Publications

This guide looks at the contribution public sport and leisure services make to promoting health and wellbeing to encourage communities to be active and how this can be achieved through working with a range of partners.

Archives hold the unique and irreplaceable story of organisations, businesses, communities and individuals across the country. The National Archives, as archive sector lead in England, has written this reference guide to help councils better understand what archives are, why they are so important, and where to go for further information.

This guide considers the powerful benefits of community-owned leisure and sport assets offers to communities and councils. The national policy direction has been set. But what does this mean for communities and councils and how can the benefits be maximised for all?

The final report of the Commission on Culture and Local Government explores the contribution of local culture, the barriers it faces and the four cornerstones that are essential to a healthy local cultural ecosystem.

This report explores the role of combined authorities in relation to the creative industries and the potential of new opportunities for combined authorities to fulfil this role.

Harnessing innovation and the wealth of culture and leisure related social prescribing initiatives already being run will be crucial to meet the challenges facing communities and councils.

In the spring of 2022, the Local Government Association commissioned consultant peers to review library services in eight councils, specifically with regard to how they worked to enhance the local early years offer and, in particular, support for speech, language and communication development.

This supplement to the LGA’s Spending Review submission sets out further proposals which we would like to work with the Government on implementing. It should be read together with the main submission which also contains proposals relevant to various government departments.

The LGA alongside the Association for Public Services Excellence (ASPE), and Chief Cultural and Leisure Officers Association (CLOA) consulted with over 250 councils and a wide range of stakeholders to seek their views on what needs to change so that public sport and leisure services can operate sustainably and deliver the best outcomes for communities.

This guide has been written to help councils in an emergency position mobilise their leisure service. It is not intended to instruct or encourage councils to bring leisure services back in-house but instead provides appropriate tools and considerations to support the process. Councils are advised to take their own due diligence to evaluate their individual options. The guide is correct as of June 2021.