Making sure that citizens have a voice through strong and vibrant local institutions.
Today the Queen opened a new Parliamentary session with her speech outlining the Prime Minister’s legislative agenda. As expected, it was largely dominated by plans for the UK’s departure from the EU but there were aspects of the Government’s new domestic plans with implications for local government.
Party conference season is over for another year and much ink has been spilled over the headline announcements. However, LGiU used the conferences as an opportunity to catch up with our members, council leaders and policy-makers about their views on the challenges facing local government. We’ve been looking at how national policy announcements match up…
Across Europe there has been a rise in the number of people who feel excluded from mainstream political decision-making. With this in mind, we explore ‘direct democracy’ and question whether this could be a tool for local authorities to build more representative, trusted and cohesive models of governance.
In a very short time, LGiU will be relaunching our website to make finding and receiving the information you need even easier. Just as many councils are re-examining their digital offer as citizens’ relationship with technology changes and expectations rise – we did the same thing. We asked our members what they needed, applied some…
Mid-September saw the political parties hold their now annual “autumn think-ins” ahead of the return of the Dáil on Tuesday 17th September. This briefing covers what happened at these think-ins and what each party has planned for the upcoming year.
In May 2019 the North of Tyne Combined Authority elected its inaugural Mayor. The Mayor has pledged to create10,000 jobs, adding over £1 billion in goods and services and levering over £2 billion of private sector investment. What are the prospects and challenges for this new combined authority?
TellMeScotland, Scotland’s national public information notices portal which allows public notices to be published in a single online location, has started listing council surgeries. Alison Clark-Dick of the Improvement Service tells us a bit about the new service and how councillors can utilise it.
This briefing looks back on some less-scrutinised aspects of the May 2019 local election results. The impact of the election results for political governance at local authority and Municipal District levels is briefly considered.
A quick look ahead at the how LGiU is helping you to navigate the issues facing local government after a turbulent summer and an equally uncertain Autumn.
Devolution is 20 years old. The anniversary has prompted debate amongst politicians, the media and commentators about the state of devolution. Has devolution increased the quality of democracy, boosted the economy, improved public services and led to a clear constitutional settlement that works for the UK as a whole?