Poverty and inequality are financial challenges for local authorities and threaten the cohesion of their communities.
The Communities and Local Government Select Committee concluded in its report on regeneration last November that the Government has “no adequate strategy to address the complex problems faced by England’s most deprived communities” and concludes in its report on the European Regional Development Fund that DCLG “needs to demonstrate greater strategic oversight in aligning [different…
* Fuel poverty is a serious and deepening national problem affecting households with low incomes and high energy costs in particular. * This briefing summarises the findings of the Hills Review of Fuel Poverty which recommended a new way of defining and measuring fuel poverty, and the Government’s response which is consulting on implementing the…
On Your Radar looks back over the last period, ahead at what could be hitting the headlines and comments on issues relevant to local government that will be influencing the political landscape over the coming months. This edition covers: Upcoming briefings Party conferences 2012 - main announcements and developments DCLG during the conference recess
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is completing the final consultation on a new set of national Sustainable Development Indicators (SDI’s). The consultation ends on 15 October and can be returned via an online survey: http://sd.defra.gov.uk/new-sd-indicators/ * The new set of indicators has been streamlined, with 68 being reduced to 37: 12…
* Making Every Contact Count, published by the Ministerial Working Group on Homelessness, puts forward a strategy based on early intervention to tackle the root causes of homelessness. *It contains a number of Government commitments in key areas such as childhood, health, crime, unemployment and immigration. * It also promulgates a list of ten “local…
On Your Radar looks back over the last period, ahead at what could be hitting the headlines and comments on issues relevant to local government that will be influencing the political landscape over the coming months. This edition catches up with what the LGiU and CLG have been doing over August. Briefings during August CLG…
This briefing covers two housing consultations; the most recent , the “Pay to Stay” consultation concerns the government’s desire to enable social landlords to charge high earning tenants a market or near market rent. The consultation closing date is 12 September 2012. The second consultation concerns the circumstances under which an offer of private rented…
Louise Casey has published this report “as a starting point” to get a deeper understanding of troubled families to help learn from successful interventions. It calls for a longer term view and is based on Ms Casey’s interviews with families in 16 local authorities, drawn largely from families involved in family intervention projects in 2006.…
Summary The All Party Parliamentary Group for Children chose Children and the Recession as its theme for the 2010-2012 extended parliamentary year and reported back on the impact of the recession on children and how services are responding, including discussing examples of green shoots and innovative approaches being taken by service providers. Children and the…
This Briefing is an update on the various measures contained within the Local Government Finance Bill. During May, the Department of Communities and Local Government released a series of documents providing supplementary documents containing further detailed information on how the key aspects of the Bill will operate.
