Education
SEND funding boost of £280m announced
Councils will receive £280m to create new school places for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
Somerset MP urges county to up SEN spend
A Somerset MP has urged the county council to find £2.4m from existing coffers to settle a two-year dispute over SEN funding.
Councillors call extraordinary meeting over director secondment
Councillors in Stockport said they had been ‘treated with contempt’ after a joint director with Tameside MBC was appointed without their knowledge.
EXCLUSIVE: Pressure mounts over SEND grant deficit
Councils are facing renewed pressure from the Department for Education (DfE) to make cuts to bring their massive special educational needs deficits into line.
Cheshire leaders put concerns to Government on jabs, lockdown and schools
Council leaders in Cheshire and their partners have written to the Government laying out their concerns about the vaccination rollout, the current lockdown arrangements and schools.
Council defies government by closing nurseries
A council has closed all of its nurseries to prevent the spread of COVID-19 despite the Government insisting they are ‘safe’.
Councils resist pressure to reopen schools
Scores of councils have raised concerns over the return of primary school pupils to classrooms amid soaring COVID-19 infection rates.
Listening to and acting on young people’s lockdown stories
Innovation Unit has drawn up a set of recommendations for any local authority to build an ecosystem of support for the wellbeing of young people, says Daisy Carter.
Government issues legal threats to councils and schools
Councils this week clashed with the Government over whether to shut schools amid a surge in COVID-19 cases.
Birmingham loses a political giant
Brigid Jones pays tribute to Theresa Stewart – the only woman to have led Britain’s largest local authority – and says her ‘legacy lives on in the women councillors she encouraged and inspired’.
Starmer vows to tackle the 'decade of drift' on sorting social care
Government failure to protect care homes during the pandemic is a ‘national scandal’, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer told his party’s virtual conference today.
Inspiring a new generation
Future First works with state schools and colleges to link young people with alumni and employers, making it the perfect fit this year as the official charity for the The MJ Awards, says Nancy Scott.
Doing our best for Calderdale’s kids
Robin Tuddenham says a cautious approach to schools opening earlier in the year has made the full return of pupils this month ‘a collaborative effort built upon respect’.
Learning from cancelled systems
Research examining the use of predictive data in public services in countries across the world has identified more than 50 systems that have been paused or cancelled. Dr Joanna Redden and Anna Grant look at the emerging findings.
High hopes for high needs
IMPOWER has published a list of the best performing councils on high needs. Leo Jones takes a look at who's on it and at what makes them so good.
The problem with averages
In the aftermath of the exams disaster it should sound obvious that the individual matters, says Dan Corry – but it is a point missed out far too often in policy analysis.
Building a way ahead for our young people
Lord Gary Porter says he is supporting Future First’s alumni networks crowdfunder because he wants young people to have the chance to build their lives on the kind of support he got from the LGA when he entered politics.
Government makes exam grades U-turn
The education secretary has bowed to public pressure and announced students will receive teacher-assessed grades.
Mayor takes legal action over A-levels
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham is to begin legal proceedings against the exams watchdog over its handling of A-level results.
To the moon and back
The model for getting a man on the moon is a good one for the post COVID world of local government, even if councils don’t have the same open-ended budget, says Blair McPherson.
