The MJ has reported that councils have been handed administrative control of the much-maligned counter terror Prevent strategy.
In an attempt to make the programme more amenable to communities, Matt Collins, the Home Office’s head of Prevent, wrote to local authorities confirming that they will be given administrative and budgetary control of a key tenet of the strategy.

A new report has claimed that local authorities need to be allowed to limit the proliferation of unhealthy food outlets in their areas.

71 per cent of Conservative council leaders warn that current investment will not deliver the number of low-cost rented homes needed in their area.

Local authorities are set to benefit from a £50million funding boost to create additional school places for children with special educational needs and disabilities.

New analysis by the LGA has revealed that more than 22,000 children aged 10 and 11 in Year 6 are classed as severely obese.

The Children’s Society and the Church of England have warned that crisis support schemes run by local authorities are failing to operate effectively.

Legislation has now passed in both Houses of Parliament ensuring that Dorset will be served by two brand new unitary councils from April 2019.