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.
This briefing outlines LGA policy on council tax and council tax reform and also highlights work commissioned by the LGA on council tax and alternative forms of funding for local government.
The valuation of non-investment assets for financial reporting purposes has been a contributory factor to the current crisis in local audit and how the valuation of such assets is audited is an area that needs to be addressed if the crisis is to be solved. Clearly how the assets are valued in the first place is an important step in that and we are in broad agreement with the proposals in the consultation for most asset classes. However, the proposals for valuing networked assets (usually called “infrastructure assets” in local authorities) will cause significant problems and additional costs for councils and we suggest that an alternative and more practical approach should be taken to valuing them.
Houses in Multiple Occupancy (HMO) licensing requirements sets out the national minimum standards that HMO accommodation must meet to ensure the safety and quality of accommodation.
We support the Government’s ambition to improve the service and support that victims receive, and hope that the Victims and Prisoners Bill and related non-legislative measures will help to improve victims’ confidence to report crimes and seek justice, as well as to rebuild their lives.
Local government would welcome discussions with Government on potential impacts on councils of the Illegal Migration Bill. The Second Reading of the Bill will take place in the House of Lords on 10 May 2023.
The LGA welcomes the opportunity to comment on amendments to the regulation of POPs and the impact this could have on services that are highly valued by residents.
We welcome the proposal to increase planning application fees. However, our modelling has shown that even if all application fees were uplifted by 35 per cent, the overall national shortfall for 2020/21 would have remained above £80 million. Councils must have the flexibility to set planning fees at local level to cover their costs relating to planning, which could include the employment of additional qualified planners. This would put councils in a stronger position to address the skills and capacity challenges in planning departments.
The Government’s Anti-social Behaviour Action Plan and consultation sets out its approach to stamping out anti-social behaviour. Councils look forward to seeing more details of how the action plan will work in practice, as well as how the plan will be funded. The LGA will work closely with the Government given the plan’s commitments to fund more uniformed local authority wardens and to explore funding models with PCCs and councils.
While we welcome the measures in the Bill, we have significant concerns about the capacity of councils’ housing teams to undertake all of the new responsibilities that are proposed. It will be vital for Government to fully fund the measures for them to be effective.