Poverty and inequality are financial challenges for local authorities and threaten the cohesion of their communities.
With women’s representation in the council chamber flatlining at 30 per cent over the last 20 years, International Women’s Day is an apt time to ask why, writes Jennifer Glover. As supporters of local democracy, we all know how important it is that our political representatives and advocates reflect that diversity of the communities they serve…
Local authorities are going to have to publish revised Statements of Gambling Policy by January next year. Rob Burkitt of the Gambling Commission explains how these can help councils better protect their communities.
The Place2Be published a study on the provision of mental health services to children and adolescents during the February 2018 Children’s Mental Health Week and found that school capacity and confidence to commission mental health and counselling services are perceived by those working in the field (both schools and psychotherapy services) as almost as big…
The first in our Social Work series. These articles seek to inform readers as to the nature of social work, how social work services are structured and delivered and the challenges that are facing social work in 2018.
What makes a place a place, what makes some places work and others not and how can councils chart the story of their places and respond to the changes that inevitably happen? This briefing summarises our new long read Identity, Communities, Regeneration: sense of place in local government.
The Northern Powerhouse Partnership’s Educating the North: driving ambition across the powerhouse describes education as ‘perhaps the greatest challenge we face in the North’, and documents that ‘educational attainment in the North of England lags behind the South… This briefing looks at the 14 recommendations covering early years; the impact of disadvantage; investment in school…
Our new monthly housing and planning round up includes government announcements, latest housing and planning news, major reports and ongoing consultation documents. This month’s ‘big issue’ is the private rented sector.
New figures show that the number of people sleeping rough is increasing year-on-year. This briefing looks in detail at the statistics produced last month by the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government, including figures for individual local authorities between 2010 and 2017.
Recent studies show that socioeconomic inequality between generations is worsening and young adults around the world are facing systemic barriers to achieving acceptable work, pay and social conditions. This briefing compares young adults in Scotland with those the rest of the Western world.
Ofsted has been inspecting local arrangements for Special Educational Needs and Disability, and has produced an overview report of its inspection findings. Where strong strategic leadership is found this had led to established joint working between education, health and care services and has led to the successful implementation of the new SEND arrangements and the…