News & Events

Listed below are the national news items and national events.

LLG Governance Conference 2019 - Book Now!
Event date: 15/10/2019
Register now for October's free CEO webinar!
Event date: 01/10/2019
CfPS Annual Survey of Overview and Scrutiny in Local Government
Publish date: 17/09/2019
2020 will mark the 20th anniversary of the legislative changes that led to the establishment of the overview and scrutiny function in English and Welsh councils. In the run-up to this momentous event, the CfPS want to have – and we want you to have – the fullest possible picture of scrutiny across the country. Notable practice, practical experiences, resourcing, impact and the commitment of the executive – the better we can collectively understand these issues, the more we can do to improve scrutiny across the country. The main way that the CfPS help to do this is through thier annual surveys of overview and scrutiny in local government. This year’s survey is now open.
Ministers Publish Yellowhammer
Publish date: 12/09/2019
Ministers have published details of their Yellowhammer contingency plan, after MPs voted to force its release. It outlines a series of "reasonable worst case assumptions" for the impact of a no-deal Brexit on 31 October.
Olwen Brown of Anthony Collins, Solicitors, discusses insourcing for local authorities
Publish date: 23/08/2019
For decades now, starting with the compulsory competitive tendering introduced by the Thatcher Government in the 1980s, fewer and fewer services provided by local authorities have been delivered directly by them. Alternative delivery, largely through the private profit-driven sector, has increased hugely. Some councils went so far as to consider a model where they only retained a small corporate core to provide a level of democratic cover and sufficient skeleton resource to manage the contracts let to deliver services; although very few councils, if any, actually achieved this. However, over the last couple of years, there are signs that this tide is changing.
LLG Feature in BBC Article on Local Authority Legal Spend
Publish date: 16/08/2019
LLG appeared on the BBC Look East this morning discussing the findings of a BBC FOI investigation into the doubling of many local authority legal department budgets. We also featured on the BBC website in an article examining this trend. The Local Government Lawyer will be releasing its findings of the local government of the future survey next month which highlights numerous trends including the challenge of effective recruitment within the sector. LLG are launching its National Graduate Recruitment Campaign soon in order to address this issue- more on that will follow. Click to read the BBC article.
Law Society Proposes to Cut Local Government Council Seats from 2 to 1 and Remove Direct Nomination
Publish date: 08/08/2019
The Law Society, as part of its last phase of internal governance reform (which has been rolling for some years now) is currently examining the composition and size of its Council members for a decision in October 2019. It proposes to reduce Council Seats from 100 to 75. Amongst other proposals, local government lawyer dedicated seats are being recommended for reduction to two to one. Further, unlike the current seats which are occupied by virtue of direct nomination from LLG (following a competitive recruitment exercise within the sector), the Law Society will recruit directly themselves to this one seat. WE NEED YOUR INPUT TO HELP RETAIN TWO SEATS
The Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman Publishes Annual Review of Local Government Complaints
Publish date: 31/07/2019
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has today launched its annual review of local government complaints for 2018-19, together with an interactive map to make each council's information easily available. The report shows the Ombudsman registered 16,899 complaints and enquiries over the period, more than a third of which were about Children and Education Services, and Adult Social Care. Click to read more
The Role of Inclusive Leadership in Public Sector Legal Teams
Publish date: 11/07/2019
Effective change leadership requires authenticity, an emotional connection, and an inclusive vision across the organisation. These were among the conclusions from a round-table forum on inclusion, gender and leadership hosted by Suki Binjal, Immediate Past LLG President in Hackney’s impressively refurbished Town Hall on Thursday 13 June. The round-table, part of Thomson Reuters’ programme Transforming Women’s Leadership in the Law, of which Suki is a board member, brought together legal directors from across the country and several members of the LLG executive, as well as junior lawyers from Hackney and law firm partners.
July's Free CEO Webinar - CEO Brief: Climate Change and Local Authorities
Publish date: 26/06/2019

Blog

20 September 2019

Publish date: 20/09/2019

One of LLG's main campaigns, and indeed its ethos and vision is to raise the status of lawyers in local government and monitoring officers. So committed are we to this aim that it permeates every decision we take, every work stream, consultation, training provision and membership benefit we produce.

It is with a heavy heart that we continue to see examples of poor behaviour and bad practice which undermines and diminishes the role of the monitoring officer and lawyer in local government practice. Whilst in the minority, even one incident ripples through the profession and undermines the very core of open, ethical and accountable governance. We hear frequent examples of inflammatory, bullish language and behaviours. The recent example in Birmingham saw our professional role diminished, undervalued, misunderstood and published in the press. Despite the swift redress of a public apology following events, the consequential impact, the subtle effect upon the consciousness of our colleagues, members and clients remains an immeasurable cause for concern.

In order to support our members, I pledged at the AGM to provide support services to ensure that you are not alone during difficult times. That you will have access to services to ensure you do not suffer in silence during moments of conflict, pressure and tension. LLG is working hard to establish this offering which will launch with the implementation of our new website next year. In the meanwhile, the Governance Conference in October provides an excellent safe space to discuss with your peers the issues you are facing as well as hearing from specialist providers on best practice and updates. To book click here.

LLG continues to champion the Golden Triangle, to unify the chief officers in leadership. We are working alongside the Ministry, LGA, Ombudsman and Committee on Standards in Public Life to influence and shape a reformed code of conduct. We are responding to select committees and consultations to shape policy and legislation together with work on Brexit. We are lobbying the Law Society to retain two council seats and are forging strong and numerous links with the press to get our message out there.

Best wishes

Phillip Horsfield

President

LLG