Our support
Applications now open for The Innovation Zone
The Innovation Zone offers a vibrant, creative space and programme within the LGA’s Annual Conference which will take place from 2 – 4 July 2024 in Harrogate. The Innovation Zone enables councils to showcase their new ideas and solutions to some of the biggest challenges facing local government.
Applications are now open to all councils (and organisations working with councils) with bold and innovative ideas to share and will close on Monday 5 February 2024. Successful applicants will need to present in person. If you have any questions, please contact innovationzone@local.gov.uk
Improvement and assurance framework
Following engagement over the summer, we revised the draft improvement and assurance framework for local government. There will be opportunities to provide feedback on this updated version until the end of February 2024, through meetings with councils at local and regional levels, representatives of professional bodies and other relevant stakeholders. You can also give your views through the online survey on our website. Views from this consultation will inform the next version of the framework and will help to consider whether any further actions are necessary to improve assurance for the sector.
Oflog
The Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee has launched an inquiry on the Office for Local Government (Oflog). To inform the LGA’s submission to the inquiry on behalf of the sector, please share your views on the questions in the call for evidence with Emily.Bennett@local.gov.uk before the end of December.
One Public Estate: Brownfield Land Release Fund (BRLF2) Round 3 open for applications
The third and final round of BLRF2 has been launched by the Department of Levelling up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and is now officially open for applications, with up to £80m capital funding available to support the release of council-owned brownfield land for housing. Applications close at 23.59 on 14 February 2024. For more information about how to apply visit the application page.
Statutory Officers Training Review
Alongside the new Chief Executive Development Framework, the LGA commissioned a desktop review and gap analysis of training available to Section 151 and Monitoring Officers. The outcome will be shared with key delivery partners to help align existing provision and identify future requirements of these important roles. If you would like to feed in your perspectives to the work, please contact leadership@local.gov.uk.
Pathways to Planning
Applications are now open for councils to to sign up for the second cohort of Pathways to Planning, the LGA’s new graduate programme which fast tracks new talent into council planning teams. There is no fee to take part and each graduate place comes with a £5,000 bursary to support RTPI accreditation. If you are interested in applying for this programme, please do so by 8 January. We anticipate finalising appointment of Cohort 2 councils in mid-January 2024.
Events
Tuesday 9 January 2024 | London | in-person event
Our Local Government Finance conference will offer perspectives on the 2024/25 provisional local government finance settlement and what it means for councils, as well as look to the longer-term outlook for local government in the current economic climate. It will cover local government finance issues raised by the 2023 the Autumn Statement, and key current topics that local government finance officers and politicians are addressing in their councils.
Friday 19 January 2024, 2.00pm - 3.30pm | Zoom
This session will help to build understanding of the role and function of overview and scrutiny, offering core knowledge and skills for any councillor. The workshop will provide useful insight into what scrutiny is and its role within a council, as well as providing useful information and insight from an experienced member peer.
Thursday 1 February 2024, 5.15pm - 7.45pm | virtual event
Good use of data within councils is crucial to informing decision-making and monitoring performance. This interactive introductory session will help councillors to understand data, interpret performance reports, ask the right questions and use data to make informed decisions.
Thursday 18 January 2024, 10.00am - 11.30am | virtual event
This event will provide delegates with the opportunity to explore how the sector can influence and improve the energy efficiency and security of assets within to deliver mitigation targets within local government decarbonisation and retrofit programmes. It will highlight tangible case studies and guidance for delegates to learn from and potentially replicate the approaches in their authorities. This event is being delivered by the LGA, in partnership with the Crown Commercial Service, who provide funding for our sustainability programme. For more information on the Sustainability Programme please visit the website or get in touch via sustainability@local.gov.uk
Thursday 25 January, Tuesday 13 February and Thursday 7 March 2024 | Microsoft Teams
This virtual Transformation workshop series is open to English council officers and councillors free of charge and will focus on transforming services with practical guidance and notable practice insights. Each participating council must nominate one officer and one councillor to attend, and both must sign up to attend all three workshops, as follows:
- Workshop 1: Thursday 25 January, 10.00am -12.00pm
- Workshop 2: Tuesday 13 February, 2.00pm - 4.00pm
- Workshop 3: Thursday 7 March, 10.00am - 12.00pm
Find out more about our Transformation workshops.
Thursday 14 March 2024, 10.00am - 11.30am | virtual event
For net zero to be reached adaptation must happen. Adapting to current and predicted changes to our climate is vital across the economy and action needs to be taken across all levels of government. This session will highlight local government examples and guidance of developing capacity to implement adaptation action plans, strategies, and projects for your organisations.
Latest publications
Building a Cyber Resilient Service – Children’s Services Report
We have launched our new guide, Building a Cyber Resilient Service: A Guide for Directors of Children’s Service. This aims to support Directors and their senior teams to review their cyber security and data management practices. We discuss these protective strategies, how they work together, and what would be considered good or unsafe practice, so Directors can create a positive culture surrounding cyber security in their service and organisation.
Additionally, you might be interested in...
LGBTQ+ Councillors Weekender – “I’m Me”
Spaces are still available on our popular cross-party LGBTQ+ Councillors Weekender event which provides an opportunity for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Queer + (LGBTQ+) Councillors to network and share experience and stories with each other. Sessions include working on how to build support networks, improving personal resilience and how to develop ways of being a leader whilst also being “other”. To book a space on this programme contact grace.collins@local.gov.uk.
LG Inform and LG Inform Plus
LG Inform is our free, award winning, online tool, which provides up-to-date key performance, contextual and financial data. It provides benchmarking data on a range of service areas and themes, enabling councils to review and compare performance with other authorities (such as CIPFA nearest neighbours).
For more information on using LG Inform (our free data benchmarking tool) or subscribing to LG Inform Plus (our paid data benchmarking subscription service), please contact us at lginform@local.gov.uk or lginformplus@local.gov.uk
Oflog Proposed Metrics Report
On 26 October, the Office for Local Government (Oflog) shared a draft list of new metrics being proposed for inclusion in their Local Authority Data Explorer –this is the dashboard of performance metrics that government will be using to understand the sector in the future. Although the consultation has now closed you can still view an LG Inform report that contains the proposed metrics, to enable you to view the real data. Please sign into (or register for) LG Inform to view it - since the metrics are draft, we have not made the report public at this point.
first magazine
Yours faithfully,
Cllr Abi Brown
Chairman, LGA Improvement and Innovation Board
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