The Queen has today set out the Government’s agenda for the fourth and final session of this Parliament, which will run until 30 March 2015.
The LGA have produced a response detailing the new Bills announced today that the Government intends to bring forward and which will be of relevance to local government. Further details from the Government of today’s Queen’s Speech can be found here.
In addition, there were four ‘carry over’ Bills which Parliament is already considering, and which have a relevance to local government. These are the Deregulation Bill, the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill, Consumer Rights Bill and the Wales Bill. We will campaign on those new Bills of greatest interest to our members and continue to work with parliamentarians from across the political benches on the Deregulation Bill and other ‘carry over’ Bills.
LGA key messages:
- Financial sustainability is the greatest challenge facing local public services. In the period of the current Parliament, local government’s core funding will fall by 40 per cent and councils will have to make £20 billion worth of savings in order to meet current spending pressures. This is why we need a radical new approach to fix the way public services are run and funded, as advocated by the LGA’s Rewiring Public Services campaign. The LGA will be building on this campaign in the coming months.
- The Government has not announced a Bill in the Queen’s Speech on parking or the use of mobile traffic enforcement cameras, even though they had signalled their intention to introduce legislation in this area. Over recent months, the LGA has been working with member councils and organisations, such as The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association and others, to highlight the safety implications of banning mobile CCTV around schools and other locations. The LGA will be continuing to reinforce to Government why councils need to be free to employ mobile cameras in order to ensure public safety.
The BBC have also done a Bill-by-bill guide to Queen’s Speech