Publications

In March 2015 the LGA wrote to local authorities (LAs) inviting them to complete an online self-assessment about their plans to prepare for the transfer of commissioning responsibilities for 0-5 year olds from NHS England to local government on 1 October 2015.

As schools are given more freedom, it becomes more, not less, important that they are effectively held to account.

Child sexual exploitation (CSE) is a terrible crime with destructive and far reaching consequences for victims, their families, and society. It is not limited to any particular geography, ethnic or social background, and all councils should assume that CSE is happening in their area and take proactive action to prevent it.

When problems first arise in families, early help is not only beneficial for children but essential for making the best use of resources.

The lead member for children's services (LMCS) has a statutory role in ensuring the council fulfils its duty for safeguarding children; in partnership with education, childcare and health services, the police and communities.

Early help means providing support as soon as a problem emerges at any stage in a child's life. The aim is to ensure problems do not escalate to become more acute, and more costly, to the detriment of children and families.

Since then we have consulted widely with children and young people and with partners in the public and voluntary sectors, and have now set out a clear set of shared ambitions for children that we would seek to deliver in the context of ‘rewired' public services.

The council role in school place planning: Making sure there are enough school places locally' looks at some of the measures taken by councils to meet the recent surge in demand for school places and gives a five-point plan which the LGA believes is necessary to ensure councils have the funding and power to create the further new places needed.   

They address a number of transitional issues relating to the transfer of responsibility for delivering the National Child Measurement programme, which moved from PCTs to local government in April 2013.

Establishing local Healthwatch (LHW) is a series of briefings produced by the LGA to assist local authorities and their partners in local communities and the NHS to support the commissioning, setting up and early development of local Healthwatch.