Briefings and responses

Smoking remains the leading preventable cause of ill health and mortality in England. Councillors and officers recognise the harm that smoking inflicts on their communities and the importance of continuing to drive down smoking prevalence.

In December 2021, the Committee published the report A national plan for sport, health and wellbeing. The key recommendations to the Government were to develop a national plan for sport, health and wellbeing, featuring a new delivery and funding structure and strengthened monitoring and evaluation metrics.

The internet has created a powerful medium for the exploitation and abuse of children on an international scale and makes it harder to monitor abuse and bullying. Social media has provided a platform for the sharing of harmful images and information affecting self-esteem, self-image and mental health. These issues must be tackled on a local to national to international level.

In order to contribute most effectively, councils need earlier involvement in decisions at a national strategic level, and local government should also have representation on longer-term bodies like the Tourism Industry Council.

The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted that broadband is essential infrastructure. Access to fast and reliable broadband connectivity is vital to help communities stay connected, drive inclusive recovery and create quality jobs.

This emergency has highlighted the essential value of social care and public health to the wider public and this needs to be harnessed in thinking about the future of care, support and wellbeing when we look beyond the pandemic.

Councils are committed to ensuring new homes are built and communities have quality places to live. It is vital that these are delivered through a locally-led planning system with public participation at its heart which gives communities the power to ensure new developments are of a high standard, built in the right places, and include affordable homes.

Through their public health functions, councils have responsibilities around tackling addiction and other public-harm issues. There is increasing evidence that social media can become addictive and harmful. We have also seen it used as an additional gambling platform, enticing young and vulnerable people without adequate safeguards for their protection.

Nationally prescribed permitted development rights disempower communities and local councils. The approach inhibits local government’s ability to make decisions on behalf of their communities based on their local knowledge and evidence.

Research commissioned by the LGA found that whilst there have been a raft of successive policies and strategies to improve mental health outcomes for children, there has been a missed opportunity to significantly ease pressure on the system by increasing the availability of preventative and early intervention support. Early intervention has been highlighted as a central aspect in many of these policies, however, this focus has not translated through to action with the system leaning towards prioritising specialist and complex treatments rather than early intervention and prevention.