Briefings and responses

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.

Councils are well placed to lead a local approach to flood defence, using their local knowledge to ensure that money is directed towards projects that best reflect local needs

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

The LGA welcomes the Government’s second stage of proposals for non-domestic and domestic standards that will support achieving the UK’s commitment to bring all greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.

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.

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.

Our sector-led improvement offer includes a series of programmes, campaigns and toolkits to help our membership encourage and support women, and those from other underrepresented groups, to run for political office.

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

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.

We agree that the current system for the payment of schools’ business rates could be rationalised, although something like the proposed system is currently used in some unitary authorities for maintained schools.  We also note that the proposed system would not alter the liability for business rates and also that it will still be part of school funding formulae and will have to be accounted for as part of schools’ accounts.