Briefings and responses

The Local Government Association (LGA) supports the overall aims of the Online Safety Bill (OSB), which makes provisions for the regulation by Ofcom of certain internet services.

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.

The LGA recognises the delicate balance this legislation must maintain between preserving users’ freedom of expression and civil liberties whilst also protecting users from harmful content.

The LGA supports the introduction of an online sales tax, particularly as it would help to spread the range of the taxbase for business taxes. However; this should not be at the expense of business rates income.

The White Paper Legislating for the UK’s withdrawal from the EU states that leaving the EU is an opportunity to ensure returning “power sits closer to the people of the UK than ever before”. It includes a commitment to continue to champion devolution to local government.

Councils have raised concerns about the design and implementation of Universal Credit (UC) Full Service to date, in particular the impact of the initial waiting period and delays in claimants receiving their first UC payment.

We want the continued implementation of Universal Credit to be a success. Equally crucially we want the reformed welfare system as a whole to be a success, not just for Government, but for councils and, most importantly, for the people using it.

We support the principle of Universal Credit, which is to incentivise work and increase income from employment. Councils want the transition to be a success, however there are concerns about funding reductions for the programme, the impact of the freeze to working age benefits, and shortfalls in funding for supporting claimants with additional needs.

In the previous two years of the Housing Advisers Programme, we have funded over 100 councils to help councils build homes, reduce homelessness, plan for population ageing, understand the student housing market and increase supply of modular housing.

Local authorities continue to play an important role in managing the impacts of welfare reform in their communities, including the rollout of the Universal Credit (UC) Full Service. It is therefore crucial that councils’ concerns about the effect of the rollout of UC on residents and services are listened to by the Government.