Responding to the Budget, Cllr James Jamieson, Chairman of the
Local Government Association, which represents more than 350
councils across England and Wales, said:
“It is good that the Chancellor has acted on council calls for
funding and measures to widen employment support, improve local
roads, protect swimming pools from rising costs and funding for
vital regeneration efforts. Lower borrowing rates for councils
will also provide a boost for vital council housebuilding
projects.
“A third round of levelling up funding will give councils the
opportunity to forge ahead with ambitious plans to transform
their communities and unlock potential for more local growth.
However, we remain clear that levelling up should be locally led
by evidence of where crucial investment needs to go to, not based
on costly competitive bids between areas.
“Given this is a ‘back-to-work’ Budget, it is disappointing there
is no further investment in adult social care, public health and
children’s services, which all play a vital role in supporting
economic growth and helping people back into work, alongside
boosting people’s health and wellbeing.
“We are pleased the Government has acted on our calls for
investment in early years education and childcare. Councils have
a duty to ensure sufficiency of local provision and so will need
to be given a key role in making sure they succeed. Delivering on
today’s announcements will also require significant investment
into the workforce and early years’ facilities.
“Every local economy is different, and people can find themselves
‘economically inactive’ for different reasons. With control over
fragmented and disjointed national employment and skills funding
and schemes, councils could build on their track record of
helping get people back into the workplace - including those who
are furthest from the jobs market - and plugging growing skills
gaps.
“We want to work with government on a long-term funding plan
which ensures councils have adequate resources to deliver local
services for our communities. Alongside sustainable long-term
investment in local services, bringing power and resources closer
to people is also key to improving lives and building inclusive
growth across the country, and many more places are ambitious to
follow in the footsteps of the devolution trailblazers which are
a positive step towards more local decision making.”