Briefings and responses

It is vital that vulnerable children, who have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, are the focus of this programme of work. In their role as leaders of local education systems, councils can bring together partners, join up local efforts to promote education recovery.

The previous reforms to the SEND system set out in the Children and Families Act 2014 have failed to achieve the goal of improving provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Placing children and young people at the centre of the SEND system was right, but the reforms set out in the Act were not supported by sufficient powers or funding to allow councils to meet the needs of children with SEND or hold health and education partners to account for their contributions to local SEND systems.

2.1 The Local Government Association welcomes the opportunity to provide a response to the Government’s consultation on the Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy 2021 to 2024. The following submission outlines our key points on behalf of our membership, although local authorities will also look to respond directly to this consultation.

The LGA has significant concerns with the Local Authorities (Borrowing and Investment) Bill which seeks to restrict the acquisition of land and property by councils outside their own boundaries. The Bill also seeks to limit local authorities’ investment in “commercial risk-taking enterprises” and limit council borrowing for non-core activities.

In June 2020 the Local Government Association (LGA) conducted a consultation to gather views on its draft Model Member Code of Conduct as part of its work on supporting the sector to continue to aspire to high standards of leadership and performance. Responses to the consultation were gathered through an online questionnaire as well as by email via a dedicated inbox.

In August 2020, the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) published the Planning for the Future White Paper with proposals for long-term fundamental structural changes to England’s planning system.

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.

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 submission makes the case to Government for a radical reinvestment in local and combined authorities that enables councils to turbo-charge local growth and create preventative public services that save money and improve the lives of some of the most vulnerable in our society.

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.