On behalf of its membership, the cross-party LGA regularly submits to Government
consultations, briefs parliamentarians and responds to a wide range of parliamentary inquiries. Our recent
responses to government consultations and parliamentary briefings can be found here.
The Chancellor’s announcement in March 2023 of 30 hours of free childcare for every child with working parents aged from nine months to five years means we need to understand what works and what will ensure councils can deliver on their sufficiency duty. Changes to the early years system should not just be seen as quick fixes around the sides: a more holistic view of what works, what would support the workforce, and how to ensure there is high quality early education and childcare should be considered.
Councils are broadly supportive of the guiding principles of the planning reforms in the Bill. However, we remain deeply concerned that the proposed Infrastructure Levy (IL) will deliver fewer affordable homes and expose councils to excessive levels of financial risk. We have urged Government to scrap the Infrastructure Levy, and instead work with us and sector partners to improve the current system of developer contributions.
We note that there are several instances where changes to the Code are being considered in order to bring it into line with international standards, but that the proposal is that the specific changes will not be made because they are not relevant to local authorities. We strongly support this approach. It is our view that international standards should be applied when necessary but will only add complexity if applied when not relevant.
We appreciate the difficult context for the setting of the audit fees for 2023/24. Local audit is in an ongoing crisis and this has made the fee setting process more difficult. Nevertheless, we accept that the proposals made by PSAA are the best way of calculating the audit scale fee figures that can be made in the circumstances.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities held a consultation on permitted development rights, including additional flexibilities to support housing delivery, the agricultural sector, businesses, high streets and open prisons; and a call for evidence on nature-based solutions, farm efficiency projects and diversification between 24 July and 25 September 2023.The LGA are dismayed and strongly oppose the Government’s pursuit to extend national permitted development rights further. We continue to call for them to be urgently revoked.
The Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill will give the Secretary of State significant additional powers to review and intervene in individual councils, and ultimately to be able to make strong directions, such as capping borrowing or forcing the sale of specific assets.
The Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill acts upon long running asks from councils and the LGA for further devolution in England. We are pleased that the Government has proposed to speed up the process and make good on its commitment to offer all of England the opportunity to benefit from a devolution deal by 2030. It is also important that councils of all sizes are engaged in the devolution process.
The regulation proposed in this Bill is aimed at ensuring platforms have systems and processes in place to deal with illegal and harmful content and their associated risk, particularly to children and young people.