England policy round-up: February 2025

The news cycle in February has been dominated by geopolitical events and foreign policy, but as can been seen from this round-up, domestic policy has also been busy. Aside from the government’s announcements, the think tanks have been very active with numerous research and policy publications.

Working with natural processes to reduce flood risk 2024 – Environment Agency

Natural flood management (NFM), also referred to as ‘working with natural processes’, aims to protect, restore and emulate the natural functions of catchments, floodplains, rivers and the coast to reduce flood risk. It can take different forms and can be applied in urban and rural areas, and on rivers, estuaries and coasts. The Environment Agency has now produced an update to its evidence directory containing new evidence and learning gathered from 2017-2023 against 17 indicators. The main finding is that NFM can reduce flood risk and has wider social, environmental and cultural benefits, although evidence gaps remain.

The LGIU has produced a briefing on Getting upstream: the role of nature-based solutions in flood management outlining the role of nature-based flood prevention measures across the UK and the important responsibilities of local authorities.

Making UK Industrial Strategy Work: A Hard-Headed Approach Guided by Green Industry – Tony Blair Institute for Global Change 

According to this report, the United Kingdom needs a “hard-headed” industrial strategy that prioritises industries with the potential to create future prosperity. Green growth sectors offer significant potential growth opportunities, but green industrial strategy requires some of the toughest trade-offs and strategic decisions in industrial policy. The report uses the green economy – both manufacturing and services – as a case study to draw out lessons for industrial strategy more widely. The authors argue the government’s industrial strategy, due in the spring, will be a critical test of the government’s ability to deliver on its growth mission. The report offers new economic analysis to inform prioritisation, a new strategic framework to guide decision-making and cross-cutting policy recommendations.

Love Thy Neighbour: Exploring the relationships between cities and their peripheral towns – Onward

This research note on the relationship between towns and cities finds that towns feel far more pessimistic about their areas than cities. Town dwellers are far more likely than people in their neighbouring city to feel their area has worsened over the past five years. 62% of city residents thought their area was doing well whereas just 44% of town dwellers felt the same. Despite feeling left behind, residents of towns do not harbour resentment towards their neighbours in cities. Town residents have two clear asks of government: a stronger approach to tackling crime and a better regeneration offer for their high streets and town centres. The paper sets out options that council leaders and mayors can take to respond to the issue.

The LGIU has published two recent briefings on economic growth. The first looks at what the government’s 2025 economic growth announcements mean for local and combined authorities. The second focuses on the outlook for UK living standards, wages and local economies in 2025.

Evaluation of the £2 bus fare cap – final report

The £2 bus fare cap ran from 1 January 2023 until the end of 2024 to help passengers save on their regular travel costs. It was replaced by a £3 bus fare cap on single bus fares in England outside London from 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025. This final evaluation report covers the impacts of the £2 bus fare cap over its first 10 months (January to October 2023).

• The scheme contributed approximately a 5% increase in bus patronage, out of a total 13% patronage increase outside of London from January-October 2023 compared to the same period in the previous year.
• The savings and other impacts vary significantly across passengers. Those on lower incomes have generally seen a greater positive financial impact. 16–24 year olds, urban populations and frequent bus users have tended to benefit the most from the £2 fare.
• The scheme has supported the cost of living by reducing travel costs. Around 67–73% of people who would have travelled using a different transport mode before the fare cap have saved on their travel costs due to the cap.
• The value for money (VFM) of the scheme is assessed as ‘low’ after accounting for benefits such as wellbeing which are difficult to quantify.

Powering up public support for electric vehicles (EVs) – IPPR

Adoption of EVs is key to the decarbonisation of transport and improved air quality. This research looks at public attitudes towards EVs. The findings suggest a pragmatic attitude overall: instinctively, British people are positive towards EVs and want to do the right thing for the planet and their children’s future. However, there are concerns about affordability and charging. While EVs are increasingly seen as ‘for normal people’, government must address the public’s concerns and ensure EVs work for all. The report makes recommendations for targeted measures such as financial incentives for those on low incomes who are car dependent (such as rural carers) and more widespread, cheaper and standardised charging points for those who cannot charge their car at home.

The LGIU has recently published a briefing on the low traffic neighbourhoods debate.

The seventh carbon budget – Committee on Climate Change

The UK’s Climate Change Act (2008) requires the government to propose regular, legally binding milestones on the way to achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions, known as carbon budgets. The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) advises the government on the level of these. Parliament must then agree each carbon budget for it to be set into law.

The CCC has published its recommendations on the seventh carbon budget, a limit on the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions over the period 2038-2042, and a pathway to achieve it. Electrification and low-carbon electricity supply make up the largest share of emissions reductions in the pathway, 60% by 2040. The CCC points out that the roll-out rates required for decarbonisation solutions such as EVs, heat pumps, and renewables are similar to those previously achieved for mobile phones, refrigerators and internet connections. The CCC estimates that the net costs of net zero will be around 0.2% of UK GDP per year on average, with investment upfront leading to net savings during the seventh carbon budget period. Much of the investment is expected to come from the private sector.

Heat network zone opportunity reports 

These reports are an indicative selection of the outputs from the heat network zoning pilot, where the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) worked with 28 local authorities, as well as technical and modelling consultants. The pilot scheme saw the development of a methodology for identifying where heat networks are expected to provide the lowest-cost, low-carbon heat to buildings in cities across England. The reports show the potential location of heat network zones within each area, the heat network investment opportunity on town/city scale, and the opportunities for initial heat network development within each zone. Lessons learned from the pilot are being used to inform the development of the government’s heat network zoning policy for the whole of England, which will be published shortly alongside a digital product to allow stakeholders to view potential zones on a map.

Sunny day savings: Assessing government support for solar panels – Resolution Foundation

The new government’s plan to decarbonise the electricity system involves tripling total solar capacity by the end of the decade. Although much of this will be driven by large-scale installations, ministers are also hoping for a “rooftop revolution” that could see millions more homes topped with solar panels by 2030. As well as providing carbon-free electricity, domestic solar can deliver lower energy bills – £440 per year per households on average. Policy makers should think about rooftop solar as a way of permanently reducing household energy spending. This briefing note looks at the case for installing more solar panels and what policies might be needed, especially for low income households who have the most to gain from lower bills but are least able to access solar panels without support, due to the up-front costs.

Jumping the Gun: Racing to 2030 before the field is set – Onward

The expansion of clean energy generation is critical for securing Britain’s energy future, but a practical and achievable pathway is needed to deliver a decarbonised grid. While increasing generation is essential, the UK risks undermining its own targets if it does not ensure that transmission infrastructure keeps pace. This report argues that the government’s 2030 clean energy targets will require twice as much grid infrastructure to be built in the next five years as was constructed over the last decade, yet transmission projects often run into local opposition. As well as reforming the planning system to make energy infrastructure more straightforward to deliver, more needs to be done to build public support. Furthermore, the rollout of renewable energy infrastructure risks eroding public support for the transition if fairness and proportionality are not properly considered.

England biodiversity indicators

Biodiversity is the variety of all life on earth: genes, species and ecosystems. It includes all species of animals and plants, and the natural systems that support them. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has published 2024 biodiversity indicators providing a full update of all indicators for which new data are available. The indicator sets are wide ranging, covering habitats, priority species, air pollution, marine pollution and levels of public understanding and engagement, amongst others.

Blueprint for Halting and Reversing Biodiversity Loss: the UK’s National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) for 2030

In December 2022, 196 parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity came together to agree the global biodiversity framework (GBF), which consists of four goals and 23 targets to halt and reverse biodiversity loss globally by 2030. The UK government has published its National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) for 2030. Devolution allows the four UK countries to tailor GBF implementation to their own circumstances, and each has set out biodiversity and wider environmental plans and actions. This document commits the four countries to work together to implement the GBF targets in the UK and includes the country-level commitments by which this will be achieved.

Fly-tipping statistics for England, 2023 to 2024

This statistical notice provides statistics on fly-tipping incidents recorded by local authorities in England, for April 2023 to March 2024. It covers trends in the number of fly-tipping incidents, with a breakdown by land type, waste type and size. It also covers enforcement and prosecution actions. Key findings are:

• In 2023/24, local authorities in England dealt with 1.15 million fly-tipping incidents, an increase of 6% from the 1.08 million reported in 2022/23;
• In 2023/24, 60% of fly-tips involved household waste. Total incidents involving household waste were 688,000 in 2023/24, an increase of 5% from 654,000 incidents in 2022/23;
• The most common place for fly-tipping to occur was on highways, pavements and roads;
• Local authorities carried out 528,000 enforcement actions in 2023/24, which was a slight decrease from the 530,000 in 2022/23.

Environmental sustainability and carbon reduction in local authority Soft FM (facilities management) Survey – APSE 

This briefing provides an overview of the responses received to an APSE survey conducted regarding environmental sustainability and carbon reduction in local authorities’ soft facilities management services. The survey found that:

• 35.7% of building cleaning and 42.86% of catering services have an environmental sustainability policy/strategy;
• 60% of building cleaning services have reduced chemical usage;
• 84.6% of catering services have reduced the use of single-use plastics;
• 60% of building cleaning respondents report that the greatest driver for environmental sustainability is to ensure the service is fit for the future;
• 53.8% of catering respondents report that the greatest driver for environmental sustainability is that it is a leadership priority;
• 33.3% of building cleaning respondents and 66.67% of catering respondents say the cost of sustainable products/supplies is the greatest barrier.

Evaluation of the Changing Futures programme – fourth interim report

The Changing Futures programme is a £77m initiative of the UK government and the National Lottery Community Fund. It tests innovative approaches to improving outcomes for people experiencing multiple disadvantages, such as homelessness, drug and alcohol problems, mental ill health, domestic abuse and contact with the criminal justice system.

The programme is running in 15 areas covering 34 top-tier councils across England from 2021-2025. This is the fourth interim report presenting evidence and insights from the programme after two-and-a-half years. This report focuses on the participant journey and how services are working to reach and support people from under-served or marginalised groups. It also features a ‘deep dive’ on the role and experiences of Changing Futures caseworkers.

Tackling violence against women and girls – NAO

Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a significant and growing problem, affecting one in 12 women and girls. The National Audit Office (NAO) has published a report into the government’s action to tackling VAWG. The Home Office leads efforts to address VAWG, but to date these interventions have not improved outcomes for victims or the general safety of women and girls.

The NAO found that the Home Office has a limited understanding of resources devoted to addressing VAWG across government and the impact of them, so cannot ascertain whether government is doing all it can to keep women and girls safe. The new government has set an ambitious target to halve violence against women and girls within the next decade. To achieve this the Home Office will need to lead a coordinated, whole-system response that addresses the causes of VAWG.

National population projections: 2022-based – ONS

This statistical release estimates the potential future population size of the UK and its constituent countries. These statistics are widely used in the planning of public services. Key points are:

• Over the 10 years between mid-2022 and mid-2032, the population of the UK is projected to increase by 4.9 million (7.3%) from an estimated 67.6 million to 72.5 million; this increase is projected to arise from net migration of 4.9 million compared with 6.8 million births and 6.8 million deaths.
• England’s population is projected to grow by 7.8% compared with 5.9% for Wales, 4.4% for Scotland and 2.1% for Northern Ireland.
• These projections assume higher long-term international migration than in the previous (2021-based) national population projections, together with lower future fertility and life expectancy improvement.

The LGIU will be publishing a briefing in the coming weeks on population change and the implications for local government.

The State of the State – Reform and Deloitte

This edition of the annual State of the State report explores key issues facing the UK government and public services. The report is based on an exclusive Ipsos public poll, and more than 80 interviews with public sector leaders. It provides an insider’s view of the challenges facing an incoming government, and a citizen’s view of what matters and how government is performing. While both the public and public sector leaders remain concerned about the pressures on public services, they are also reporting a more optimistic outlook.

Comparing national enabling environments for volunteering

This research was commissioned by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). The research examines the differences in the ‘enabling environments’ that support volunteering in different countries. National enabling environments include policies/programmes, legislation, incentives, funding, data and research, and organisations/structures. It compares the situation in England with Scotland, Wales, Australia and Republic of Ireland. The aim is to identify potential policies and interventions – including locally-led approaches – that could support England’s enabling environment.

Walking a tightrope: Exploring the conditions for effective local voluntary and community sector infrastructure – NAVCA

This research looks at the conditions that allow local VCSE infrastructure organisations (LIOs) to thrive and deliver for stakeholders. The findings highlight five connected factors that LIOs must balance, akin to walking a tightrope:

• Leadership and relationships between the LIO and VSCE and between the LIO and statutory agencies, especially local authorities, are key;
• Funding is important but so too are broad mission, approach and ethos;
• LIOs have to manage capacity and stakeholder expectations, requiring complex but often unrecognised relational work;
• Stabilising and destabilising forces arising from the funding environment, leadership, organisational credibility (or lack of), and potential competition with other infrastructure organisations;
• Interconnected conditions creating positive or negative spirals – for example, strong leadership can boost the LIOs reputation locally, leading to funding gains, which increase capacity and reputation. Conversely, loss of funding leads to loss of capacity, which can reduce the LIOs presence locally, leading to loss of reputation.

How charitable giving can help mayors achieve their missions – Centre for Cities

These briefings build on previous work from the Centre for Cities on how charitable giving could help tackle regional inequalities and support local economic development. Combined authority mayors are well placed to identify needs in their area and to direct giving at the local and national level toward these causes, in collaboration with the voluntary sector. This requires understanding donation patterns to local causes and how these relate to local charities on the ground. These briefings use survey data on charitable giving to inform how it could help two mayors’ missions: tackling child poverty in the north east and youth unemployment in the west midlands. The findings have lessons for other mayors.

Social Capital 2025 – Demos

Demos, Local Trust and 3ni have published a further four reports examining social capital and the contribution that it makes to improving economic and social outcomes. They argue that the state (including local government) should try to strengthen social capital because of its protection and preventative effects. This completes their series of work on social capital.

• Social Capital 2025: What is Social Capital? explores a range of meanings the term has been given since its first use and the definition used in this series.
• Social Capital 2025: A protective shield for children, families and communities examines the evidence that social capital acts as a protective shield for children, families and communities under stress.
• Social Capital 2025: Reinforcing the bedrock of the nation’s health looks at the value of social capital in supporting health and building resilience.
• The case for strengthening social bonds to prevent crime examines the research on the relationship between social capital and crime.

Electoral Commission’s reports on the 2024 elections: government response

The UK government has published its response to the reports of the Electoral Commission on the 2 May 2024 Local, Police and Crime Commissioner and Mayoral elections in England and Wales, and on the 4 July 2024 UK Parliamentary General Election. It notes the Commission’s positive findings that the 2024 elections were well run, with consistently high levels of satisfaction with the processes of registration and voting. It also notes the challenges identified and responds to the recommendations on voter ID, barriers to voting, campaigning and delivering elections. The response highlights the challenge of making it easier for disabled people to access support to enable them to vote. It also states that action is also required to tackle the intimidatory and abusive behaviour towards candidates; to reduce risk to delivery through improved electoral processes; and to widen participation in democracy.

A guide to effective accountability and assurance of delivery in place-based partnerships – LGA

Local authorities deliver much of their place-making role and services working in partnership with other organisations. This prompts questions about how local authorities and their partners are accountable for their collective delivery and make arrangements for assurance of their performance. Robust accountability and assurance in partnerships enable councils to work effectively with partners to manage performance and risk in order to achieve shared goals and improved outcomes. This framework complements the LGA’s 2024 Improvement and assurance framework for local government. It aims to help local authorities consider how to design and maintain accountability and assurance of their local partnership delivery, setting out principles that can be applied locally to suit different circumstances.

Radical Leadership: Power, Possibility and Public Service – New Local

This report looks at what qualities, skills and mindsets are needed for today’s local government leaders to navigate the challenges facing public services, and proposes a new model of ‘radical leadership’. Together with executive leaders from local government, New Local identified four fundamental shifts in the leadership now required: community as well as organisation; mobilisation as well as management; compassion as well as decisiveness; and resilience as well as efficiency. Although there is no blueprint to follow, the report puts forward some of the things radical leaders do within their organisations and places to put radical leadership into action.

Rebooting regionalism: an essay – Reform

England’s approach to regional governance is at a crossroads. The 2024 English Devolution white paper seeks to establish a universal regional tier of ‘strategic authorities’ across the country, but this essay from the think tank, Reform, suggests that the government’s plans could result in a tier of government that is regional in name only. Many strategic authorities will be too small-scale, underpowered and constrained by outdated governance models. This will mean a system that has limited ability to drive economic growth, improve public services and shift power away from Whitehall. The author makes the case for a genuinely strategic regional tier that would unlock the full potential of devolution. Crucially, this would mean adapting the regional system to suit the specific needs of different areas.

National Careers Service Customer Satisfaction and Progression Annual Report

The National Careers Service is delivered via a multi-channel approach – face-to-face, telephone, webchat and online – by a network of community-based prime contractors. This report presents the results of the customer satisfaction and progression study carried out from April 2023-March 2024.

Customer satisfaction with the service remains high (86%) and the overall rating of the quality of the service was high (93%), unchanged from the previous year. Nearly nine in ten customers said they had already or would recommend the National Careers Service (84%), though this was a slight fall on the previous two years. Telephone customers and those who had a skills action plan or recall using the skills health check were the most likely to say the quality of the service was good. Among telephone and face-to-face customers, satisfaction with aspects of the service remained high, with the exception of adviser’s knowledge of jobs and training opportunities in the local area. There were some regional differences in satisfaction rates: people in the north east and Cumbria, and Yorkshire and Humber, were more likely to recommend the service and had the highest levels of satisfaction. London scored lower on satisfaction, quality rating and likelihood to recommend the service.

Business rates: forward look

The government has said it will create a fairer business rates system that protects the high street, supports investment and is fit for the 21st century. This process began with announcements at autumn budget 2024. Over the next two years, a series of engagements and reforms will happen to start reforming the system, alongside the routine revaluation of properties in 2026. This policy paper sets out the key milestones and a timeline for the reforms and revaluation.

The Preventative Shift: How can we embed prevention and achieve long term missions – Demos

Continuing Demos’ focus on prevention, this paper looks at how to shift the culture of public bodies to think ‘prevention first’ and target spending at activities which promise VFM and improve outcomes. Previously, Demos have argued for the creation of a new classification of public expenditure, ‘preventative departmental expenditure limits’ (PDEL). This paper contends that making public spending on prevention visible through PDEL is not just a technical reform but could drive culture change across government and the wider public sector. PDEL can also be used to leverage in social finance and philanthropic spending.

In the long-term, investment in prevention should reduce costs as demand for expensive acute services falls; however PDEL will require some short-term additional funding to initiate the shift. Cultural change is also needed because the system is stuck in reactive mode; the paper explores the cultural blockers to a shift towards prevention.

Utilisation of Funding – City-REDI, University of Birmingham

There is considerable interest in how funding is allocated to local stakeholders to address spatial inequalities. Funding comes with rules on how, when, where and on what it can be spent. This review looks at the factors influencing how funding is/can be used to address local priorities. The main points are:

• Challenges faced by local policy makers include fragmented and short-term funding streams, competitive bidding, centralised decision making, siloed working across departments and limited local authority capacity;
• Factors affecting utilisation include the flexibility (or not) of funding rules, time periods for spending it and local capacity for implementation;
• Optimal utilisation of funding is hampered by centralised yet uncoordinated funding processes, resulting in an emphasis on projects rather than place;
• The ease of alignment and pooling of funding between local partners varies according to the nature and rules of the funding, to whom it is allocated, and the extent of local discretion. Pooling funding is generally harder than achieving alignment;
• Evidence suggests that joint working nationally helps joint working locally;
• Funding simplification is essential to address spatial inequalities.

Digital Inclusion Action Plan: First Steps

Digital inclusion means ensuring everyone has the access, skills, support and confidence to engage in our modern digital society and economy. This action plan sets out actions for the next 12 months to improve digital inclusion. The first five actions are:

• Local-level support: launch a new Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund to support local community initiatives to get people online.
• Skills: enhance the support for the framework that helps people and businesses get the essential skills they need to get online safely and with confidence.
• Devices: pilot a device donation scheme with the Digital Poverty Alliance to provide re-purposed government laptops to those that need them.
• Accessible government services: make government digital services more inclusive and easier to use, including simplified access through GOV.UK One Login.
• Evidence: measure what works, identify where the need is greatest, and establish the economic and social value of upskilling adults with digital skills.

Policy making in the era of artificial intelligence – IfG

The rapid rise of generative AI has the potential to fundamentally reshape policy making, bringing risks and challenges. This insight paper looks at how the civil service should use AI such as large language models (LLMs) in policy making. While the focus is on central government, the key messages are also relevant to local policy makers.

With the use of LLMs in policy work already growing, the role of policy makers will increasingly be to bring expertise and knowledge to the policy process that LLMs cannot (for example, domain knowledge, insider perspective or real time information). By freeing up time spent on repetitive or low-creativity tasks, LLMs could give policy makers more time for added value tasks, leading to better policy and better results for citizens. There is, however, a paradox: while LLM adoption might make expert knowledge more important to possess, it also makes it harder to acquire because the tasks that LLMs are so efficient at performing – gathering and synthesising existing evidence and using it as the basis for policy solutions – are the very activities by which policy makers acquire their expertise. The paper suggests how government (or other policy makers) can gain the benefits of LLMs while mitigating the risks.

AI and the productivity revolution in government – Reform

This report from the think tank Reform was informed by roundtables with senior figures involved in AI adoption within government. It finds that adopting AI more widely across the public sector can make public services significantly more efficient and effective, but AI’s deployment throughout the public sector remains patchy and slow. It does not meet public expectations for modern, responsive services they can interact with digitally. To fully realise AI’s potential, public sector culture needs to change.

The report presents policy ideas for four changes needed to achieve this cultural transformation: an innovation mindset; people with the right skills, leadership, practices and ethics; streamlined processes; and fixing the ‘plumbing’ (legacy systems, data quality and access problems).

The rights of older people – Women and Equalities Committee

There are 11 million people in England and Wales aged 65 or older, and over half a million people aged over 90. These proportions are expected to increase over the coming decades. The UK’s ageing population presents many cross-departmental challenges and opportunities, and there are significant issues facing an increasingly diverse older population.

This inquiry heard evidence of widespread age discrimination and concludes that the UK’s equalities framework lacks a focus on demographic change and ageing. The report makes recommendations across a range of issues, including that the government should develop a cross-departmental strategy on demographic change and ageing. It highlights the experience in Wales, which has a Commissioner for Older People and a comprehensive network of local authority older people’s champions helping to deliver a national strategy – this could be a potential model for England as the government pushes forward on devolution and local government reform.

Households living below a Minimum Income Standard: 2008–2023 – JRF

The Minimum Income Standard (MIS) sets out what the public agree is needed to live with dignity in the United Kingdom today. This report looks at people who are living below the MIS. These individuals do not have the income they need to be able to afford the goods and services the public agree everyone needs to meet their material needs and to participate in society. The report looks at the period between 2008 and 2023 (the most recent year for which data is available). Key findings are:

• In 2022/23, 35.9% of all individuals in the UK were living in households with incomes below MIS, compared with 27.2% in 2008/09;
• 2022/23 saw an increase of 3.8 million people below the MIS, by far the largest single-year increase since this series began;
• The proportion of individuals in households with incomes below MIS varies across demographic groups: 48.6% of children, 35.0% of working-age adults and 23.6% of pensioners were below the MIS threshold in 2022/23.

Related briefings

Arts and culture round-up: November 2024

Early childhood education round-up 2024

England policy round up: October and November 2024

Health, public health and social care round-up: November and December 2024

Housing and planning round-up: February 2025

Northern Ireland Programme for Government – Insights for local government

Parliamentary update: January 2025

Young people and youth services round-up: November 2024

Scotland Programme for Government 2024/25 – Insights for local government