Briefings and responses

The perilous state of adult social care funding, and its serious consequences for people who draw on social care (or may need to do so in the near future), is unquestionable. Recent survey work by the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) shows that just 12 per cent of directors are confident that they have the resources required to deliver all of their statutory duties.

With so many 2020/21 audits and several 2019/20 audits still incomplete due to the current crisis in local audit, the fees for 2022/23 still have to be set using incomplete information.

In our view, the proposals in the two consultations earlier this year were a valid attempt by CIPFA to alleviate some of the worst of the short-term problems, problems that are both a major aspect of the current crisis and a symptom of the long-term problems. It is therefore disappointing that it has not yet been possible to finalise a satisfactory outcome in response to those proposals. 

The Government’s approach to give local Employer Representative Bodies a lead role in articulating their skills need in Local Skills Improvement Plans is a step in the right direction. However, the wide-ranging role of local government – councils and MCAs/GLA – in supporting this process is missing from the Act and statutory guidance.

The practice note includes a lot of technical detail that is primarily written for auditors and we have not previously commented on its content, or on recent consultations on changes to it. The reason we feel the need to comment this time is not because we have concerns over the approach taken by the Public Audit Forum to date, but because local audit is currently in crisis, and we would welcome any action that can be taken to help provide solutions that can alleviate the effects of the crisis.

The LGA’s recommendations for tackling urgent risks from air pollution based on the themes set out in the revised National Air Pollution Control Programme.

About the Local Government Association The Local Government Association (LGA) is the national voice of local government. We work with councils to support, promote and improve local government.

The consultation document rightly acknowledges that the SEND is the subject of significant reform via the SEND Green paper and establishment of Integrated Care Systems (ICSs), but we are concerned that it does not acknowledge the reasons why system reform is needed.

The Mental Health and Wellbeing Plan is an important opportunity to recognise local government’s leadership role in improving the mental health and wellbeing of our communities.

The LGA believes the Emergency Evacuation Information Sharing (EEIS+) proposal could form the basis of a useful backup to the requirement for Responsible Persons to identify residents who are unable to self-evacuate and make every reasonable adjustment to ensure that they can do so, through the provision of a Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan.