Fear of pharmacy ‘deserts’
Rural areas of England are at risk of becoming ‘pharmacy deserts’, with nearly all seeing at least one close in the past two years, according to the National Pharmacy Association.
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LGA staff changes
Sally Burlington, the LGA’s Director of Policy and Deputy Chief Executive, is leaving the organisation to become Chief Executive of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services.
BAME leadership
The LGA is celebrating 20 years of its annual leadership programme for ethnic minority councillors, with applications now open for its 2024/25 BAME councillors weekender events, taking place in October 2024 and February 2025 in Coventry.
Audit backlog
The Government has announced measures to tackle the backlog in the auditing of local bodies’ accounts, pending longer-term plans to fix local audit, expected this autumn.
Pay awards
The Government is to fund pay awards for parts of the public sector, but its announcement over the summer did not provide any additional funding for pay in local government.
Local roads
More than half of drivers (56 per cent) say the state of Britain’s local roads is one of their top motoring concerns, according to the RAC.
Workforce awards
The LGA’s pilot local government recruitment campaign in the North East, ‘Make a difference, work for your local council’, has been shortlisted for two categories in the Local Government Chronicle’s workforce awards, taking place on 5 November 2024.
Local deals ‘could deliver 200,000 social homes’
New research by the LGA suggests that the rollout of five-year local housing deals by 2025 would lead to 200,000 additional social homes being built over 30 years.
Landmark report urges reform of ‘broken’ SEND system
A major new independent report on services for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) has found that the current system is not working for families, schools and councils, underlining the need for fundamental reform.
LGA ‘offer’ to new government
The new Parliament presents a great opportunity for national and local government to work in partnership and reset the relationship between them, to deliver transformative change, the LGA has said.