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Councils, which are responsible for public health services, are committed to continue supporting people with alcohol and other substance misuse problems despite ongoing pressures made worse by the pandemic.

“Coronavirus will be with us for many months and years ahead and councils want to play their full part in helping to design a test and trace strategy for the medium and long-term which keeps our communities safe."

"The Met Office has predicted that hotter and drier summers could be likely to become more common as heat records are being broken more frequently, with all the challenges this brings to councils and the communities who we support."

"Councils are committed to ensuring that those that need help with alcohol misuse get the right support and treatment."

Cllr Izzi Seccombe, Chairman of the Local Government Association’s Community Wellbeing Board, responds to an annual report published today by the Office for National Statistics on preventable deaths in the UK in 2016.

"These figures act as a truly tragic reminder of how many people, including those who are older and vulnerable, have lost their lives during the pandemic, leaving behind family and friends in mourning."

“Protecting our most clinically vulnerable people has been councils’ number one priority throughout the pandemic."

Cllr Martin Tett, the Local Government Association’s Transport spokesman, responds to guidance published today by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, calling for councils to encourage people to be more active.

“We support the Government’s previous review which concluded that responsibility for public health services rightly belongs with councils, but that there also needs to be much stronger joint commissioning of these services between local government and the NHS."

It is positive that the Government has acted on calls from the LGA to fund increases in pay for hard working NHS staff working in council commissioned community services.