Agenda item

The Chairman invited Dennis Skinner, Head of Improvement, to introduce the item. 

Dennis gave an overview of the paper, which updated Members about performance against the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) the LGA/IDeA have with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) about the use of grant for 2017/18, and the finalised MoU agreed with MHCLG for 2018/19. 

Dennis noted that 56 out of 60 deliverables in the MoU had been fully achieved and the remaining four partially achieved. It had been a record year for the number of councillors attending leadership courses and graduates attracted to the sector via ngdp. And responses to the LGA Perceptions survey demonstrated that the support is having an impact. 

The MoU for 18/19 had now been agreed. It included some new areas of work, reflecting councils’ feedback and some areas had been scaled back due to the reduction in grant.

The Chairman thanked Dennis for the update and invited Members to comment:

·         Members welcomed the report

·         Members felt that the reduction in grant, combined with increased cost pressures, represented a significant change in resources requiring the LGA to a lot “more with less”.

·         Member asked that the new Secretary of state for MHCLG, be made aware of the LGA’s work and achievements in this area.

The Chairman thanked Dennis for the update, and Members for their comments.  Members noted the item.