Briefings and responses

Realising the government's digital inclusion ambitions requires a fundamental shift towards recognising and sustainably investing in local authorities as strategic partners, leveraging their unique expertise and community connections.

The Home Office have launched a consultation on legislative proposals for ransomware. Their proposals aim to introduce legislation to increase incident reporting and reduce payments to criminals.  

The LGA recognises the transformative potential of the government's digital agenda to revolutionise public service delivery and welcomes the establishment of a central hub for digital transformation.

The UK government is right to champion digital transformation. It has the power to revolutionise public services, making them more efficient, user-friendly, and ultimately, more effective in improving lives. The move towards working across the public sector is a significant opportunity.

The Government’s AI Opportunities Action Plan includes 50 recommendations. The LGA is committed to collaborating with the government to implement these recommendations.

Councillors are experiencing increasing levels of online intimidation, abuse and threats against them, which can prevent elected members from representing the communities they serve and undermine public trust in democratic processes.

Whilst the Bill provides a definition of harm and sets out how harmful content will be prioritised for child and adult users; it remains unclear what types of harm platforms will need to protect users against. We urge the Government to set out their proposed categories of harmful content to children and adults as soon as possible and consult with independent experts to define and prioritise harmful content.