Briefings and responses

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.

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Supporting those with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities

Councils share the Government’s ambition of making sure every child with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) gets the high-quality support that they need. Reforms to the SEND system, set out in the Children and Families Act 2014 have, however, failed to achieve the goal of improving provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities.

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Debate on the role of schools in caring for mental health and wellbeing of pupils and their development as community and family members

School-based counselling and mental health support needs to be fully funded by the Government in all state-funded secondary schools and academies, to help support rising numbers of children and young people reporting mental health issues.

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LGA response to the Department for Education’s consultation on implementing the Direct National Funding Formula

About the Local Government Association The Local Government Association (LGA) is the national voice of local government. We work with councils to support, promote and improve local government.

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LGA response to the Ofsted/CQC consultation, a new approach to area SEND inspections

The consultation document rightly acknowledges that the SEND is the subject of significant reform via the SEND Green paper and establishment of Integrated Care Systems (ICSs), but we are concerned that it does not acknowledge the reasons why system reform is needed.

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Local Government Association response to the Government consultation on the SEND and alternative provision system in England

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.

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Schools Bill, Report Stage, House of Lords, 12 July 2022

While councils have a statutory duty to ensure there is a school place for every child, they are currently not able to direct academies to expand school places or admit individual pupils. We are seeking a commitment from Government redress this discrepancy between councils’ duties and powers as soon as reasonably possible, by providing councils with sufficient backstop powers to direct academies to expand school places and admit individual pupils, within six months of the Act passing.

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Schools Bill, Committee Stage, House of Lords, 8 June 2022

Councils have a crucial role to play in education, from ensuring every child has a school place to turning around struggling schools, which they demonstrated when providing vital support to schools during the pandemic.

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Schools Bill, Second Reading, House of Lords, 23 May 2022

The LGA supports the focus on ensuring all children get the right support at the right time, particularly in the context of the impact of the pandemic and the widening attainment gap. The amount of funding made available to support education catch-up must be kept under review to ensure every child has the support they need to learn, and to support their broader development and wellbeing.

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Schools White Paper, 28 March 2022

On 28 March the Government published the ‘Opportunity for all Strong schools with great teachers for your child’ White Paper.

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LGA response to the DfEs consultation on School Attendance – Improving Consistency of Support, 28 February 2022

The LGA shares the Department for Education’s (DfE’s) belief that good attendance at school plays a vital role in children’s development and for their well-being.

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