Briefings and responses

From Autumn 2021 there has been a concerning increase in reports of spiking, including a new trend of allegations of substances being administered by needles rather than through drinks. Councils take these allegations extremely seriously and have worked with the police and other partners to respond swiftly to these reports.

The LGA's submitted written evidence to the Government review of integrated care systems, led by the Right Hon Patricia Hewitt.

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.

The Local Government Association (LGA) supports the overall aims of the Online Safety Bill (OSB), which makes provisions for Ofcom to regulate certain internet services. The regulation proposed in this Bill is aimed at ensuring platforms have systems and processes in place to deal with illegal and harmful content and their associated risk. 

Councils are committed to working with Government and developers to meet the Government’s aspirations of 300,000 new homes per year, with land for more than 2.6 million homes allocated in Local Plans.

Joint vision from the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS), NHS Confederation and the LGA on the long-term solutions required to make our health and care system resilient, preventative and promoting independence.

While the Local Government Association welcomes an overall increase in baseline funding for local authorities, we express concern that a significant proportion of the increase in core spending power for 2023/24 has been achieved through a combination of potentially one-off grants, ring-fenced funding, re-allocation of existing funding, and the assumption that local authorities will implement council tax increases. We continue to make the case for multi-year settlements and for more long-term certainty around funding and budgets.

A Commission on the Future of Employment Support is looking at ways in which employment support and services could more effectively help people who want to, to move into, and progress in work and help employers find, recruit and retain the right people across the UK. The Institute for Employment Studies is providing the secretariat for the Commission.

We welcome the opportunity to comment on the proposed technical changes to homelessness legislation following Renter’s Reform as this may have an impact on the way homelessness services carry out their duties.

Councillors are experiencing increasing levels of online intimidation, abuse and threats against them, which can prevent elected members from representing the communities they serve and undermine public trust in democratic processes.