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.
Over recent decades, construction of new homes has failed to keep pace with population growth and social changes. At the same time, there are currently not enough affordable homes to meet current demand with more than 1.32 million households on council waiting lists in England and over 109,000 households living in temporary accommodation.
Central government should work in partnership with local government to co-design future digital inclusion policy to ensure communities are not at risk of being left behind, building on the recommendations from the LGA’s recent digital exclusion report.
The current UK financial sector is not well suited for many low-income households. The case for supporting people to access affordable and responsible finance from organisations like credit unions and Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs) is clear.
High-quality early years provision can have a positive impact on children, particularly disadvantaged children, in terms of their immediate development and long-term outcomes.
Councils share the Government’s ambition of making sure every child with SEND gets the high-quality support that they need. The previous reforms to the SEND system set out in the Children and Families Act 2014 have, however, failed to achieve the goal of improving provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities.
To ensure councils can continue to support their most vulnerable residents, it is crucial Government brings forward plans for long-term reform to the adult social care system and additional funding for child and family support services. As a starting point, returning the Early Intervention Grant to 2010/11 funding levels by providing an extra £1.7 billion would enable councils to reinstate some lost preventative and early help services which help tackle and prevent emerging problems and avoid costs and impact escalating later on.
The LGA has set out our vision for youth services as part of our Bright Futures campaign. We are calling on the Government to develop a similar vision that recognises the important contribution youth services make to our communities.