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“We have particular concerns around provision for disadvantaged children and those with special educational needs and disabilities if funding rates continue to fall below the cost of delivering services."

More than 130 extra children and young people with special needs are being supported by councils every day, new figures reveal, prompting calls for government funding to tackle a growing “national special needs emergency”.

Cllr Simon Blackburn, Chair of the Local Government Association’s Safer and Stronger Communities Board, responds to the announcement of a new government programme to protect children at risk of exploitation.

"We want every resident to have a good quality of life and to be able to improve their circumstances regardless of their background or where they live."

Cllr Anntoinette Bramble, Chair of the Local Government Association’s Children and Young People Board, responds to a report by the Education Policy Institute on unexplained pupil exits from schools.

“Every child should have a fair chance of getting into their parents’ preferred school and councils and schools work extremely hard to try and ensure that as many pupils as possible are allocated their first preference.”

Cllr Ian Hudspeth, Chairman of the Local Government Association’s Community Wellbeing Board, responds to latest ONS figures published today on teenage pregnancies in England and Wales for 2017.

Cllr Anntoinette Bramble, Chair of the LGA's Children and Young People Board, responds to an announcement by the Government that it will develop a youth charter to support young people.

Cllr Anntoinette Bramble, Chair of the Local Government Association’s Children and Young People Board, responds to Department for Education figures published today which show the proportion of state-funded schools in England over capacity has fallen.

Families face the prospect of seeing more children’s centres close in their community after figures analysed by the Local Government Association showed councils have been forced to cut their spending on the service by nearly a quarter in four years.