The LGA's media office provides the national voice of local government in England and Wales on the major issues of the day for national, regional and local press.
“Tackling the digital divide will be important to levelling up in every community, ensuring everyone has the connectivity they need to thrive. We remain committed to working with government to help design an approach to roll out that will benefit from councils’ local expertise.”
The Government has announced today that 90 per cent of councils are now part of a programme that will create 44,000 new jobs and release land for 25,000 new homes.
Years of significant underfunding of councils, coupled with rising demand and costs for care and support, have combined to push adult social care services to breaking point.
The Local Government Association is calling on the Government to help councils to develop more placements for unaccompanied children so that children can be moved directly to their long-term homes.
The Government’s plans to introduce a compulsory register for home-educated children risk failing children’s safety unless councils are given the powers to enter a premises to check on a child’s schooling, councils warn today.
Responding to the request by the Chairman of the Grenfell Inquiry’s request to the Attorney General to grant witnesses immunity, Lord Porter, building safety spokesman for the Local Government Association, said:
“The LGA is extremely concerned at the possibility that some witnesses to the Grenfell Inquiry could be granted immunity from having any evidence they give to the inquiry used in subsequent prosecutions against them.
“The Grenfell Tower fire was an unacceptable failure of building safety that must never be allowed to happen again. All those involved in any way have a duty to fully
Council leaders are encouraging residents to check in on any elderly or vulnerable neighbours to make sure they’re not suffering in silence and have everything they need during the freezing weather.
"Our immediate priority is to ensure that a fire like that at Grenfell never happens again, and to make certain the buildings which people live, visit and work in are safe today. It is therefore disappointing that Dame Judith has stopped short of recommending a ban on combustible materials and the use of desktop studies, both essential measures to improve safety."