The LGA has responded to news that the Government is considering making changes to how councillors can attend meetings virtually.
Cllr Louise Gittens, chair of the Local Government Association, said: “It is encouraging that the new Minister has signalled he is open to looking again at flexibility around virtual attendance at council meetings – something the LGA has been calling for since 2021.

The LGA has revealed that 6 in 10 councils will be unable to provide extra local welfare support when the Household Support Fund ends.
The fund helps people struggling to buy food, pay bills and cover other essentials and is due to expire at the end of September.
The LGA says it needs to be extended for at least another six months.
More than four out of five councils expect demand for welfare support to increase over winter, at the same time the fund is due to end.

The Local Government Association is to launch a national recruitment campaign to encourage people to 'Make a Difference' in their local areas by working for their local council.
The LGA is highlighting opportunities ranging from working with adults and children, to finance, planning and environmental health.

New research from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has found that the UK has the largest ZEV bus market by volume in Europe.
Italy, Germany and France make up the rest of the top four.
New registrations of the latest, greenest buses were up by a third (36.3 per cent) to 424 units during Q2 2024.

Suffolk County Council will run a trial of electric community vehicles next summer.
Plug In Suffolk Car Clubs will be placing sixteen electric vehicles across eight locations in the county. Local residents will be able to book by the minute, hour or day.
Planned locations include Ipswich, Bury St Edmunds, Newmarket, Sudbury, Needham Market, Stowmarket, Lowestoft and Woodbridge.
Interested members of the public can sign up to a mailing list to receive updates.

The government's Child Poverty Taskforce has met for the first time to begin work on publishing a strategy in the spring.
The deputy prime ,inister, chief secretary to the treasury, and ministers for the devolved nations have joined the Taskforce’s co-chairs, the work & pensions and education secretaries, to discuss the causes of child poverty.
There are 700,000 more children living in poverty than in 2010. There are now more than four million children growing up in a low income family.

This is the first of a fleet of 28 clean energy buses, which will see the Dartford and Gravesham route fully electric by April 2025.

Enfield Council has launched a through-pavement electric vehicle (EV) charging channel pilot to make it easier for residents with street parking to move from diesel or petrol cars to electric.

The Mayor of London has provided extra funding for four additional security training sessions in mosques across the capital, following the recent violence - much of which was targeted at mosques and muslims.
Sadiq Khan has also welcomed the reopening of the Government’s Mosque Security Scheme.  The scheme provides rapid security support for any buildings vulnerable to Hate Crime.
The Mayor visited Al Manaar, The Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre, in west London, to speak with Mosque leaders.

The 2023-24 Government Expenditure & Revenue Scotland statistics have been published and show that the revenue generated for Scotland’s public services increased by £1.7 billion last year to £88.5 billion.
Total spending for Scotland increased to £111.2 billion, with additional funding for the NHS and Scottish Child Payment.
The stats also show that Scotland’s onshore revenue grew faster than the rest of the UK’s. The growth was partially offset by a decline of approximately £4 billion in North Sea revenue.