Briefings and responses

It is vital that local government reflects the communities it represents. Positively, women make up 76 per cent of employees in the local government workforce

The Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill acts upon long running asks from councils and the LGA for further devolution in England.

The Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill acts upon long running asks from councils and the LGA for further devolution in England. We are pleased that the Government has proposed to speed up the process and make good on its commitment to offer all of England the opportunity to benefit from a devolution deal by 2030. It is also important that councils of all sizes are engaged in the devolution process.

As we highlighted to the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee, councils have been concerned for some time now that a minority of exempt accommodation providers operating across the country fall short in providing good quality, personalised support for people in vulnerable circumstances.

The implementation of the proposals set out in this consultation and the Government’s broader planning reform agenda will require significant resource, skills and capacity at a local level to incorporate the changes into plan-preparation and decision-making. We welcome the Government’s commitment to developing a planning skills strategy but urge them to bring it forward swiftly.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities held a consultation on reforms to national planning policy between 22 December 2022 and 2 March 2023. The consultation sought views on proposals to develop new and revise current national planning policy.

On 2 March the Government published the SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan Right Support, Right Place, Right Time in response to the SEND Green paper that was published in March 2022 and proposed a number of reforms to the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and alternative provision (AP) system.

The combination of inflation, wage stagnation and real-terms cuts to benefits is pushing an increasing number of people into food insecurity.

Councils have a proud history of welcoming new arrivals, stepping forward at times of crisis to offer homes and support so families and individuals can build new lives in the UK.

The 31 May deadline should be extended to 30 June for preparing draft (unaudited) accounts for the 2022/23 year and onwards until the current crisis in local audit has been resolved .