LGA first magazine May 2017 by LGA publications

No.611 May 2017 www.local.gov.uk

the magazine for local government

Elections, elections, elections Local, mayoral and general elections â&#x20AC;&#x201C; local government prepares

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Local elections Metro mayors plus 3,624 seats in 56 councils

Next steps on Brexit More devo to councils needed

Local housing companies Providing homes and income

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Election fever

know many of you will be out campaigning and knocking on doors as I write this, in the run-up to the local elections in England and Wales and the inaugural combined authority mayoral elections, and now a General Election. So I hope you will enjoy our annual preview of the 4 May poll from Professors Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher, Directors of Plymouth University’s Elections Centre. This month’s first also looks at the Government’s White Paper on legislating to leave the UK, and NHS England’s update on its Five Year Forward View. Both documents underplay the role and importance of local government in these key areas. The LGA will continue to lobby for devolution of EU powers beyond Whitehall to town halls, and for greater recognition of the vital role councils and councillors can play in delivering better and more joined-up social care and health services for local residents. Elsewhere in the magazine, you can read about the LGA’s response to the latest government announcements on education, Wokingham’s local housing companies, and the RSA’s call for inclusive growth across the country. Lord Porter is Chairman of the LGA

contents news 4

Litter from cars Poor broadband speeds

Rogue landlords and micro-flats loophole Culture and heritage Quality of care Special needs funding and school places Care funding Term-time holidays

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Local elections preview Brexit – next steps Water safety Leading places Website redesign NHS forward plan LGA members’ survey

Editor Karen Thornton Design & print TU ink www.tuink.co.uk Advertising James Pembroke Publishing Write to first: Local Government Association Layden House, 76-86 Turnmill Street London EC1M 5LG Email first@local.gov.uk Tel editorial 020 7664 3294 Tel advertising 020 3859 7100 Photography Photofusion, Dreamstime, iStock and Ingimage unless otherwise stated Circulation 18,300 (April 2017) first is published online at www.local.gov.uk/first at least two days before the magazine. To unsubscribe email first@oscar-research.co.uk The inclusion of an advert or insert in first does not imply endorsement by the LGA of any product or service. Contributors’ views are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of the LGA.

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comment 19 Stephanie Flanders 20 22 23

on inclusive growth LGA chairman and group leaders Sex and relationships education Local housing companies

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Letters and sound bites Parliament – review of the year and General Election Councillor – resident satisfaction Local by-elections

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news Tackling car litter louts Car drivers could be issued with penalty notices when it can be proven litter was thrown from their car – even if it was discarded by somebody else in the vehicle, the Government recently announced. The LGA has long called for this step, highlighting how councils are forced to spend significant amounts of money each year clearing up rubbish from roadsides, which is often a difficult and time-consuming process. As part of the new Litter Strategy, plans were also announced to prevent councils from charging householders for the disposal of DIY household waste at civic waste and recycling sites. LGA Chairman Lord Porter said: “Councils are taking a zero-tolerance approach to flytipping and this means using every power at their disposal – including seizing and destroying vehicles used by the dumpers. “We are pleased the Government has responded to our call for councils to be given appropriate powers to combat litter thrown from cars. “Road litter is a big problem for councils at a time when they are experiencing significant budget pressures. It is difficult and expensive to clear rubbish from roadsides and it poses a clear environmental hazard, which impacts on wildlife. “The current law states that councils have to prove who in the vehicle has thrown the litter out of the window, which is normally an impossible task. That is why it is important that councils can now fine the owners, making them legally responsible for the litter, regardless of who threw it.

“Councils want to work with households so that they can dispose of reasonable household waste easily and cost-effectively and already provide a range of bulky waste collection services, which are often free and picked up from people’s doorsteps.”

For more on this and other LGA news stories, please visit www.local.gov.uk/about/news or follow us on Twitter @LGANews

Keeping in touch with the LGA

id you know that the LGA provides a suite of e-bulletins designed to give you relevant, timely information about the policy areas that matter to you? From daily news headlines to the latest on what’s happening in adult social care, fire and rescue services, finance, devolution, housing and much more, there is an e-bulletin for you. Just visit www.local.gov.uk/about/ news/e-bulletins and click on ‘Sign up to our bulletins’.

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Residents ‘frustrated’ by poor broadband speeds esearch by consumer watchdog Which? has revealed that 16 million people experienced a problem with their home broadband in the last year, with almost nine in ten frustrated as a result. This research is consistent with LGA analysis which suggests that advertised speeds do not reflect the experience of many users, particularly those in remote rural areas. Cllr Gillian Brown, Vice-Chair of the LGA’s People and Places Board, said: “Access to fast and reliable digital connectivity is increasingly a necessity for households. “This research reinforces the LGA’s warning that advertised broadband speeds, which are only available to 10 per cent of customers, are misleading, and often don’t reflect the experience of many users, particularly those in remote rural areas. “Councils want to ensure everyone has good quality internet access. As part of our Up to Speed campaign, we have called for greater honesty and openness about the download and upload speeds customers are likely to receive depending on their location. “Local government has invested more than £740 million in the roll-out of superfast broadband to more than four million premises across the country, and is committed to exploring with the communications industry, regulators and government how best to ensure residents can benefit from public investment in new technology wherever they live.” In recent years, councils have played a big role in the extension of digital connectivity to households through the Superfast Broadband Programme. Many councils are aiming to beat the Government’s national target of 95 per cent coverage of premises by December 2017 and are working to find solutions to extend provision to those in the final 5 per cent. www.local.gov.uk

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Rogue landlords profiting from ‘micro-flats’ loophole The LGA is calling for a loophole to be closed, which enables maximum housing benefit payments to be paid to landlords exploiting planning laws with substandard property conversions into ‘micro-flats’. Landlords can convert a single house into shared accommodation for up to six people, with en-suite showers and portable cooking equipment, without planning permission. The tiny units are marketed as selfcontained flats in order to secure the maximum level of housing benefit payments, which are paid on behalf of tenants directly to landlords. The loophole abuses legal exemptions and the lack of clarity in environmental health, planning and housing benefit rules to avoid detection, and is resulting in widespread abuse of taxpayers’ money and in tenants being housed in substandard accommodation. The LGA is also calling for more prison sentences for the worst landlords, rather than imposing fines – which can be as low as £1,000 for serious safety offences, and are offset by profits at the expense of tenants. Industry figures show private landlords pocketed £9.3 billion in housing benefit in 2015, twice that of the £4.6 billion paid out in 2006. The micro sub-division of properties by landlords is thought to have contributed to this sharp rise. Under new legislation, councils can now

issue the worst landlords with fixed penalty notices of up to £30,000 for housing offences and apply for new banning orders. But the LGA says the micro-conversion loophole being exploited by landlords is undermining these new powers. It says councils need streamlined housing and planning powers to stop landlords converting properties into micro-flats without planning permission, to protect tenants. The LGA says councils must also be able to build more affordable homes which are far more likely to meet decent standards than the private rental sector. Cllr Judith Blake, LGA Housing Spokesperson, said: “The reputations of all good landlords are being tarnished by the bad ones and councils are being let down by the current system. “Legislation is not keeping pace with the ingenuity of landlords to exploit loopholes which need to be closed as soon as possible. It needs to be more joined up to prevent some landlords taking advantage of people at the sharp end of our housing crisis. She added: “Giving councils powers to be able to build more affordable homes is likely to be more successful at meeting necessary standards than the private rental sector, and help protect tenants.”

Care quality variations

egional variations in care home performance highlighted in a recent report from the charity Independent Age are “something councils take very seriously”, the LGA has said – while highlighting that overall more than 70 per cent of social care services are rated good or outstanding by the Care Quality Commission. Cllr Linda Thomas, Vice-Chair of the LGA’s Community Wellbeing Board, said: “This report reinforces the need for an urgent review of how adult social care is funded, if we are to tackle the serious threats to social care provision, including any variation in care home quality.”

Councils celebrate their culture and heritage

GA Chairman Lord Porter has presented a horseshoe bearing his name to Oakham Castle, as part of events celebrating the 20th anniversary of Rutland regaining its county status. More than 240 horseshoes are hung on the castle’s walls, with the oldest dating back to Edward IV’s visit in 1470.

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The horseshoe was forged at Chain Bridge Forge blacksmith museum in Spalding by blacksmith David Baynes (pictured, right). Lord Porter (also pictured with Cllr Kenneth Bool, Rutland’s Chairman, left), said: “The horseshoe looks magnificent and it’s a unique honour to have one made for me. Sharing wall

space with royals is quite a privilege too. “We’re very fortunate in Spalding to have a working museum making living history like this. Councils like South Holland and Rutland are working hard to preserve their local heritage and making the most of it to support tourism and local economic growth.”

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Schools ‘could turn away’ SEND pupils Pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are at risk of being turned away by mainstream schools due to a lack of funding and rising demand, councils have warned. Analysis of Department for Education (DfE) data reveals that in the past four years there has been a substantial increase in the number

Term-time holidays

of pupils with SEND who attend a specialist school setting, up from 5.6 per cent in 2012 to 8.5 per cent in 2016. The proportion of pupils in independent schools has moved from 4.5 per cent to 6.3 per cent over the same period. For several years, the High Needs Dedicated Schools Grant has been frozen, putting local budgets under increasing pressure. To counter these pressures, councils have had to meet the difference by topping up high needs funding from other budgets. However, a government consultation on high needs funding published last month suggests that this flexibility will no longer be available to councils, making it even more difficult to provide SEND children with the support they need. This has been an important mechanism for local authorities to counter the impacts of reduced budgets. The LGA stressed the need for councils to be provided with additional funding to meet increasing demand, otherwise they may not be able to fund enough places for those with

the highest needs or will be unable to ‘top up’ provision for pupils with high needs attending mainstream schools. While the DfE has provided some extra funding since 2015/16, it has been allocated on the basis of the total number of children in an area, rather than any measure of the number of children with complex needs. Cllr Richard Watts, Chair of the LGA’s Children and Young People Board, said: “There has been a historic underfunding of high needs funding and a significant increase in the number of pupils with special educational needs or disabilities in schools. “Additional funding should be provided to meet this need, otherwise councils may not be able to meet their statutory duties and children with high needs or disabilities could miss out on a mainstream education. “While the additional funding announced earlier in the year was a step in the right direction, it was never enough to meet the needs of the increasing number of SEND pupils.”

he Supreme Court has ruled against parent Jon Platt, who had won earlier legal battles against a £120 fine by Isle of Wight Council for taking his child out of school during term time. The judges ruled that the interpretation of “regular” attendance should be decided by the school. Cllr Richard Watts, Chair of the LGA’s Children and Young People Board, said: “It is important that the Department for Education works with schools and councils to avoid any further doubt about the law. What is needed is certainty for parents, teachers and councils, so that head teachers have the confidence to approve or reject requests for term-time leave in the best interests of pupils.”

Extra care funding ‘not just for freeing up NHS beds’

he LGA has raised concerns over “unhelpful and misleading” comments made by the NHS to try and steer the new £2 billion of social care money towards increasing capacity in acute hospital services. Social care is about much more than just freeing up hospital bed space: it is about supporting people of all ages, including those with mental health conditions, learning and physical disabilities, it said. Following publication of the government framework which sets out how the extra funding for social care announced in the Budget should be spent, the LGA reiterated the need for a long-term solution for social care. It said the money was “just a starting point” and that it was “critical” that any future reforms of the social care system ensure that it is fully funded.. Cllr Linda Thomas, Vice-Chair of the LGA’s Community Wellbeing Board, said: “Recent NHS England and NHS Improvement correspondence to NHS providers has encouraged local health colleagues to pursue ‘their share’ of the £2 billion to free up capacity in NHS acute services, with an explicit

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reference to the £2 billion representing 2,000 to 3,000 more hospital beds. This is unhelpful and misleading. “The 2017-19 Integration and Better Care Fund Policy Framework, including the additional funding for social care, reiterates what was announced in the Budget by clearly stating that the funds can be used to meet adult social care need more generally and to help stabilise the care market as well as on measures to support hospital discharge. “Councils and NHS partners will continue to work together to ensure people are discharged from hospital promptly and safely when a hospital stay is necessary. Local councils and their NHS partners know where the pressures are in their communities better than anyone else. It is important that clinical commissioning groups now work closely with councils to ensure health and wellbeing boards can quickly agree plans to spend the extra funding so that councils can get on with implementing the measures most needed in their area.” www.local.gov.uk

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letters

sound bites Cllr Sirajul Islam (Lab, Tower Hamlets) “Great turnout at the launch of #workpath Councils new ambition to support residents into work. @TowerHamletsNow.” www.twitter.com/CllrSirajIslam Cllr Anood Al-Samerai (Lib Dem, Southwark) “Great sunny morning chatting to residents about estate allotments idea. And, of course, a Cllr’s day never done without a parking issue!” www.twitter.com/cllr_anood Cllr Stuart Rawlings (Con, York) “Red Nose Day at the Barbican 1000’s of young people having a great time and raising a little money on the way #RedNoseDay.” www.twitter.com/Stuart_Rawlings Cllr Malcolm Kennedy (Lab, Liverpool) “It was my pleasure to welcome Commander Seljamaa and the crew of EMS Wambola to Liverpool this evening #NATO.” www.twitter.com/CllrKennedy

Mental health support in schools ‘should be statutory’

s someone who lives with chronic depression, I am concerned at the lack of statutory mental health interventions in schools. Figures from Public Health England show one in ten children aged five to 16 has a diagnosable mental health problem. There are also many children with undiagnosed problems, who during their formative years have behavioural or psychological problems. The impact of poor childhood mental health on later life is huge. Three-quarters of adults with mental health problems are first unwell in childhood or adolescence. Childhood mental health problems also increase the risk of other negative outcomes in life. While I welcomed Prime Minister Theresa May’s announcement of mental health first aid training for all schools, I am disappointed mental health interventions and first aiders are not on a statutory footing. If the Government is serious about tackling mental health problems in children and young people, it must increase and ring-fence councils’ and NHS mental health trusts’ funding; put mental health interventions in schools on a statutory footing; make mental health first aiders compulsory in all schools and colleges; alter the Ofsted inspection framework to give greater consideration to mental health; scrap SATs tests and move to a whole-school approach to testing; and amend the law to allow coursework to May 2017

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form part of pupils’ final grades at Key Stage 4. All schools have a key role to play in mental health early intervention but government must give them the funds and the framework to do so. Cllr Ian Cruise (Ind), Birmingham City Council

Raising awareness of CSE

orbay Council is enlisting the help of local taxi drivers to help prevent potential harm to the young people of Torbay and raise awareness of child sexual exploitation (CSE). Taxi drivers are being trained to spot the warning signs of young people who may be experiencing CSE, and to help young people by reporting what they have seen. In some national cases, taxi or private hire vehicles were used to take young people between locations, so the aim of this training was to highlight to drivers the kinds of things they may see or overhear that may indicate a child or young person could be at risk. It could simply be a ‘gut feeling’ that something isn’t quite right. We’re not asking drivers to take matters into their own hands, but to be more aware of who they’re picking up, where they’re going and perhaps to think more about the reason why they could be making that journey. A lot of separate pieces of information from members of the public can often be used by

Cllr John Cotton (Con, South Oxfordshire) “Very sad to hear of the death of Roger Croft, leader of @WestBerkshire council. He was an innovative leader who knew how to get things done.” www.twitter.com/CllrCotton Cllr Tom Hayes (Lab, Oxford) “Great to meet with @AsylumWelcome today and discuss their brilliant work supporting refugees in Oxford.” www.twitter.com/CllrTomHayes Do you have a blog or a Twitter account we should be following? Let us know. Email first@local.gov.uk

the police and pieced together. Our licensed drivers are no exception and, being in a unique position, they often hear or see things that may be important. The training is being provided by the Children’s Society, initially for free. We are now considering updating our taxi policy and may require all drivers to undertake CSE training, for which a small charge will need to be made for attending future courses. Cllr Robert Excell (Con), Executive Lead for Community Services, Torbay Council

What do you think? Please submit letters for publication by emailing first@local.gov.uk. Letters may be edited and published online

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features Poll predictions Local elections take place in English counties, Welsh councils and six new mayoral combined authorities on 4 May

lthough attention at this year’s local elections will naturally focus on the fortunes of the two big beasts of Westminster and LGA politics (Labour and the Conservatives), especially now following the announcement of a June General Election, there is a sense that profound change is underway among the current ‘also rans’. Some 2,370 seats in 34 councils across England are up for grabs. These comprise all the seats in 27 county councils and six ‘former county’ unitary authorities, which last voted in 2013, plus the metropolitan borough of Doncaster which went to the polls on General Election day 2015. The Conservatives currently have control in half these authorities and will defend almost half of all seats. About 70 casual vacancies will also be filled in councils without scheduled elections. In Wales, where all 22 councils have all-out elections, it is Labour that is the dominant party, winning 580 of the just over 1,250 seats the last time most of them were contested in 2012. The big story in England in 2013 was UKIP’s startling intervention. It contested almost as many seats as the Liberal Democrats and polled 20 per cent of the vote, picking up just shy of 150 seats overall. UKIP gathered support from across the political spectrum, but it was the Lib Dems who suffered the most

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Professors Colin Rallings (right) and Michael Thrasher are Directors of Plymouth University’s Elections Centre

damaging fallout. Their vote share almost halved and they slumped from second place in votes in 2009 to a distant fourth. However, as followers of our regular by-election columns in first will know, the worm appears to have turned. First, UKIP is now contesting fewer by-elections than the Liberal Democrats – 140 out of 216 since May 2016 compared with 175 for Tim Farron’s party. And that trend continues with the Liberal Democrats fielding candidates in 80 per cent of seats in England on 4 May as opposed to fewer than half for UKIP. Indeed, UKIP will even be out-fought by the Greens on local elections day. Results show a similar pattern. The Liberal Democrats have gained more than 30 local seats in the past year, whereas UKIP has lost seven. It is also worth pointing out that the number of UKIP county councillors has declined from the 138 elected in 2013 to a little over 100 now as a result more of defections than by-election defeats. The Liberal Democrats have polled an average of near 25 per cent of the vote in those by-elections they have

contested (marking a 10 percentage point improvement); for UKIP the comparable figures are 13.5 per cent and a drop of more than six points. It is clear, therefore, that the Liberal Democrats are on course to make gains in England next month (perhaps as many as 100 to reverse their losses of 2013) whereas UKIP will see their county representatives fall back to low double figures at best. Such movement will have consequences for the Conservatives and Labour too. The Conservatives lost overall control of several counties in eastern England last time because of UKIP intervention. They will now hope to gain the relatively few seats needed to re-take Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, and Norfolk.

Complex picture

In other counties lost by the Conservatives in 2013, things are a little more complex. In East Sussex, for example, UKIP gained previously Liberal Democrat seats in Lewes; and in the Forest of Dean (Gloucestershire) the party won in areas with some history of Labour support. In Somerset, the Conservatives could lose overall control in the face of even a modest Liberal Democrat revival. And in unitary Cornwall, where the Liberal Democrats are already the largest party and are contesting www.local.gov.uk

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It, too, could be a victim of any swing to the Liberal Democrats, quite apart from struggling to hang on as the largest party against the Conservatives in more urban counties like Lancashire and Nottinghamshire. Cumbria is interesting. Labour is the largest party in the one county which the Conservatives failed to win outright in 2009, but the recent Copeland parliamentary by-election was a clear indication of the potential fragility of Labour support.

each of the 123 seats compared with 89 last time, the Conservatives will be nervous of symbolic losses. They won all six parliamentary constituencies in the county in 2015 but know only too well that the Liberal Democrats registered a similar clean sweep in 2005. Labour’s problem at these elections is encapsulated by the fact that virtually a third of all the seats it is defending in England are in the only three councils where it has a majority – Derbyshire, Doncaster, and Durham.

English council elections • • • •

County councils – all seats (1,787) in 27 councils Unitary councils – all seats (528) in six councils Metropolitan borough – all seats (55) in Doncaster Total – 2,370 seats in 34 councils

English council control Con Current control

Seats being defended* 1,112

Lab

New mayors Lib Dem Green

UKIP

Other

NOC

565

341

145

187

*as at 2013 and accounting for boundary changes

Mayoral elections • •

Inaugural ‘metro-mayors’ – Cambridgeshire and Peterborough; Greater Manchester; Liverpool City Region; Tees Valley; West Midlands; West of England Directly elected mayors – Doncaster (Lab); North Tyneside (Lab)

Welsh council elections •

All seats – 1,254 in 22 councils

Welsh council control Current control Seats from 2012*

Con

Lab

Lib Dem

UKIP

Ind/Oth

NOC

104

580

170

325

*2013 in Isle of Anglesey

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The last elections in Wales coincided with a high point in Labour’s recent support. Since then it has suffered reverses at both the 2015 General and 2016 Assembly Elections and is likely to lose ground again. Plaid Cymru, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats are all snapping at Labour’s heels in different places, and Independent candidates continue to have considerable traction in rural Wales too. A swing to the Liberal Democrats in ‘Remain’-supporting Cardiff, for example, could fatally dent Labour’s eight-seat cushion on the council. The overall pattern of gains and losses in England and Wales will, of course, impact on the balance of representation on the LGA’s boards and committees. If, as we expect, the Conservatives come out on the plus side and Labour the minus, then the current waferthin Conservative advantage should be secure for another year. The inaugural six ‘metro mayor’ or combined authority elections in England will attract disproportionate attention – partly because of their novelty, partly because they will allow a media focus on personalities. Turnout is likely to be low in those places where there is no grassroots campaigning for other contests (the police and crime commissioner elections do not make for a happy precedent), but the use of the capricious supplementary vote electoral system could bring the odd surprise. Labour should win easily enough in Greater Manchester and the Liverpool City region (where two sitting MPs are the party’s standard bearers) and in Tees Valley – whereas it would be a major surprise if the Conservatives do not prevail in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. However, second preferences could come into their own in the other two contests where there are high profile candidates. Neither Andy Street, the former John Lewis Partnership Managing Director (West Midlands, Con), nor Stephen Williams, a Bristol MP from 2005 to 2015 (West of England, Lib Dem), are likely to top the poll but could squeeze through from second place. A wealth of additional information, including the local electoral history of every council in the country, can be found on our website – www.electionscentre.co.uk.

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Next steps on Brexit The recent White Paper on legislating to leave the EU was a missed opportunity to address devolution beyond Whitehall and the three devolved administrations to town halls

U laws impact on many of the council services that affect people’s day-today lives. These range from deciding how to protect people from being served unsafe food when they eat out to regulating how councils buy goods and services. A recently published White Paper set out the main objectives of the current government’s proposed Great Reform Bill, which would convert such EU laws into UK law. These include: • Repeal of the European Communities Act – ending the supremacy of EU law over UK law and bringing back full sovereignty over legislation to the UK Parliament. • Transposition of EU law into UK law – on the day we leave the EU, all existing EU derived laws will be in place. Parliament will then have the ability to amend, repeal or build on any laws. • New secondary legislation to amend laws which will not work with the UK outside the EU – for example, those that rely on EU processes or institutions. • Removal of the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) over UK law. ECJ case law is to have the same status as UK case law in the Supreme Court. • Greater devolution – as powers return from the EU, there is an opportunity to determine which level of government is best placed to retain particular responsibilities. The LGA has made the case for powers to be devolved closer to local people and communities, and immediately after last year’s referendum called for this to happen in respect of powers currently ceded to the EU. A White Paper published earlier this year – ‘The United Kingdom’s exit from and new partnership with the European Union’ – stated that government would continue to champion devolution and was committed to devolving greater powers to local government “where there is

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economic rationale to do so”. But the new White Paper, ‘Legislating for the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union’, does not mention devolution beyond the three devolved administrations. The LGA maintains Brexit should not simply mean a transfer of powers from Brussels to Westminster, Holyrood, Stormont and Cardiff Bay. It must lead to new legislative freedoms and flexibilities for councils so that residents and businesses benefit. Taking decisions over how to run local services closer to where people live is key to improving them and saving money. The LGA is working with councils and the local government associations of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to lead this debate, and will continue to make the case for new responsibilities to be given to local communities through local government. We have undertaken a thorough analysis of EU laws which cover council services. We have identified 10 policy areas where reviews of whether to keep, amend or delete EU laws are needed – procurement, regulatory services, environmental policy, waste, employment/ workforce, economic development, planning, transport, local government finance, and data/public information. These ideas have already been provided to government and the LGA had been invited to develop the detail.

Secondary legislation

Many EU laws rely on EU processes and institutions and cannot be easily converted into UK law. In this case, the White Paper is proposing powers to create secondary legislation which will allow such amendments to be made quickly through ministerial powers. Such secondary legislation will have a big impact on local government. For example, while EU procurement powers can be transposed into English law, there will need to be a replacement for EU processes such as the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU), where contracts have to be advertised. This poses risks and opportunities. There is the risk that in the short term power is centralised in Whitehall and future reviews may be hard to initiate. There is also the opportunity for any short-term changes (for example, to procurement rules) to help provide the local flexibilities that the LGA has been championing in London and Brussels for many years. There must be maximum transparency and scrutiny of such secondary legislation. Under current EU legislative rules, the advice of local government leaders would be sought formally if there were to be changes to EU laws and their collective view would be considered in parliamentary debate. No such rules apply in the UK. The need for such advice is even greater now as local communities’ expectations of Brexit are so varied. The repeal of EU law offers the opportunity for government to formalise how UK local government provides advice and scrutiny on UK parliamentary bills that impact on the day-job of councils, and to ensure that the diverse views and expectations of local communities are addressed as EU law is converted. www.local.gov.uk

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“Brexit should not simply mean a transfer of powers from Brussels to Westminster and the devolved administrations. It must lead to new legislative freedoms and flexibilities for councils so that residents and businesses can benefit” Future UK trade relationships

EU investment funding

Local areas in England have been allocated £5.3 billion in EU regeneration funding by 2020 to create jobs, support small and medium-sized enterprises, deliver skills, and boost local growth across the country. Government needs to begin developing a domestic growth policy which must be fully funded to deliver its ambitions and be locally driven, post-Brexit. This must be designed and delivered by local areas as an integrated replacement for EU funding and existing national schemes to support infrastructure, enterprise and social cohesion. The White Paper does not address this issue, and the LGA continues to lobby on it. It is conducting work to examine the main elements of a future domestic regeneration fund, which should be published in the next few months.

Many councils have significant experience in developing trade links globally through securing investment and regeneration deals from overseas developers. Such international links could enhance work on future UK trade deals. The position of public services within such trade deals is also of interest to councils. For example, the exclusion of social services and health services from the proposed EU/US trade deal (TTIP) was a key concern for some councils who were against greater liberalisation of these sectors and against giving corporations new powers to challenge public policy decisions. We are developing work in this area through our City Regions and People and Places Boards. This work will be published before our annual conference and will be presented to government to influence its work on new trade deals.

our evidence base to support the exit negotiations to maximise on the opportunities available and mitigate the risks to achieve the best possible outcome for local government. So far we have received and collated 41 submissions from 29 councils, two combined authorities, four council/regional groupings, two local enterprise partnerships, and two university-led responses for local areas. As negotiating boundaries become clearer, the place-based evidence is also likely to be more tangible. To ensure government is provided with this dynamic, place-based evidence, the LGA will work with councils and their partners to ensure that such evidence is collated and provided to ministers.

Place-based impact of Brexit

Government must begin to address the real and varied impacts and opportunities of Brexit at the local level, in both urban and rural areas. The onus has been on councils to provide such evidence. We are consulting widely and building

Community cohesion

Councils play the leading role in bringing communities together and will be important in tackling challenges such as the retention of skilled workers. For example, 7 per cent of existing adult social care staff come from the continuing EU. Securing a sustainable adult social care workforce and excellent care skills must be a priority for government. May 2017

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This is an edited version of the LGA’s briefing, ‘Legislating for the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EU’. For the full publication, please visit www.local.gov.uk/parliament/ briefings-and-responses. For further information, email brexit@local.gov.uk

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Time to respect the water Cllr Simon Blackburn is Chair of the LGA’s Safer and Stronger Communities Board

t may surprise you to learn that more people drown accidentally in the UK than die in fires at home. What is perhaps more surprising is that the majority of drowning victims did not leave home on the day they died intending to go into water of significant depth. In 2015, more people drowned while walking or running than while swimming, and more people drowned having entered the water on the spur of the moment to assist an animal or person or to retrieve an object than while swimming. It is also important to know that more people drowned while playing beside water or paddling in shallows than while swimming. The statistics are quite surprising: 83 per cent of drownings involve men and a third involve alcohol. The 19-29 age group is most at risk. Unsurprisingly, we tend to associate drowning with coastal areas, but water safety is an issue which affects all parts of the country. Only eight English counties had fewer than three drownings in 2015.

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As the weather gets warmer, the LGA is supporting the RNLI’s Respect the Water campaign to help reduce accidents and deaths around our waterways and coastline The LGA’s Safer and Stronger Communities Board is working with the National Water Safety Forum (NWSF) and its members (including the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, Chief Fire Officers Association, Royal National Lifeboat Institution, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and individual councils) to promote the UK’s national drowning prevention strategy. As part of this work, we are encouraging councils to have a community-level risk assessment and water safety plan, and to encourage local recreational activity organisations to have a clear strategic risk assessment and plans that address key risks. The NWSF compiles statistics on waterrelated fatalities and makes them available through the Water Incident Database (WAID), but the effectiveness of this tool is reduced by the omission of ‘near-miss’ statistics. The LGA is therefore working with NWSF to encourage the Home Office to make these figures available. We hope they can be extracted from fire and rescue service data – an area in which the Home Office is already committed to greater transparency. We are also collating examples of

best practice around water safety for the LGA website – and would welcome more so we can share these with you (please email charles.loft@local.gov.uk with any examples from your council). The risks posed by potential water hazards vary from place to place as rivers, lakes and the sea vary in terms of tides, water temperature and currents, and cliffs, beaches, riverbanks, bridges and towpaths

“Being able to swim 50 metres in a pool under supervision does not mean you will survive if you fall in a cold canal or a fast flowing river while out jogging or taking the dogs for a walk”

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vary in terms of stability, the depth of water they lie beside and the activities that take place on them. The role of visible warnings, lifeguards and public rescue equipment will differ from place to place. But whatever the location, the need for education is clear if the death toll on our waterways and coastline is to be reduced. This is not just a simple question of teaching every child to swim – although we recognise that can only help. It is about understanding that being able to swim 50 metres in a pool under supervision does not mean you will survive if you fall in a cold canal or a fast flowing river while out jogging or taking the dogs for a walk. We need people to understand the risks and minimise them where we can to heighten water safety across the country. This is why we are also supporting the Royal National Lifeboat Institution’s (RNLI) Respect the Water campaign. It highlights key risks

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such as the impact of cold water shock, giving people information about how to survive an unexpected fall into water or what to do if you spot someone in difficulty, while also sharing advice about how to prevent and avoid such incidents. Although it focuses on coastal risks, much of its advice – in particular on slips, trips and falls into water and on cold water shock – is just as relevant inland as at the coast. Information about the campaign can be found at www.respectthewater.com, with further details to be published soon ahead of this year’s campaign launch in May.

In addition to Respect the Water, the RNLI also offers free education packs for schools, and a number of education programmes including school visits, lifeboat station tours and beach based sessions called Swim Safe where children learn how to keep safe in the sea. And as first was going to press, the National Fire Chiefs Council was launching its water safety and drowning prevention campaign – with lots of activities in fire and rescue services across England and Wales (see www.cfoa.org.uk/22132 for more information).

‘A future without drowning: the UK national drowning prevention strategy 2016-2026’ is available at www.nationalwatersafety.org.uk/strategy. Visit www.national watersafety.org. uk/waid for statistics on water-related deaths; www.rnli.org/youth-education for water safety education resources for children; www.respectthewater.com for the RNLI’s water safety campaign; and www.local.gov.uk/topics/community-safety – for council case studies

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Leading places Working with universities can help improve local areas

eading Places is an innovative programme that supports councils, universities and other local institutions to work in partnership for their area. Councils and universities have used the programme – launched last year, across six areas in England – as a framework to help them collaborate on tackling a wide range of local issues. For example, a partnership in Coventry focused on the role of sport in reducing health inequalities, while in Manchester the project was used as a framework to evaluate the progress of the combined authority. In Brighton and Hove, the focus has been

on tackling the spiralling demand for adult health and social care services (see first 607). At a recent LGA conference, guest speaker Joe Manning, Head of Private Sector Growth at the Department for Communities and Local Government’s Cities and Local Growth Unit, highlighted the importance and relevance of the Leading Places programme in the context of developing place-based approaches to growth as part of the emerging national industrial strategy. Fellow speaker Professor Trevor McMillan, Vice-Chancellor of Keele University, demonstrated the potential of place-based leadership across local ‘anchor’ institutions,

outlining Keele University’s role in developing the New Keele Deal in partnership with local councils, the NHS trust and the local enterprise partnership. The conference provided an opportunity for each partnership area to present on their experiences to date. The presentations demonstrated that the programme has enabled new ground to be broken by tackling issues that organisations have a common interest in, as well as enabling them to focus on the practicalities of collaborative leadership across their organisations. A second phase of the programme is now open to new and phase one partnerships, supported by funding from the LGA and contributions from the Higher Education Funding Council for England and Universities UK. For more information, including details on how to apply, please visit www.local.gov.uk/ topics/devolution/leading-places

“The programme has enabled organisations to focus on the practicalities of collaborative leadership”

Notice of Group Elections 2017 Effective from Monday 8 May 2017 The Local Government Association (LGA) Independent Group will hold elections for the posts of Group Leader, Group Deputy Leader and Group Treasurer between April and July 2017.

Only councillors from councils in membership of the LGA and able to receive support from the Independent Group, at the time of close of nominations, will be eligible to stand for election.

Results will be announced at the Group Annual General Meeting on Tuesday 4 July, as part of the LGA Annual Conference in Birmingham.

Election guidance is available from our website or on request.

In the event of there being more than one nomination for a position, a postal ballot will be held. Postal votes will be issued on Thursday 8 June and the deadline for receipt of completed ballots will be 5.00pm on Thursday 29 June.

Sarah Woodhouse

Nomination papers are available from Monday 8 May, from our website or on request from the office of the Returning Officer. Completed nomination forms must be received by the Returning Officer no later than 5.00pm on Thursday 25 May.

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For further information please contact: Returning Officer for the Independent Group elections 2017 Telephone: 020 7664 3206 Email: sarah.woodhouse@local.gov.uk

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New look for your website The LGA website has been redesigned, offering you a more tailored and userfriendly service

he LGA’s new website has been redesigned, with you in mind. Easier to navigate and organised by topic areas, you will be able to find much more of what you need in one place. The first LGA website was launched in 1997, and despite being very different to the first incarnation, the last website refresh was six years ago in 2011. The redesign follows detailed research with members, officers and key users from across the country, including from a range of different political parties and council types. It also incorporates detailed back-end analytics data, which allows us to look closely at how the site is – and isn’t – being used effectively. One of the key things we learnt from the research was that the old website was too siloed around LGA board priorities, which seemed to work to internal LGA structures rather than the needs of our users. In feedback, you also said that the website was too content-heavy and cluttered. In addition, members told us the site wasn’t easy to use and wasn’t always written with you, our members, in mind. When discussing what our members most wanted from a website, prominent requests included more case studies, better sharing of best practice and

an easier user journey, so we’ve worked hard to focus on these issues. In response, the new site has been designed based on a modern ‘hub approach’, with items grouped under popular themes such as children and young people; licences, regulations and trading standards; finance and business rates; and housing and planning. The look and feel of the new site is more user friendly and more in line with popular and well rated websites, like the BBC’s. Content is now much easier to read, navigate, and search for, with relevant content, publications, parliamentary work, news items, case studies and best practice on a given topic all grouped together and located in one place. The redesign also means the website will be easier to use if you are accessing it from a mobile or other device, which is becoming an increasingly popular option amongst our members. Following your feedback, the home page of the new website can now also be customised to

“The website will be easier to use if you are accessing it from a mobile or other device, which is becoming an increasingly popular option among our members”

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your own settings, allowing users to select and view news, publications, events and more around the topics and themes that are of most interest to you. We know the new site might take some getting used to but we hope you’ll feel that it works better and harder on your behalf. If you haven’t had a chance to see it yet please visit our new website at www.local.gov.uk. We always welcome your feedback and suggestions, so please let us know what you think by emailing webmaster@local.gov.uk.

LGA member-only content To access member-only content on the LGA’s new website, you will need to set up a new account. Go to www.local.gov.uk, click on ‘Log in’ at the top of the page, select ‘‘Create new account’, and fill in your name, email and a password. You do not need to set up a new account to sign up for e-bulletins, or change the e-bulletins you currently receive. If you have any problems using the new website, please let us know by emailing webmaster@local.gov.uk

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Steps missed on NHS England future plan Proposals for a more responsive and joined-up NHS underplay the vital role of adult social care and the work of councils

ealth bosses have set out progress made since the launch of the NHS Five Year Forward View in October 2014. ‘Next steps on the NHS Five Year Forward View’ outlines a series of practical steps for delivering a better, more joined-up and responsive NHS in England. Councils fully support the aim to improve the health and wellbeing of our nation and have a crucial role to play through shaping local public services and as leaders of their local communities. However, the LGA says the delivery plan fails to fully acknowledge the vital role of adult social care and local government more generally in supporting the health service. Where reference to social care is made, it is about the availability of care impacting on NHS demand, rather than the important work of councils and local partners providing care in their communities. In a briefing on ‘Next steps’, the LGA also says the NHS should be more explicit in recognising the role councils play in working with communities to identify local priorities and make decisions about where to direct scarce resources. The Department for Communities and Local Government grant conditions

attached to the additional £2 billion announced in the 2017 Spring Budget are clear that the funding is intended to help meet adult social care needs, support the provider market, and relieve pressures on the NHS, including helping people out of hospital. There is no prescription about what percentage of a council’s allocation should be aligned to those three priorities. In this context, the LGA has said it is “disappointing” that the plan focuses just on using the money to free up acute beds. Decisions about how this money is invested should be left to

Year Forward View aimed at supporting the health of our nation. “Local authorities already contribute to the wider determinants of health through housing, leisure, education, community support and wider services, as well as social care. They have statutory responsibilities through health and wellbeing boards and also spend more than £3.2 billion each year specifically on public health, including NHS services such as sexual health, drug and alcohol treatment and health checks, however this has not been reflected in the report. “We want to see a greater recognition of the role councils play in working with local communities to identify local priorities and make decisions about where to direct scarce resources. It is therefore disappointing that there is little recognition of the vital role that councils and democratically

“There is little recognition of the vital role that councils and councillors can play in delivering better and more joined-up social care and health services” councils, working with their health partners and others. Cllr Linda Thomas, Vice-Chair of the LGA’s Community Wellbeing Board, said: “We have fully supported the ambitions in the Five

elected councillors can play in delivering better and more joined-up social care and health services for their local residents.” The LGA supports the continued emphasis on collaboration to improve the health and wellbeing of a local population, and sustainability and transformation partnerships (previously plans) are key to this. However, it is concerned that the NHS plan does not include any specific reference to the role of councillors and also gives no consideration to the role of health and wellbeing boards. The plan’s financial modelling lacks realism, and there is limited recognition of the need to invest in change – such as the initial increase in costs associated with double-running new preventative or community services.

This is an edited version of the LGA’s briefing on ‘Next steps on the NHS Five Year Forward View’. Please visit www.local.gov. uk/parliament/briefings-and-responses for more information

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Working for our members The latest survey of our member councils is already helping to inform our work for the coming year

or the fifth consecutive year, we have run an independent poll of our members to get your views on what we do on your behalf, and your priorities. We spoke to nearly 1,000 council leaders, councillors, portfolio holders, chairs of scrutiny committees, chief executives and directors to get the widest possible views about the LGA. The results help us to better understand the current views of our member councils and your views on how we work with you. They help inform our future work and highlight areas for improvement. To ensure we are representing you and providing value for money, the LGA’s political group offices have continued to support our overall membership offer through their work with councillors. Our improvement teams have further developed our offer to include, as well as corporate support, bespoke support on issues such as finance, children’s services and communications. Over the last year, our programme of visits to councils, at both senior political and managerial levels, has also helped raise awareness of what we do with and on behalf of councils. We have introduced a number of new initiatives and worked to encourage more input from frontline councillors into first, which remains the main way elected members receive information about the LGA and our work. We have also redesigned our website, following extensive research with all parts of local government, so that it better meets your needs. Overall, the latest survey results show that the increases in satisfaction with the LGA May 2017

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and our work have been maintained. Nearly three-quarters of you (74 per cent) would speak positively about the LGA and are satisfied with the work we do on behalf of local government (73 per cent). There has been a big increase this year in the number of council leaders who are satisfied with the work we do on behalf of councils. However, we need to do more to ensure frontline councillors understand more about what we do on their behalf.

Top priorities

Not surprisingly, your top two priorities were funding for local government (94 per cent) and economic growth, jobs and housing (90 per cent). Other main priorities included adult social care and health (88 per cent) and children’s services and education (86 per cent), all of which reflect our key areas of work. When we asked about the most important services we provide to our member councils, providing a single voice for local government, lobbying, sectorled improvement, providing up-to-date information about local government, and conferences and events came out top. Looking ahead at how we might be able to develop new areas of support for councils, you told us that support for local growth, increasing housing supply and building community cohesion would all be helpful. Views about training for councillors and our sector-led improvement offer remain positive, with 94 per cent saying that peer challenges are useful for councils and threequarters that sector-led improvement is ‘the right approach’. Although more than half of respondents are aware of sector-led

improvement, we would like that number to be higher so will be doing more to promote our wider support offer to councils. Finally, it’s important for us to understand how you find out about our work and the best ways for us to communicate with you. As with previous years, LGA members – and particularly frontline councillors – said they were most likely to find out about the LGA through first (76 per cent), although our media work, website, and events and conferences are also seen as important ways for us to communicate with you. Increasingly, meeting you face-to-face is seen as an important way for us to hear your views. We have continued to work closely with councils, and last year our chairman, chief executive and other members of our senior team made nearly 1,000 visits to councils in England and Wales. Lord Porter, LGA Chairman, said: “I would like to thank everyone who took part in the survey this year. Your views really are important to us and they influence and shape everything we do. “I am pleased that overall satisfaction remains high but we are also aware that we need to make sure we continually review what we are doing, focusing on the things that matter to you.” We have now developed an action plan to help address the issues raised in the survey. This includes a continuing focus on frontline councillors, not just those in executive positions; promoting wider awareness of our support and sector-led improvement offer; and ensuring we engage with as many councils as possible at every opportunity.

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LG Inform Plus Your essential guide to your area Designed to run in tandem with LG Inform, and developed together with councils for over a decade, LG Inform Plus gives subscribers an intuitive way to understand local communities. With the power to drill down from authority wide information to much smaller areas, the service gives you instant access to data about your ward and the key issues affecting people. With LG Inform Plus you can: • view 1,600+ data items, covering 58 million people, from birth rates to employment patterns, health to housing • check 568 individual council service standards from 125 different service areas • find out what your council must and can do with 6,000 Powers and Duties links to current legislation • save money by using the service’s 1,500 Records Retention schedules which lists information for over 100 different service areas • Access 5,000+ data items, via our data feed, for your reports, apps and systems. LG Inform Plus provides the detailed information you need to make informed decisions and with its report writer, an easy way to present this.

Take a closer look: www.local.gov.uk/about-lginformplus Improving services through information

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comment Brexit makes inclusive growth more urgent Stephanie Flanders is Chair of the RSA’s Inclusive Growth Commission

Regardless of your views on Brexit, it is clear that Britain faces a period of deep uncertainty, not only for our economy but for our public services and the cohesion of our communities. It is difficult to see how local authorities can cope with any more cuts, and with social care already on the financial brink, less money and the loss of migrant workers may prove to be the tipping point. It would be easy to blame Brexit for the troubles that may lie ahead – just as politicians for decades blamed Brussels. But the flaws in Britain’s economic model which helped to produce the vote for Brexit have been building for a long time and do not have very much to do with the EU. As Chair of the RSA’s Inclusive Growth Commission, I saw first-hand why the mantra of ‘take back control’ resonated so deeply in so many corners of the UK. There has been regeneration of town centres and often significant job growth. But the social problems which went along with mass unemployment have not fallen nearly as fast as the jobless total, and many people do not feel that economic growth has benefited them. The final report of the commission makes a set of recommendations for achieving inclusive growth, but let me focus here on two areas that are especially pressing for local leaders.

First, we must not lose the momentum provided by devolution. We need to have a reset of the relationship between Whitehall and the town hall, underpinned by a new social contract between national and local government. This doesn’t mean unrestrained fiscal autonomy for councils, but rather a central-local partnership that sees inclusive growth as a national agenda, locally designed and implemented. In the immediate term, co-commissioning should be strengthened, and Greater Manchester’s model of joint, place-based commissioning should be extended to other sub-regions and service areas, especially education and skills. Over the long term, places can take greater responsibility for coordinating the entirety of local spending, integrating social and economic

policies, and addressing the fragmentation that has held back much needed systemic change. At a national level, this can be supported by place-based budgeting or spending reviews. Second, this shift must be underpinned by public investment. Poorer places must not lose out as European funding ends. Britain’s departure from the EU provides an opportunity to rethink UK regional aid, to explore possibilities to use regional support more innovatively, less burdened by strict bureaucratic procedures. In our report we argue that repatriated EU funds should be brought together with the money available through local growth funds and the life chances fund to form an inclusive growth investment fund of around £4 billion a year, and £76 billion over 20 years. Applications would be based on inclusive growth criteria or what we term ‘quality GVA’, and recipients would have the flexibility they need to promote inclusive social and economic outcomes. But there’s a catch for local leaders: to really benefit from any new system, they would need to work together and demonstrate the collaborative governance seen in combined authorities such as Greater Manchester. They also need to get the very best out of their leadership, to ensure that inclusive growth is an agenda that is responsive to local needs and owned by people and places, not just institutions and public bodies. This is where the spirit of localism can really help our economies flourish.

“It is difficult to see how local authorities can cope with any more cuts”

For more information about the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce and its Inclusive Growth Commission, please visit www.thersa.org.uk

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group leaders’ comments Elections, mayors and support for local schools

“It is our job to continue to highlight the major challenges that councils face”

ince the last local elections in May 2016, the Liberal Democrats have had the best year ever in local council by-elections. A net gain of 33 council seats is better than we’ve ever done, with wins coming from across the country, and gains from other parties from across the political spectrum. This is on top of the 45 seats that we gained in 2016. I am writing this before the local election results are known, but we already know that Liberal Democrats are standing in a higher proportion of the council seats up for election than four years ago – a sign that the party’s local government base continues to revive. Away from the regular county council elections, we will also see a new landscape open

up in local government this month with the election of regional combined authority mayors. There will be a challenge to all of us in the LGA on how we involve them in our work, while ensuring all other types of council – district, county, unitary, London and metropolitan boroughs – stay feeling closely involved with what we do. And now a General Election has been called, really putting the cat among the pigeons. It is our job to continue to highlight the major challenges that councils face – those of evertightening budgets, the dire state of social care funding, more care homes facing closure and the Government’s raid on the New Homes Bonus. We can’t take our eye off the ball, as has been proven by the side-lining of local authorities

Mayor Baroness Dorothy Thornhill is Deputy Leader of the LGA’s Liberal Democrat Group

when the Department for Education announced plans for 131 new free schools. There is clearly money available when the Government feels like spending it! The LGA, on a cross-party basis, must keep pushing the case for councils to have a key role in being able to both support our local schools and, where needed, to set up new ones. Finally, on a personal note, I will be stepping down as Deputy Leader of the LGA’s Liberal Democrat Group in July. So I would like to say a big ‘thank you’ to everyone who has worked with me over this time, and to the thousands of Lib Dem councillors up and down the country who do a great job representing their communities – keep up the good work!

chairman’s comment

Investing in school places

Lord Porter is Chairman of the LGA

roviding quality education for our children is a high priority for councils, not just because we have a statutory duty to ensure they all have a school place, but because we are invested in building the workforce of the future. Both councils and schools are struggling to keep pace with the rise in demand for places, while also trying to deal with continuing budget pressures more broadly. Ongoing cuts have meant councils have had to dip into other budgets to cover the cost of rising demand, diverting over £1 billion to create more places –

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and they will need to continue to top up inadequate government funding in the years to come. The money allocated in the 2015 Spending Review was a necessary response to the school places crisis. The three-year funding settlement provides councils with far more certainty and gives them the opportunity to plan ahead and make best use of scarce resources. The Government has sought to reduce pressures on places by announcing a number of new schools across the country. We have been clear from the outset that councils must have a say over where new schools are introduced in their areas. We know our areas best and have the greatest understanding of community needs and aspirations. Ensuring council involvement in

education is critical and over the coming months we will continue to work with government to make sure this is the case. Over recent years councils have created an extra 600,000 primary places – which shows we are doing as much as we can to rise to the challenge of ensuring no child goes without a place. But if the crisis is to be dealt with properly the creation of school places needs to be funded and powers handed back to councils so that they can open new schools, both primary and secondary. It is more important than ever, in the face of ongoing pressure, financial or otherwise, that councils are regarded as education improvement partners rather than as a barrier to change.

“Councils have had to dip into other budgets to cover the cost of rising demand for school places” www.local.gov.uk

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Cllr David Simmonds CBE is Acting Leader of the LGA’s Conservative Group

Executive Mayor Kate Allsop is the Independent Group Deputy Chair of the LGA’s Community Wellbeing Board

Cllr Nick Forbes is Leader of the LGA’s Labour Group

Optimistic outlook on elections

A better future for our communities

Local people benefit from Independent councils

“I look forward to consolidating our position as the largest party in local government”

“Labour councils are giving people hope in difficult and testing times”

“Our biggest strength is that we are able to use our own judgement in the decision-making process”

ollowing a string of recent successes, Conservative candidates are approaching the local elections with optimism, especially now that they will be the springboard for a General Election just weeks later. While the Copeland by-election attracted considerable attention – not surprising since it was the first time a government party has gained a seat from an opposition party in 25 years – we have also recorded significant council by-election gains from Labour recently. What is encouraging about these results is their variety, including victories in northern metropolitan councils (Middlesbrough and Salford), a midlands unitary (Derby City), and a southern district (Broxbourne). Recent successes against UKIP, including a gain in Douglas Carswell’s constituency, are also encouraging, given 2013 – when this year’s seats were last fought – was good for UKIP. With UKIP riven by in-fighting, I believe that the local elections are an excellent opportunity for us to reclaim seats previously lost. Despite these successes we are not complacent, and Conservative candidates are campaigning hard for every vote. On behalf of the LGA Conservative Group, I wish them the very best of luck and I look forward to consolidating our position as the largest party in local government. In the meantime, while the elections are taking place, I would like to reassure all councillors that the LGA continues to work on the key issues, such as business rates localisation, that affect you and your council.

n six weeks, the country will have made a decision about who they want to be governed by – both locally and nationally. Since the 2010 General Election, Labour councils have shielded our communities from the worst of the government austerity agenda. The Tory Government has systematically and relentlessly stripped our communities of assets, hit the poorest in society with welfare cuts, plunged our elderly into a social care crisis and starved local authorities of funding. Along the way, we have had to make tough choices, but know the alternative that can be imposed by a Tory government is far worse. Labour councils are making a real difference and giving people in our areas hope in difficult and testing times. Labour local government does not and will not accept that austerity is the way forward and we will keep investing in a better future for our communities. Nationally, Labour’s message should take the lead from Labour in local government. We have set the agenda and delivered our pledges on schools, house building, care services and so much more. Labour councils have demonstrated leadership in the toughest of times. Nearly 7,000 Labour councillors put into practice real Labour values from the heart of our communities and it’s our local experience that is the foundation stone to forming the next Labour government. Labour in power is where we can make a real difference.

hose of you up for election in May will be well aware of the issues concerning residents and how Independent Group councillors are the solution. I can attest to that, leading Mansfield District Council as its directly elected executive mayor for the last two years. As mayor, I work hard to shape the future of the council, generate income to keep it sustainable and meet the challenges of austerity. In 2011, Mansfield went from 46 councillors to 36, and from 19 multi-member to 36 singlemember wards. You may be facing similar scenarios. In my experience this has made councillors much more accountable to their constituents. Our biggest strength as Independent Group councillors is that we have fewer restrictions on our involvement regarding key issues and are able to use our own judgement in the decisionmaking process. Although there are group meetings, without a whip members can vote as they and their constituents deem suitable. The big three parties cannot say the same. So as you meet people on the doorstep, remember that Independent Group-led councils are run for the benefit of local people, without having to consider the wishes of political parties, and can, as Mansfield has done, balance their budget without increasing council tax, despite central government cuts. Good luck to everyone standing in May, and to any Group members now considering standing at the General Election. We certainly live in exciting and interesting times.

For more information about the LGA’s political groups, see www.local.gov.uk

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Helping schools implement compulsory sex education

Andrew Furber is President of the Association of Directors of Public Health and Director of Public Health at Wakefield Council

What was your experience of sex education at school like? My recollection is of a middle-aged male biology teacher telling us the mechanics of how ‘it’ was done. As pupils it was either the funniest thing since Morecombe and Wise or toecurlingly embarrassing. I am pretty certain it did nothing to make us sexually healthier. Meanwhile, young people today are crying out for support as they face unprecedented pressures. A Terrence Higgins Trust survey found 99 per cent thought sex and relationships education (SRE) should be taught in all schools – but one in seven weren’t taught it at all. That is why I was delighted when the Education Secretary listened to what councils, charities, parents, educators and young people have been championing for years, and said recently that SRE will finally have compulsory status in all secondary schools (see first 610 and 609). At last, this topic can be properly taught, inspected and resourced, so that young people are given the essential life skills they need to have healthy relationships. This is, of course, also good news for public health: quality SRE can delay sexual activity, reduce sexually transmitted infections, and drive down the number of teenage pregnancies. But what does this mean for local authorities, and what will our role be in ensuring

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this landmark decision fulfils its life-changing potential for all young people? For me, the role of councils will be to ensure the quality of what’s on offer. SRE must not become a tick-box exercise for schools. If it is taught as a once-a-year standalone lesson, rather than something that is normalised and features throughout one’s school life, then the subject will become stigmatised. It becomes a bit of a joke, much like my own school memories. Instead, it should be a regular fixture in the timetable, and topics must include everything from consent to LGBT relationships to ensure a holistic and meaningful approach.

with students throughout their time at school. The results show a vast improvement in knowledge and confidence. Students are better informed and engage with sexual health services when they need them. The teenage pregnancy rate in Wakefield has halved. Not a lot will therefore change in Wakefield as a result of the legislation to make the subject compulsory. But for many schools, this will be an entirely new concept. Local authorities have a vital role to play in ensuring local schools are ready to implement this from 2019 onwards. Sharing examples of good practice will be fundamental to showing how SRE can work in practice. We also need to ensure schools are starting their planning now, so they have the necessary training and capacity by the time they’re required by law to teach this subject. It will be more difficult to have a direct role for preparing academies and free schools, but we must find ways to influence and support these schools to deliver quality relationships and sex education – otherwise large numbers of young people will miss out, and the lottery of variable provision will continue.

“SRE gives young people the essential life skills they need to have healthy relationships, both with themselves and others”

Emotional skills In my role in Wakefield, I have seen first-hand the tangible impact that this model can have. We commission Spectrum Community Health CIC, a healthcare social enterprise, to deliver SRE across the district. The objective is to develop social and emotional skills, enabling students to make positive choices and navigate risk. We build content year on year in an age-appropriate way

For more information or to sign up for our children and young people e-bulletin, please visit www.local.gov.uk/topics/children-and-young-people/children-and-young-peoples-health

www.local.gov.uk

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Council in good housing company Cllr Alistair Auty (Con) is Commissioner, Affordable Housing, at Wokingham Borough Council and a Board Member of Wokingham Housing Limited and Loddon Homes

In 2011, Wokingham Borough Council set up a local housing company to provide an income stream back to the council through developing affordable housing. It has been a long journey, but one where Wokingham Housing Limited (WHL) is building close to 150 homes across nine sites, with more than 100 being progressed towards planning. The borough council has also set up its own for-profit housing association, Loddon Homes, which was registered with the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) in summer 2016 and is the first of its kind. With the first tenants about to move into our latest flagship development of 68 homes, WHL is now looking at a separate vehicle for owning and managing private rented homes. The concept of WHL was the initiative of Wokingham’s councillors, who raised the question of why the council gave grants to housing associations rather than investing that money ourselves. By changing the way in which commuted sums from developers and government grants were used, we created the opportunity to build up a new supply of housing to meet the rising demand for affordable homes, while at the same time generating a new revenue stream, unfettered by the rules that govern the council’s Housing Revenue Account and its existing 2,650 council homes. Wokingham has had to be innovative in its attitude to spending public money. As the lowest-funded council in England, it has keenly felt the impact of austerity in supporting all the activities expected of a unitary authority. There is a strong drive to find alternative funding streams and establishing a housing

company, funded by commuted sums, provided one way of doing this. On paper it was a simple idea; in practice it has required a lot of tenacity and nurturing. In setting up our local housing companies, there were three key elements. Firstly, the council set up a holding company (Holdco) to manage all its companies and represent its interests as shareholder. WHL reports to Holdco, and there are three councillors on Holdco’s board who act as non-executive directors. To meet HCA requirements, Loddon Homes has a larger board, with a mix of councillors and independent non-executive directors, also reporting to Holdco. Second, a team of five dedicated staff has been recruited over time to run the housing companies through both developing homes and also ensuring those homes are managed

“Wokingham’s councillors raised the question of why the council gave grants to housing associations rather than investing that money ourselves”

via service level agreements with the borough council. Third, the housing companies have been funded by Wokingham Borough Council through operational loan funding, while capital funding for building homes comes from commuted sums, borrowing and grants from central government. Setting up a local housing company is by no means a quick fix for local authorities to copy, as it takes time, resources and commitment to set up and actually deliver results. However, with us, and others now to follow, the groundwork has been laid to quicken the process. Certainly with WHL becoming profitable in 2017/18, we are now seeing the fruits of our labours in both delivering new homes for local people and making the financial returns originally planned for. With the pressure to build more homes in England to meet rising need, we see councils as part of the answer to that challenge. Local housing companies provide a way of meeting local housing needs, across a range of price points, while benefiting all residents by generating an income stream to fund local services.

For more information about Wokingham Borough Council’s housing companies, please email WHL Managing Director Bill Flood, at bill.flood@wokingham.gov.uk

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parliament Lobbying for councils MPs and Peers have been tasked with passing a range of legislation before Parliament breaks for a ‘snap’ General Election very few had predicted. As thoughts turn to the election, it is worth reflecting on what has been a fascinating year in Westminster and our work on behalf of local government bringing your recommendations and concerns to MPs and Peers. Across Parliament the reputation of local government has remained consistently high. Independent polling from November and December 2016 has shown that out of the sample questioned, at least three-quarters of MPs and eight out of ten Peers agree that councils should have greater financial powers and freedoms, greater control over local public services in their areas, and that additional funding should go to councils’ social care budgets to tackle the funding crisis. This support is encouraging, and demonstrates that local government has a strong reputation. Our engagement with Parliament has led to a range of positive changes to draft

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legislation, affecting planning, homelessness, bus and fire and rescue services, as well as other areas. This includes securing an extra £61 million from government to fund the new duties in the Homelessness Reduction Bill; securing amendments to the Policing and Crime Bill around licensing conditions, which will mean that licensing authorities will have the power to decide whether a late night levy should apply to premises in a particular part of their area, rather than to whole local authority areas; and making the case during the passage of the Neighbourhood Planning Bill to allow local planning authorities to recover the full costs of planning, which helped secure a commitment in the Housing White Paper to increase fees by 20 per cent. We are hopeful, following announcements in Parliament as first was going to press, that all the legislation and bills we have been working on should be enacted before the dissolution of Parliament on 3 May, as has been the case with previous elections.

We do know, however, that the Local Government Finance Bill, which will enable local government as a whole to retain 100 per cent of its business rates income, will need to be re-introduced in the new Parliament (assuming the next government continues to implement this policy) as there is not the time for it to be agreed before this Parliament breaks. We’ve also worked with parliamentary committees to raise your concerns, giving evidence to more than 40 inquiries, encompassing a range of issues including social care, housing, child migrants, (pictured) waste management and recycling, rural tourism, multi-academy trusts and housing for older people. As an example of how we work with senior backbenchers, the chairs of the Communities and Local Government, Public Accounts and Health Committees highlighted our concerns on social care funding to the Prime Minister in her evidence to Parliament. This supported a lobbying campaign which helped to secure an extra £2 billion to plug the immediate gap in social care funding. Another important part of our role is influencing policy and legislation before it comes to Parliament. For example, we were at the forefront of calls to reverse the forced academisation drive. After the policy was announced in May 2016 we set out the concerns of local government, including that the Education Excellence Everywhere White Paper contained no proposals to reimburse councils for the substantial costs of conversion, and the policy was subsequently dropped. Similarly, as part of our lobbying on 100 per cent business rates retention, we called for government to rule out transferring responsibility for administering Attendance Allowance to councils. We were delighted that our recommendations on Attendance Allowance were listened to as this major success for local government will help relieve a substantial potential cost pressure. www.local.gov.uk

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Wh and

What is the Fixed-term Parliaments Act and what happens next? With attention now turning to the General Election, the early spotlight was on the law which meant MPs had to vote to approve a national poll by a two-thirds majority. The Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 was introduced by the Coalition Government in order to set the date for future general elections. According to the Act, the polling day for each subsequent election is to be the first Thursday in May in the fifth calendar year following the last poll. The next General Election was scheduled to take place on 7 May 2020. Parliament can, however, agree to hold an early election in the following circumstances: • if a motion for an early General Election is agreed either by at least two-thirds of the whole House or without division • if a motion of no confidence is passed and no alternative government is confirmed by the Commons within 14 days.

range of policy areas. In particular, we will be calling for any repatriation of powers from Brussels to lead to greater devolution to local communities

through councils; for new money to tackle the funding crisis in adult and children’s services; and for new policies to help councils build more new and affordable homes.

For the latest updates on the LGA’s work in Parliament, please sign up for our regular parliamentary bulletin and/or find out more about our work at www.local.gov.uk/parliament

On 19 April, Parliament passed a motion agreeing to hold the General Election on 8 June. Parliament will be dissolved on 3 May 2017. The Act stipulates that Parliament must be dissolved at the beginning of the 25th working day before polling day. The Queen’s Speech, the formal opening of a new parliamentary session, has now been postponed (it was due on Wednesday 17 May). Precedent suggests the Queen’s Speech will occur roughly three weeks following the General Election; therefore, we expect it to take place in the last week of June. We will be working with all the political parties as they draft their election manifestos, promoting the policies that will support your work in local government and seeking to secure positive commitments on a May 2017

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councillor Measuring residents’ satisfaction Cllr William Nunn is Chairman of the LGA’s Improvement and Innovation Board

Every four months, the LGA polls a representative, national sample of residents on how satisfied they are with their local council and the services we provide. Our national polling complements councils’ own local surveys. Tracking national satisfaction with councils alongside questions on other related issues about residents’ local areas can provide valuable information on what is driving resident perceptions, their concerns and priorities and, therefore, what councils can do to serve their local communities better or differently. Many additional factors will influence resident views of councils at a local level, including local demographics. However, the data collected in our national polling provides a useful tool for all councillors in their work with local residents. Our latest survey shows councils continue to enjoy high levels of public support, despite significant funding cuts. However, some of the responses suggest budget pressures and their impact on local services could be starting to affect residents’ satisfaction.

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The February 2017 poll found no significant changes to the results in the last poll in October 2016 with regards to five out of six key indicators of resident satisfaction. Eight out of ten respondents were satisfied with their local area as a place to live, and almost two-thirds were satisfied with the way their local council runs things overall. Around six out of ten respondents replied positively when asked if their council acts on the concerns of local residents and if they trusted their council. Value for money received the lowest proportion of positive replies – with 47 per cent indicating agreement. The shift this time around was a significant drop in the proportion of people

who said, overall, their council keeps residents well informed about the services and benefits it provides (from 66 per cent in the last round to 60 per cent). Moreover, while the majority of respondents tended to give positive replies when questioned on the key indicators of resident satisfaction, the lowest levels todate were observed for three out of the six indicators (satisfaction with council, feeling well informed and agreement that council provides value for money), and a fourth indicator (satisfaction with local area) stands at its lowest level for a year. Satisfaction among respondents with the way the local council runs things has stood at between 66 and 72 per cent for the last three years, but now stands at 65 per cent. A significantly higher proportion were dissatisfied overall compared to the previous poll (19 versus 13 per cent). When it comes to specific, council-run services, satisfaction with waste collection (which stands at 77 per cent) remains higher than overall satisfaction with how the council runs things, as does satisfaction with street cleaning (70 per cent). Road and pavement maintenance continue to have the highest levels of dissatisfaction (47 and 33 per cent respectively), while at 62 per cent, satisfaction with library services is significantly lower than many previous rounds of polling. Future surveys will monitor these indicators to identify whether the changes are a temporary dip, or the start of a trend. But while the financial outlook remains difficult, there are many things councils can be doing to improve their engagement with residents. Useful advice and examples of council good practice are available in the LGA’s recent publication, ‘New conversations: LGA guide to engagement’, available to download free from the LGA’s website at www.local.gov.uk/publications, where you can also find the full survey results. www.local.gov.uk

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elections Patterns and portents The final by-elections before the 4 May contests continued a pattern we have noted for some time, and may well be portents for what happens next month. The Liberal Democrats made two gains – one from a standing start, the other following a more than doubling of their vote share. UKIP, on the other hand, sustained two losses. In West Somerset, the Conservatives were the victims, the sitting councillor having resigned in protest over the impact of national cuts on local government. In 2015, in the two-member ward of Elmhurst, Aylesbury Vale, the Lib Dems and UKIP took a seat each after the Lib Dems just topped the poll in a tight contest in which every major party secured over 20 per cent of the vote. There was no such tension this time as everybody else fell away to the Liberal Democrats’ benefit – the party actually polling more votes than it had done on General Election day to take the ward’s UKIP-held seat. The other UKIP loss was to the Conservatives in a Tendring council ward within Douglas Carswell’s parliamentary constituency of Clacton. The by-election took place less than a fortnight after Carswell had quit UKIP to sit in the House of Commons as an Independent and suggests that the strength of his former party locally is also on the wane. Indeed, the circumstances of the byelection point to one of the problems that UKIP has faced recently. Although the sitting councillor died, his career bore an uncanny resemblance to that of his MP. Initially a Conservative councillor, he was elected for UKIP in 2015 and then resigned to join the Coastal Independents group on the council. But this counts as a UKIP defeat because

Professors Colin Rallings (right) and Michael Thrasher are Directors of Plymouth University’s Elections Centre

“UKIP have already ‘lost’ about a quarter of the county councillors elected in 2013 from resignations and/or by-election reverses” that was the banner under which he was originally elected. Although UKIP have already ‘lost’ about a quarter of the county councillors elected in 2013 from similar resignations and/ or by-election reverses, their tally of losses when the counting is done on 5 May will use that benchmark. It may not make for pretty reading for new leader Paul Nuttall.

Rare success

In passing, we should also note a rare success for the Greens in Herefordshire. Although they will be fielding more candidates than UKIP next month, their recent record has not been impressive, with that victory being one of just five since the 2015 general election. One by-election that does not appear in the table (see right) was fought in Blackburn on 23 March. The Labour candidate looked to have won comfortably in the Higher Croft ward only to be informed he was disqualified as he worked for a council-owned company. The ‘winner’ said it was a genuine mistake which had only been brought to his attention earlier on polling day itself. The election will now have to be re-run.

local by-elections Aylesbury Vale, Elmhurst LIB DEM GAIN FROM UKIP 51.3% over Lab Turnout 26.3% Bath & North East Somerset, Walcot LIB DEM HELD 26.4% over Green Turnout 34.5% Calderdale, Hipperholme & Lightcliffe CON HELD 43.2% over Lib Dem Turnout 27.8% Herefordshire, Leominster South GREEN GAIN FROM IND 22.4% over IOC Turnout 29.4% Tendring, St. James CON GAIN FROM UKIP 25.4% over UKIP

Turnout 22.6%

West Somerset, Dunster & Timberscombe LIB DEM GAIN FROM CON 16.9% over Con

Turnout 35%

For a spreadsheet with detailed data on these and other recent by-elections, please visit www.local.gov.uk/about/news/first-magazine

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Gold sponsor

Simon Stevens Chief Executive, NHS England

Anita Anand Broadcaster

Terrie Alafat CBE Chief Executive, Chartered Institute of Housing

Cllr Ian Bowyer Leader Plymouth City Council

Tony Pidgley CBE Chairman, Berkeley Group

Cllr Claire Kober OBE Chair, LGA Resources Board and Leader, LB Haringey

Dr Kate Ardern Executive Director, Public Health, Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council

Valentine Mulholland Head of Policy, National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT)

For further information and to book your place please visit www.local.gov.uk/conference @LGAcomms #LGAconf17

THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT EVENT OF THE YEAR

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