By-elections review 2023
Losing more than 1,000 councillors last May, and suffering regular by-election defeats, the Conservatives must be hoping fortunes improve as the next General Election looms.
Losing more than 1,000 councillors last May, and suffering regular by-election defeats, the Conservatives must be hoping fortunes improve as the next General Election looms.
December’s provisional local government finance settlement did not provide enough funding to meet the severe cost and demand pressures facing councils in England, the LGA has warned.
Councillors and officers have been recognised for their extraordinary service and achievements in the New Year Honours List 2024.
New social care assessments are time and energy-intensive and have created additional workload for councils, which needs to be funded, the LGA has said.
The number of children’s social care placements costing £10,000 or more per week has increased twelvefold in five years, an LGA survey has revealed.
The scale and pace of asylum decision-making – without appropriate data-sharing and funding for councils – has led to significant pressures on asylum seekers and councils, including homelessness and rough sleeping, the LGA has warned.
The LGA has launched the second phase of its engagement on how the improvement and assurance framework for local government can be improved.
Housing targets will become an advisory starting point and councils will be given new powers to reject developments that significantly alter the character of an area or impinge on existing green belt.
Children and young people’s overall activity levels were stable in the academic year 2022/23, and in line with those seen before the pandemic, according to a Sport England survey.
There has been no change in the overall level of illicit drug use in England and Wales in the year to June 2022, compared with the previous year, according to new statistics.