Local Authority round-up: 10/01/25

Regulatory

Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill introduced to Parliament

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill seeks to introduce the following measures:

• Councils will be required to hold a register of children who are not in school. Councils will be able to require parents and providers of out of school education to share information such as name, address and the nature of the education the children are being provided.
• A unique number for every child will be introduced to ensure no child ‘falls through the cracks’. It is hoped that a consistent identifier will allow those responsible for the safeguarding and welfare of children to more effectively access relevant data and identify children who will benefit from additional support.
• The removal of the automatic right for parents to educate children at home if their child is subject to a child protection investigation or under a child protection plan. Schools will need to check with the local authority where a parent asks to remove a child from school to home educate, to establish whether the local authority’s consent should be obtained.
• If any child’s home environment is assessed as unsuitable or unsafe, local authorities will have the power to intervene and require school attendance.

These proposals are in response to the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel Annual Report 2024 which highlighted that children experiencing harm outside the home, including exploitation, were likely to be not enrolled in school or have poor school attendance.

According to the latest Government data, around 111,000 children and young people are home educated, up from an estimated 55,000 before the pandemic. This is alongside the 150,000 children who missed education entirely at some point during the last year.

For more information on the Bill please click here.

Health and social care

Government announces plans to revolutionise the NHS App

Under measures in the forthcoming Elective Reform Plan, patients will be offered a wider choice of providers and the process of booking treatments and appointments will allegedly be made more supportive and convenient.

Planned NHS App upgrades will enable patients requiring non-emergency elective treatment to:

• view and manage appointments at a time and place that is convenient to them, reducing missed appointments.
• choose from a wide range of providers, including in the independent sector.
• book diagnostic tests through the NHS App at convenient locations.
• receive test results quickly through the App before planning the next step.

An updated NHS App aims to give patients greater power over how and when they receive elective treatment. It is hoped that strengthened communication to patients through the App, will reduce missed appointments and provide patients with greater autonomy.

For more information please click here.

Housing

Additional powers granted to councils to build more homes  

Local councils will be empowered to buy cheaper land through the use of Compulsory Purchase Orders and build much needed homes and infrastructure as part of the Government’s Plan for Change milestone to build 1.5 million new homes.

The proposed changes will allow councils to directly take control of vacant land from landowners without the burden of inflated ‘hope value’ costs, when they are delivering infrastructure in the public interest. ‘Hope value’ is the estimated cost of what land could be worth if developed in the future. Such costs have meant that many councils are often forced to pay much higher rates to buy land for development.

The reforms expand existing legislation allowing ‘hope value’ to be removed in circumstances where social and affordable housing is being built. It is hoped this will accelerate housebuilding as well as making a positive use of vacant land.

For more information please click here.

For further information please contact Tim Care in our Public Sector Team