Briefings and responses

It is vital that local government reflects the communities it represents. However, despite women winning the right to stand in elections over 100 years ago, only 35 per cent of councillors are women.

The LGA shares the Department for Education’s (DfE’s) belief that good attendance at school plays a vital role in children’s development and for their well-being.

The LGA welcomes this Bill which would make it mandatory for licensing authorities to access vital background information about drivers seeking a taxi/ private hire vehicle (PHV) licence in their areas.

Emergency proposals for the update of the 2021/22 Code of Practice on Local Authority Accounting in the United Kingdom: Exceptional consultation on time-limited changes to the Code to help alleviate current delays to the publication of audited financial statements

We support the intention of the legislation to give local systems the flexibility to make their own arrangements for joining up services, and setting their own strategies for improving population health, but this means that there is relatively little on the face of the Bill and more emphasis will be on statutory guidance to accompany the legislation.

It is right that the Online Safety Bill protects the freedom of speech of users, including the freedom of users to criticise issues such as government policy. However, as it stands, the failure of social media companies to address the abuse and harassment is driving people away from their platforms, reducing their opportunity to contribute to important debates and limiting their own freedom of speech.

This briefing summarised the guidance and some of the key issues councils and combined authorities will need to consider in advance of further details about the UKSPF being released.

The LGA has four core asks around the Building Safety Bill.

While we support the Bill’s aim to make the skills system more responsive to employers’ needs, the reforms need to be implemented as part of an integrated, place-based approach.