Briefings and responses

EU laws impact many of the council services that affect people's day-to-day lives, from protecting people from unsafe food when they eat out to regulating how councils buy goods and services.

For local government to maximise its potential and to protect local services from further cuts, it must be made financially sustainable and truly independent.

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:

We have been calling for an overhaul of the current Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) process to ensure there is adequate protection for human rights. The decision to focus on how we best protect people’s liberty is positive and we support it.

In this submission we detail the unfunded cost pressures facing local government and why, with many local services facing significant funding gaps, it is vital that the Budget recognises that councils cannot continue without sufficient and sustainable resources.

Read our Autumn Budget on-the-day briefing.

Councils play a strong role in providing good school places, with 91 percent of maintained schools rated as Good or Outstanding by Ofsted, compared with 85 per cent of academies and 84 per cent of free schools.

Councils are best-placed to understand the range of needs faced by disadvantaged children.

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.

This briefing sets out the headline announcements in the Government's Levelling Up White Paper, summarises elements of the 12 missions relevant to local councils and provides details of our improvement and support offer for areas looking to take forward a devolution deal.