Briefings and responses

Whilst councils welcomed the support for children on free school meals and the £20 per week uplift in Universal Credit (UC), which helped to protect many families most at risk, the best way to support families long-term is with an integrated approach to addressing poverty and disadvantage. While we agree that Free School Meals (FSM) have a vital part to play, it is important that ‘food’ is not seen as the solution to ‘poverty’.

This review is timely and much needed in light of the challenges posed to the visitor economy by the pandemic, which has exacerbated pre-existing weaknesses as well as creating significant new issues.

This briefing details the new Bills of relevance to local government in the Queen's Speech and outlines our local government priorities.

This page summarises the Local Government Association (LGA) positions, priorities and concerns on the wide-ranging proposals in the white paper.

It is essential that the new Act clearly recognises the local leadership role of councils and identifies the roles and responsibilities of councils in respect of both statutory and non-statutory mental health duties, working in partnership with the NHS and local voluntary and community services.

The response to, and recovery from, an emergency is carried out first and foremost at the local level. Better coordination between the local, regional and national levels of response and greater support for organisations involved in response planning is needed to share and apply learning from exercises and real-life events.

Net-zero can only be achieved with decarbonisation happening in every place across the country – that’s every household, community, business, and local economy.

We welcome the recommendation of an ambitious, long-term strategy for adult skills and lifelong learning and that local authorities are awarded powers and funding to take on an enhanced statutory role for mapping, commissioning and delivery.

The LGA believes that the New Homes Bonus (Bonus) should be separately funded and not drawn from a top slice of Revenue Support Grant or other grants. Drawing the Bonus from a top slice of RSG means that those councils who are unable to deliver homes above the baseline threshold lose out on core funding distributed on the basis of need.

Local government’s delivery of public services during the response to COVID-19 demonstrates the value of place-based leadership.