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Member policy briefings- Reform of 14-16 Performance Tables from 2014 (date: 13/02/2012)
- A good education for all: Ofsted consultation on amended inspection arrangements (date: 15/02/2012)
- Delivering the free entitlement to education for three- and four-year-olds: NAO report (date: 10/02/2012)
- Education and training – Raising the Participation Age – consultation on policies that will form regulations (date: 07/0...
- Building Engagement, Building Futures : 16-24 year olds in Education, Training and Work (date: 25/01/2012)
- High Speed 2 rail infrastructure project (date: 13/02/2012)
- Health Select Committee report on Social Care (date: 20/02/2012)
- Public car parking and local government: key trends and developments for 2012 (date: 16/01/2012)
Upcoming events
Author Archives: Laurie Thraves
Age UK Care in Crisis 2012 report
Today’s Age UK Care in Crisis 2012 report leaves no-one in any doubt about the scale of the financial challenge facing adult social care services. It finds that that this year’s spending on older people’s social care in England has fallen by £500 million. Age UK project that by 2012-2013 the government would need to spend [...]
Tags: Age UK |
Councils need more power to fulfil education role
LGiU Director Jonathan Carr-West has a comment piece in this week’s TES. Jonathan argues that, whatever you think of academy schools, they’re not going away. He argues that there’s a reasonable localist case for academies since true localists should be committed to devolving power to the lowest level possible. In the case of education, that [...]
Tags: academies, local government, TES, Westminster City Council |
Katharine Birbalsingh’s free school
Food for thought in the TES, Observer and Telegraph. First off, a piece on a storm brewing in Wandsworth over Katharine Birbalsingh’s planned secondary free school. There’s a little local difficulty over the fact that the school will open in a Borough that has spare places in its secondary schools but not enough space in [...]
Tags: Free Schools, Katharine Birbalsingh, Toby Young, Wales |
Sutton Council raising the cap on primary class sizes
The Guardian reports that Sutton Council is spoiling for a fight with Education Secretary Michael Gove over its plans to raise the cap on primary class sizes to more than 30 pupils. The Chief Executive of Sutton Council Niall Bolger is reportedly contacting other local authorities to test support for raising primary school class sizes. It’s [...]
Tags: academies, class size, michael gove, schools, Sutton |
Michael Gove’s speech at Haberdashers’ Aske’s Hatcham College
Michael Gove go a bit hot under the collar yesterday morning according to Politics Home. The pace of his academies programme has resulted in some critics branding him an “ideologue” presiding over a massive shake-up of education with little regard for the long-term consequences. In a speech at Habersashers’ Aske’s Hatchem College, he refuted this charge [...]
Special seminar: The Education Act 2011 – working it out
Yesterday the Education Bill gained royal assent. The legislation is designed to create an education system that delivers higher standards for all children. However, some measures will create significant new challenges for local authorities. The seminar is aimed at local government officers who already have a working knowledge of the main aspects of the legislation. [...]
Tags: DfE, education, education bill, events, schools |
Rate of Academy conversions slowing down
Last week, the DfE published its monthly statistical brief on the number of Academy applications and conversions during the month of October. A DfE News has not been issued. Following the pace set in September, it looks like the number of applications per month will settle in the 50 to 60 region. This is considerably [...]
Tags: academies, DfE, education, michael gove, schools |
Report: The Future of Local Government’s Role in the School System
The LGiU conducted a survey of 80 Lead Members and Directors of Children’s Services in August 2011 in partnership with NUT and Unison. The survey focused on the future of local government’s role in the changing education system. It found that: 1.Two-fifths of respondents expect 80 per cent or more of secondary schools in their [...]
We’re off to Stockport
Today, the LGiU are heading en masse to Stockport for our ‘What does the Localism Bill mean for councils?’ conference.
Tags: Andrew Stunell MP, Big Society, DCLG, localism bill, Stockport |
Event: What does the Localism Bill mean for councils?
The Localism Bill is the government’s flagship piece of legislation. It includes measures that will give councils a new Power of General Competence, establish new rights for communities to bid to run services, and revolutionise the planning system.
Tags: LGiU events, localism bill |
Insurance for Royal Wedding street parties: are councils right?
According to The Daily Telegraph, David Cameron will take councils to task today for imposing “unnecessary conditions” on Royal Wedding street parties. The PM is reported to be “angry” that some councils are refusing to close streets and demanding that people take out public liability insurance. The PM’s right that some councils can be unduly [...]
Show Me the Money – new NLGN report
NLGN have a new report out today on the Audit Commission. It makes two key points. First, that the removal of the Audit Commission will lead to a collapse in auditing rigour as the Big Four (PWC, KPMG, Deloitte and E&Y) engage in a race to the bottom as they bid to woo local government [...]
NICE and local government
Following the passage of the Health and Social Care Bill, the work of NICE is likely to be much more on the radar of local authorities, both in relation to social care and to public health. At the moment, local authorities probably use NICE’s resources less than they could or should. This is unfortunate because [...]
Tags: Health Learning Network, NICE |
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