Briefings and responses

On the 29 September 2016 the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), published a consultation on how the legislation will be implemented in the UK. There are some proposals in the consultation which go far beyond the basic legislation and therefore should be seen as discretionary for the UK.

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.

"Increased investment in children and young people’s mental health services is urgently needed. In particular, the Government must ensure all of the promised £1.7 billion for children’s mental health is spent on children’s mental health services, and not diverted elsewhere."

Good mental health is essential for a healthy and prosperous society. Unfortunately, it is easier to focus on what happens when a person becomes mentally ill, and how the health service intervenes, rather than how to keep our communities mentally well in the first place.

This LGA briefing provides a summary of the NPPF consultation proposals likely to be of most interest to local authorities.

The Bill cannot come soon enough as our broken building safety system needs reforms to be enshrined in tough new legislation. Residents have a right to be safe and to feel safe in their own homes, and the construction industry and those with legal duties now need to deliver the cladding remediation work required.

The latest statistics from the National Crime Agency show that the number of council referrals of suspected victims of modern slavery to the National Referral Mechanism has risen from 153 in 2013 to 1342 in 2018.

This summary paper sets out some of the issues that councils are grappling with in their work on modern slavery and is intended to assist the Government as it works to refresh and update its modern slavery strategy.

The Local Government Finance Settlement is the annual determination of funding to local government from central government. The provisional Settlement for 2020/21 was published on 20 December 2019.

Councils are central to building communities that are inclusive, cohesive and promote people’s life chances.