the transition from education to employment for young disabled people. I also had the opportunity to give oral evidence to the Committee, which I used to both highlight the role of councils in supporting young disabled people and the proposals in our Work Local model to improve the system. 

Over the past year the board has continued to support councils in their work to address domestic abuse and violence against women and girls, including hosting three domestic abuse webinars with the Home Office, the then Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and the office of the Domestic Abuse Commissioner (DAC), each of which were attended by around a hundred people. 

Following the launch of the previous government’s Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) Strategy in 2023 we worked to influence the agenda in relation to this, for example by participating in the joint DLUHC and Home Office ministerial ASB taskforce. We have also lobbied for housing associations to be recognised as a statutory partner in tackling ASB.

We have also worked with the Home Office to influence the ongoing Community Safety Partnership (CSP) review. As a result of this the Board has commissioned work to map out existing partnerships and duties with the aim of developing a proposition to rationalise CSPs. 

We have also engaged with the Home Office and other partners on tackling serious and organised crime (SOC), including supporting the new ‘Clear, Hold, Build’ strategy for tackling organised crime groups which has been piloted in various council areas and participating in the Home Office’s steering group on SOC.

In partnership with colleagues on the Community Wellbeing Board we have considered the growth in modern slavery within the care sector and the LGA’s work to support councils in relation to this. The LGA continues to convene quarterly meetings of the Modern Slavery Network and we are planning a dedicated Knowledge Hub webpage for member councils to share best practice examples in relation to this.

Following the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza conflict, we have worked with the then DLUHC - now Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government - cohesion team to assist their support offer to councils. This has included organising roundtables with stakeholders and practitioners to inform the Government's response to the challenges to community cohesion.

The board also provided input to Dame Sara Khan’s Review into social cohesion and resilience, and following its publication the LGA participated in a DLUHC roundtable which was designed to inform the government’s response to the Review.

Finally, as this was my first year as the Conservative lead member on the board, I would like to thank my Conservative colleagues for their support and contributions and for ensuring that we have worked together as an effective team.

Last December, the Government published its response to the Fire Reform White Paper. The decision not to pursue mandatory changes of governance for fire and rescue services represented an important win for LGA lobbying, and there was also backing for a College of Fire to support the development of leadership within the sector. 

With the White Paper also recommending the establishment of operational independence for chief fire officers, the FSMC coordinated input from the sector to feed into the Home Office review on how this could be introduced without the need for new legislation. 

Over the last year we worked with the Home Office and the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) to inform the department’s input into the Local Government Finance Settlement. This included an NFCC survey of fire and rescue service (FRS) finance leads and the circulation of template letters for Fire and Rescue Authority (FRA) chairs to send to MPs. 

We have continued to engage with His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS). This has included being an observer at HMICFRS’s Engage process which is designed to support FRSs to improve against their inspection reports. As part of this process, the FSMC has made the case for funding to support improvement within the sector and has continued to support the Inspectorate in its work around culture. 

This year’s Fire Conference was held in Bristol in March. Sessions included the key issues for FRSs, efficiency and productivity, community risk management plans, climate change, culture in the fire service and the new Building Safety Act regime. 

To echo the point made by my colleague Councillor David Fothergill in his report from the Community Wellbeing Board, the FSMC warmly welcomed the previous government’s announcement of a ban on single-use vapes. Aside from their negative environmental and health impacts, disposable vapes pose a significant fire risk in bin lorries and recycling centres and have been the source of a large number of fires across the UK in recent years.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity pay tribute to my predecessor as Conservative Deputy Chair of the FSMC, Councillor Rebecca Knox, who stood down as a councillor at the local elections in May.

Rebecca was an outstanding lead member, a tireless advocate for the sector and a highly respected Chair of the Dorset and Wiltshire Fire Authority. I will greatly miss her experience and her contributions to the FSMC and the Fire Commission. On behalf of the Conservative members on both bodies, I would like to thank Rebecca for her many years of service to the LGA, Dorset and Wiltshire FRA and Dorset Council, and wish her all the best for the future. 

The group office supports Conservative council groups and Conservative councillors whilst also being the day-to-day voice of Conservatives within the LGA.

There are currently four full-time members of staff, and they have a wealth of knowledge, including first-hand experience of being a councillor, of having worked for the Conservative Councillors’ Association (CCA) and of working in Parliament.

The office works closely with the CCA and the Local Government Department at CCHQ, including hosting joint events and sponsoring sessions at the CCA Local Government Conference.

Although much of the staff’s time is spent supporting the group leader, group executive and Conservative members of the various LGA governance bodies, they also deal with enquiries from Conservative councillors in relation to a variety of issues, and they aim to be the first point of contact for Conservative council groups and councillors. 

One of the group office’s key roles is to support our leading members to establish and maintain relationships with shadow ministers and their advisers. This includes lobbying on specific policy proposals or pieces of legislation and securing the attendance of shadow ministers and other politicians at Conservative group meetings or corporate LGA events.  

In summary, the work of the group office includes the following core activities: 

• Supporting Conservative councillors who serve on the LGA’s governance bodies.
• Working closely with shadow ministers, their advisers, and with the CCA and CCHQ.
• Shaping the LGA’s corporate campaigns, policy, media, and public affairs work in line with the direction given by the group’s political leadership. 
• Offering advice to individual councillors and Conservative council groups.
• Producing an annual report to inform members of our activities.  
• Organising the annual ‘Next Generation’ programme for aspiring future leaders.
• Delivering the Conservative part of the LGA’s ‘Be a Councillor’ programme.  
• Running sessions at the Conservative Party Conference, CCA Local Government Conference and the LGA Annual Conference. 
• Sending a fortnightly email bulletin to all Conservative councillors to update them on news and events from the group, the corporate LGA and the Conservative Party.  
• Co-ordinating the Conservative member peer programme as part of the LGA’s wider sector-led improvement offer. 

For the latest information on our activities, please follow us on Twitter @LGACons and visit the Conservative Group website.

Head of Group Office
Angela Page 

Angela joined the LGA in 2001 as a political assistant, and then in 2007 she changed roles to become a Political Adviser. In June 2016 she was appointed as Head of Group Office.  

She is responsible for advising on and implementing the policy direction and management of the Conservative Group and providing advice to the group leader and the group executive. She also supports Conservative members of the Improvement and Innovation Board.   

Having been a party member for many years, Angela was elected to the London Borough of Bromley in 2014 and is currently the portfolio holder for public protection and enforcement.   

Political Adviser
Paul McCannah 

Paul joined the LGA in 2004 from the Conservative Councillors’ Association (CCA), where he was the National Organiser.  

As well as supporting the Head of Group Office, he advises Conservative members who serve on the Children and Young People Board, the Community Wellbeing Board, the Culture, Tourism and Sport Board, the Local Infrastructure and Net Zero Board, the Fire Services Management Committee and the Fire Commission.    

Paul served on Enfield Council from 2002-2014, during which time he was a Cabinet Member for Community Safety and for Leisure Services and chaired various scrutiny committees. 

Political Officer
Kyle Evans

Kyle joined the LGA in 2023 having previously managed a parliamentary and constituency office for an MP who was also a Select Committee Chairman. 

He is responsible for supporting the group’s research, communications, and campaign activities. He also supports members on the Safer and Stronger Communities Board, the Economy and Resources Board, the City Regions Board and People and Places Board. 

Kyle joined the Conservative Party when he was 17 and served as a councillor on Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council from 2018 to 2024. During his time as a councillor, he served as a Cabinet Member - overseeing a successful Levelling Up Fund bid - and chaired the Overview & Scrutiny and Licensing Committees. He was also an opposition spokesperson.

Political Administrator
Courtney Waldowski

Prior to joining the group office in October 2023, Courtney studied Politics and International Relations at the University of Leicester and then worked as a Public Affairs Account Executive and an Event Planner for a political communications firm. 

She provides administrative support to the group office, group leader and to Conservative members, and is the first point of contact for general enquiries.

Outside of work, Courtney enjoys travelling, reading and playing darts for her local team.

LGA Conservative Group Office
Local Government Association
18 Smith Square  
Westminster
London  
SW1P 3HZ

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.local.gov.uk/lga-conservatives

X (formerly Twitter): @LGACons

Staff direct lines

Angela Page: 07957 201136
[email protected]

Paul McCannah: 07747 564 920
[email protected] 

Kyle Evans: 07783 425 203
[email protected]

Courtney Waldowski: 07768 020373 [email protected]