The LGA green paper for adult social care and wellbeing
Adult social care and support matters to everyone in the country
but decades of failures to find a sustainable solution to how to pay for services,
and the Government’s recent decision to delay its long-awaited green paper on
the issue until the autumn, has prompted council leaders to take action. The
knock on effect of increased pressure on adult social care services – of which
the spend for some councils accounts for over half of their core spending
power– impacts on many of the services that keep our communities running in
councils across the country.
Today we have published our green paper for adult social care
and wellbeing ‘The lives we want to lead’ and launched a nationwide
consultation to kick-start a desperately-needed debate on how to pay for adult
social care and rescue the services caring for older and disabled people from
collapse.
County lines event
In July, the LGA hosted a conference on county lines issues and tackling
child criminal exploitation. Local government colleagues who attended the event
were able to share best practice and discuss how improvements could be made in
local areas when responding to county lines issues. If you would like to
discuss county lines issues or tackling child criminal exploitation – get in
touch with Rachel.Phelps@local.gov.uk.
Integrated communities strategy green paper
Following the publication of the
Integrated Communities Strategy Green Paper in March, we have published our
response to the consultation proposals.
Integrated Communities
Innovation Fund
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and
Local Government (MHCLG), in partnership with Sport England, has launched the
new Integrated Communities Innovation Fund. The Fund will help drive forward
proposals to tackle the key causes of poor integration set out in the Green
Paper published in March 2018, by offering support to projects demonstrating
innovative approaches to tackling the barriers to integration and building
integrated communities in England. Application for funding is a two-stage
process. The first stage asks for short expressions of interest from applicants
by 23:45 Monday 20 August.
Safe car wash app
The LGA is pleased to support a Safe Car
Wash app launched to help identify modern slavery in hand car washes. Hand car
washes have been identified by the Gangmasters’ and Labour Abuse Authority
(GLAA) as a sector where there is a higher risk of modern
slavery and labour exploitation. The Safe
Car Wash app provides councils and their residents with the tools to help them
identify rogue operators and report their concerns. Information will be
anonymised and shared with the GLAA and National Crime Agency. The app
can be downloaded for free on to Apple and Android devices via the app store.
Water safety toolkitt
The LGA has updated its water safety toolkit for local authorities who
are looking to support drowning prevention initiatives. It provides an outline
of how to create a water safety partnership as well as case studies. You can
access the toolkit on the LGA’s website.
Measuring gambling
related harms
A
new report
considering how to measure gambling related harms caused to individuals,
families, communities and society has been published. The document is intended
to be a starting point for the development of future work in this area, and
feedback is encouraged via grh@rgsb.org.uk.
A whole council
approach to problem gambling
The
report on gambling harms is closely aligned with new LGA guidance
to assist councils in developing a whole council approach to problem gambling.
The joint LGA and Public Health England guidance, which was launched at an event
earlier this month, sets out some practical steps councils can take to support
local people suffering gambling related harms.
Government female offender strategy
The Government has launched a
new female offender strategy. This strategy sets out Government’s commitment to
a new programme of work for female offenders, driven by a vision of: fewer
women coming into the criminal justice system, fewer women in custody,
especially on short-term sentences, and a greater proportion of women managed
in the community successfully; and better conditions for those in custody.
Domestic abuse services funding
The Government has responded to calls from the LGA to provide
additional funding for domestic abuse services and announced there would be
almost £19 million of funding available to councils working in partnership with
charities and other organisations to expand the support for survivors of
domestic abuse. The deadline for bids is 5pm Friday 17 August to DomesticAbuse.Fund@communities.gsi.gov.uk.
Road to Zero – Funding for local
authorities to roll out dedicated taxi electric charging infrastructure
The Government
has released its long anticipated road to zero strategy which outlines how it
intends the UK to transition towards zero emission vehicles over the next
30 years. The strategy confirms that the Government wishes to see no new
conventional petrol or diesel cars to be sold after 2040. Government will be
launching a second round of funding for local authorities to roll out dedicated
taxi charging infrastructure, with a minimum of £6 million to support more
local areas to make the switch. The broad timetable is for bids to be submitted
this year, with money allocated in 2019. You can find a copy of the strategy here.
Special interest group on countering extremism (SIGCE)
The SIGCE launched
last year to develop links across authorities and partners, develop resources,
and deliver a number of free seminars around countering extremism. The SIGCE
is keen to hear from councils to grow the network further and is encouraging
authorities to sign up to its dedicated Knowledge Hub.
Children affected by domestic abuse – Home Office fund
The Home Office have announced the bidding
criteria for local authorities, PCCs and other partners to bid into the £8
million fund, for projects designed to intervene early to help children who
have been directly or indirectly affected by domestic abuse. The deadline for
submissions is 19 September 2018. This follows the LGA’s
call for the Government to invest in early intervention initiatives that
provide support for children experiencing domestic violence.
‘The lives we want to lead’ - The LGA green
paper for adult social care and wellbeing
Adult social care and support matters to everyone in the country
but decades of failures to find a sustainable solution to how to pay for
services, and the Government’s recent decision to delay its long-awaited green
paper on the issue until the autumn, has prompted council leaders to take
action. Today the LGA launched a nationwide consultation to kick-start a
desperately-needed debate on how to pay for adult social care and rescue the
services caring for older and disabled people from collapse. If
you’d like to support the campaign, we have produced a communications
toolkit including social media images, a draft press release, template tweets,
FAQs and more. Alternatively share content from @LGAcomms using #FutureofASC.
College of Policing – neighbourhood policing guidelines
The College of Policing has published
its new guidelines and supporting materials on neighbourhood policing. The guidelines are open to public consultation until 9 August 2018.
Enforcement report – new guidance
to help operators make gambling fairer, safer and crime-free
The Gambling Commission has published a report into enforcement
action it has taken against operators over the past year. The enforcement report
highlights the lessons it wants gambling businesses to learn from its
investigations and provides guidance to them on anti-money laundering, customer
interaction, self-exclusion, unfair terms and practices and marketing and
advertising.
Gambling Commission announces further plans to protect children
The Gambling Commission has set out further commitments to protecting children and young people from the dangers of gambling, building on work already underway in this area.
Human Trafficking Foundation: Modern slavery protocol for local authorities
The Human Trafficking Foundation, in consultation with London local
authorities has created some resources for councils to support their responses
to adult victims of modern slavery. More information can be found on the
Foundation’s website.
Counter terrorism
The Government has published its updated counter-terrorism strategy, Contest 3.0. The new strategy retains
the four ‘P’ framework (Prevent, Pursue, Protect and Prepare), but sets out a
change in approach to reflect shifts in threat. This includes plans to share
information more widely with partners, including local authorities.
Leadership essentials courses
Booking is now
open for three Leadership Essentials courses later this year, on Prevent;
Counter-extremism; and Cohesion and integration. These residential courses for
elected members will explore local authorities’ role in these areas, and
provide opportunities to share practice amongst councils. Please see our website for further details and to book your
place.
Home affairs committee evidence
The LGA submitted written evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee as part of its inquiry into domestic abuse, and Cllr Simon Blackburn, Chair of the Safer and Stronger Communities Board, subsequently gave oral evidence to the committee in July. Cllr Blackburn emphasised the importance of taking a public health approach to tackling domestic abuse and the need for greater investment in early intervention and prevention services. Our key messages are available here.
Hand car washes –
Environmental Audit Committee
The LGA gave evidence to an EAC inquiry
exploring issues linked to hand car washes. Further information about the
inquiry is available here.
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