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.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities held a consultation on reforms to national planning policy between 22 December 2022 and 2 March 2023. The consultation sought views on proposals to develop new and revise current national planning policy.
On 2 March the Government published the SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan Right Support, Right Place, Right Time in response to the SEND Green paper that was published in March 2022 and proposed a number of reforms to the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and alternative provision (AP) system.
Councils have a proud history of welcoming new arrivals, stepping forward at times of crisis to offer homes and support so families and individuals can build new lives in the UK.
The 31 May deadline should be extended to 30 June for preparing draft (unaudited) accounts for the 2022/23 year and onwards until the current crisis in local audit has been resolved .
Challenges caused by the systematic underfunding of early years provision are being exacerbated by the rising cost of living and inflationary pressures. This is negatively impacting the financial viability of early years providers and the quality of, and access to, childcare provision.
We are pleased that the Government has proposed to speed up the process and make good on its commitment to offer all of England the opportunity to benefit from a devolution deal by 2030. It is also important that councils of all sizes are engaged in the devolution process.
In December 2021, the Committee published the report A national plan for sport, health and wellbeing. The key recommendations to the Government were to develop a national plan for sport, health and wellbeing, featuring a new delivery and funding structure and strengthened monitoring and evaluation metrics.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities held a consultation on the Building Safety Levy between 22 November 2022 and 7 February 2023. The consultation sought views on the design and implementation of the Levy.
While the LGA welcomes an overall increase in baseline funding for local authorities, are concerned that a significant proportion of the increase in core spending power for 2023/24 has been achieved through a combination of potentially one-off grants, ring-fenced funding, re-allocation of existing funding, and the assumption that local authorities will implement council tax increases. We continue to make the case for multi-year settlements and for more long-term certainty around funding and budgets.