Agenda item

The Chairman introduced the Rt. Hon Michael Gove MP, Secretary of State for Levelling Up Housing & Communities.

The Secretary of State thanked LGA members for inviting him to speak to the Forum.

He explained that the Department had been renamed to reflect the new emphasis on levelling up and stated that levelling up would consist of 4 broad strands:

·         Strengthening local leadership

·         Economic development – attracting new investment into areas and creating high skilled jobs

·         Improving quality of public services where they are not of acceptable standard. There are still too many areas which have poor public health and education outcomes when compared to other areas.

·         Giving people pride in where they live

On Adult Social Care, the Secretary of State said that he recognised many of the concerns held by local government and, in particular, singled out staff shortages as a significant challenge that needed to be addressed urgently. A lot of the issues had been exacerbated by the Covid pandemic and in that regard, the Secretary of State put on record his sincere thanks to the sector for all their efforts during the last 18 months.

On housing, the Secretary of State said that he was currently in the process of reviewing the Planning White Paper but remained committed to making reforms to the system. He wanted to see more high quality, beautiful homes in the right places and stressed that they must contribute towards the UK’s net zero commitment as well as being completely safe for their residents.

Following the Secretary of State’s introduction, members raised the following points and questions:

·         Cllr Izzi Seccombe – social care was currently facing a workforce crisis with 110,000 vacant positions. With significant additional funding going into the NHS there was a real danger that trained social care staff would leave to work in the health sector. Council tax and the social care precept was not the solution to the funding shortfall as it didn’t necessarily match the areas of highest demand. During covid, councils had demonstrated that the public health function was best carried out within local government. SoS response: This issue is top of his priority list and he was speaking with No. 10 and the Secretary of State for Health about getting the right support in the right places. The National Insurance increase was part of the solution but recognised that more needed to be done, in particular about upskilling and retaining the workforce whilst at the same time ensuring the solvency of providers. He agreed that local government has a crucial role to play in public health.

·         Cllr Nick Forbes – Welcomed the Secretary of State’s clarification of levelling up and stated that local government is best placed to help deliver on this agenda. Local leaders needed to be empowered within their areas to drive change. He asked if the Secretary of State could explain how levelling up would be a whole programme of government rather than just a series of initiatives? SoS response: agreed that levelling up should be a place-based philosophy. It is not about funding one-off projects, rather it is about ensuring that systems are in place to make localities attractive places in every respect. Powers of local leaders to bring about change in this regard was crucial. To be successful, levelling up needed to be UK wide, cross-party and cross-tier.

·         Cllr John Fuller – highlighted the importance of councils in delivering housing through the planning system and asked the Secretary of State to help councils through providing powerful fiscal incentives. SoS response: agreed that proper incentives need to be in place. Also, important to ensure that local communities get a proper share of the land value uplift from new housing developments.

·         Cllr Marianne Overton – Expressed real concern about attacks on politicians culminating in the tragic murder of David Amess. What was the Government doing to tackle this? Also emphasised the importance of allowing councils to conduct their meetings both in-person and online to increase accessibility and to enable greater participation. SoS response: agreed that councils should have the capacity to hold hybrid or virtual meetings but recognised that there may be occasions where this isn’t appropriate.

·         Cllr Joe Harris – Councils are at the forefront of fighting climate change. They want to facilitate the delivery of zero carbon homes but legislation currently doesn’t allow them to insist on this in new developments. Homes that are now being built will require expensive retrofitting in a few years’ time. Can the Government bring forward the Future Homes Standard to enable councils to do this? SoS response: Agreed on the vital importance of reducing emissions from homes but there was a fine balance between this and impacting on the economics of housing delivery. Also wanted to address embodied carbon in the construction industry.

·         Cllr Andrew Western – Called for an urgent review of the delivery of SEND services. Councils currently don’t have any control of the levers that drive demand which makes budgeting very problematic. SoS response: Agreed that this needed to be addressed.