Tackling worklessness – not just unemployment – must become ‘mainstream' business for local authorities, a government-commissioned review has warned. A report into local government's role in tackling rising rates of long-term unemployment, published on 2 March, concludes that town halls, their partners and employers must do more to tackle embedded problems. The CLG-commissioned study, led by Barnsley MBC leader, Steve Houghton, found national programmes to tackle large numbers of long-term unemployed have ‘not proved to be sufficiently flexible at local level'. It urges ministers to simplify current funding streams and initiatives designed to tackle problems, commit to financing the Working Neighbourhoods Fund over a five-year cycle, and establish a ‘challenge fund' to tackle problems in areas still suffering following the last recession. Mr Houghton also calls for an increase in the number of council apprenticeships and ‘work taster' programmes, to help people into work. As a first step, he urges all councils to complete a comprehensive assessment of local unemployment by this summer.