Briefings and responses

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities held a consultation on the Building Safety Levy between 22 November 2022 and 7 February 2023. The consultation sought views on the design and implementation of the Levy.

Councils retain the majority of their legal obligations to promote high educational standards in their areas and the Department for Education (DfE) should therefore continue to provide funding to ensure these obligations can be met. It is wrong to ask schools, who have their own budgetary pressures, to fund councils for their school improvement functions.

About the Local Government Association The Local Government Association (LGA) is the national voice of local government. We work with councils to support, promote and improve local government.

We support the principle of biodiversity net gain and the broader ambitions of the 25 Year Environment Plan to be the first generation to leave our natural environment in a better state than we found it.

Councils would welcome greater flexibility on local revenue and capitalraising powers, to support their ability to manage local flood and coastal erosion risk management risks.

In our response we have stressed that any model needs to be responsive to local housing need and allow councils to reflect the complexities of different housing markets.

The Local Government Association is supportive of proposals to widen access to the national rogue landlord database to tenants and prospective tenants. We are also supportive of expanding the scope of offences leading to entries on the database.

The Local Government Association welcomes the opportunity to respond to this consultation on Awaab’s Law. We support the principle that everyone deserves a safe, decent, warm, and affordable place to live and that health hazards should be investigated and fixed in a timely manner.

The LGA’s view is that the best way to increase housing security is to address the unaffordability of housing, which is a key reason why many people lose their tenancy and become homeless.

The LGA supports the locally led approach to standards and conduct introduced by the Localism Act 2011. Reversing the locally-led approach to standards and conduct would be a backward step. We believe that any future changes to the current framework should be at the discretion of local authorities to introduce and shape in a way that is suitable for their areas.