Briefings and responses

The LGA supports a local, employer-led approach to develop Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs). To enhance this, Mayoral Combined Authorities and local authorities should be core and strategic partners in the LSIP process. Their wide-ranging expertise on this agenda and local knowledge is missing from the Bill, and we hope this is redressed during its passage through Parliament.

We are concerned by recent reports around some unregulated provision, in particular increasing issues about the vulnerability of young people in unregulated accommodation to organised crime, including county lines.

On 29 March the Government published the SEND Review: Right support, right place, right time, a consultation on the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and alternative provision system in England.

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.

On 28 March the Government published the ‘Opportunity for all Strong schools with great teachers for your child’ White Paper.

The LGA supports the focus on ensuring all children get the right support at the right time, particularly in the context of the impact of the pandemic and the widening attainment gap. The amount of funding made available to support education catch-up must be kept under review to ensure every child has the support they need to learn, and to support their broader development and wellbeing.

While councils have a statutory duty to ensure there is a school place for every child, they are currently not able to direct academies to expand school places or admit individual pupils. We are seeking a commitment from Government redress this discrepancy between councils’ duties and powers as soon as reasonably possible, by providing councils with sufficient backstop powers to direct academies to expand school places and admit individual pupils, within six months of the Act passing.

Councils have a crucial role to play in education, from ensuring every child has a school place to turning around struggling schools, which they demonstrated when providing vital support to schools during the pandemic.

The funding pressures facing schools are well known, with teacher and parent-led campaigns continuing to receive extensive coverage in the media. The Institute for Fiscal Studies estimates schools will see a real terms cut of 4.6 per cent in schools funding between 2015 and 2019

The LGA has raised concerns that councils do not currently have the powers to fulfil their duties to ensure home schooled children are receiving a suitable education. In particular, this is because they have no powers to enter homes or to see children to satisfy themselves that this is the case.