Briefings and responses

Councils want to work as partners with the National Energy System Operator to deliver a national energy system fit for purpose and fit for the future. Councils are well-placed to do this as place-shapers, convenors of communities and partners, delivery agents, commissioners, and owners of assets.

This briefing includes LGA views and identifies areas of concern to our members ahead of Committee Stage in the House of Lords.

This response integrates the feedback from LGA members across the Inclusive Growth, Culture Tourism and Sport, and Fire and Rescue Authority Committees as well as engagement with planning officers.

The SEND system is in crisis, with record investment failing to improve stagnant or declining outcomes for children and young people. The persistent academic gap between pupils with identified SEN and their peers underscores that urgent and unavoidable reform is needed. Any effective national pathway to work must therefore be founded on a reformed, integrated, and locally led support system that enables positive futures.

The Cyber Security and Resilience Bill is proposed legislation that represents the most significant update to UK cyber law in years.

The LGA Safer and Stronger Communities Committee has submitted a response to the Government’s consultation on giving mayors and councillors access to the Local Government Pension scheme, supporting proposals for councillors to have the right to access the pension scheme going forward.

This briefing covers the consultation for the provisional settlement for 2026/27, and the provisional settlements for 2027/28 and 2028/29.

Research commissioned by the LGA and partners at the National Federation of Almo’s (NFA), Charted Institute of Housing (CIH), Association of Retained Council Housing (ARCH), and Councils with Almo’s Group (CWAG) looks at social housing providers preparation for Awaab’s Law and issues of no access.

We welcome the Budget announcement that the Government will absorb SEND costs from 2028/29. The Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) deficits, however, represent a substantial ongoing fiscal risk to councils in the absence of a plan to address them when the statutory override ends in 2027/28.