- Media & Campaigns
- Press releases
- 2008
- March 2008
- 31 March 2008
- Non emergency hotline saved after home office pulls plug on funding
- Councils launch crackdown on utilities digging up the roads
- Taxpayers Alliance figures need to be taken with dollop of salt
- Junk food outlet ban near schools no ‘silver bullet’
- Extension of human rights law ‘Victory for common sense’ - LGA
- Council tax rise is lowest for over a decade
- Councils must be at the heart of constitutional reform
- Planning review
- Developers must help to plug shortage in allotments
- Councils get green light to help save post offices
- Local Government Employers submit formal pay offer to unions
- School application fraud increasing
- LGA launches new climate change campaign
- Kiss goodbye to inheritance, kids told, as reality of care costs hit home
- LGA response to Budget 2008
- Budget offers 'little relief' for town halls
- Help hard pressed council taxpayers, town halls urge Chancellor
- Government backs LGA call for stronger council control over school admissions
- Bring local people together with properly funded services
- LGA calls for greater vigilance on forced marriages
- Waste tax could take £70 from every household
- Reform of benefits could cut council tax for one in three
- Combat climate change and fight fuel poverty by insulating every home - LGA
- LGA response to 'People power' white paper
- Tackle alcohol licensing to help end binge drinking Britain
- Olympic training camps revealed
Bring local people together with properly funded services
LGA press release - 11 March 2008
Commenting on the publication of Lord Goldsmith’s Review of Citizenship, Sir Simon Milton, Chairman of the Local Government Association, which represents over 400 councils in England and Wales, said:
"Councils have been successfully carrying out citizenship ceremonies for three years and found they do give people a greater sense of belonging to the local area. However, they aren’t going to solve the main problem which needs addressing in order to create a fully cohesive society.
“What really brings local people together is good public services that are properly funded. If the Government is serious about improving cohesion it needs to make sure the £40bn being generated from migration makes its way back to the local level.
“A proportion of the additional revenue that the Exchequer gains from migrants could be put towards a contingency fund for councils that are coming under particular pressure. Coupled with more accurate ways of counting the local population this would help ensure decent public services for everyone because the right money would get to the right places.”
And on the suggestion that it is a priority for newcomers to learn English from the outset, Sir Simon said:
“Councils fully support the proposal that new arrivals should be encouraged to learn English. The Government recently announced that councils should rely less on translation in order to encourage people to learn the language, therefore it is essential English is taught as a second language to help new arrivals and not just people who have made a long term commitment to live in Britain.
“To improve relations between different groups of nationalities and ensure each individual fulfils their potential, education, must be made more accessible for new arrivals so that language doesn’t act as a barrier to a successful introduction to British life.”
ENDS
Author: LGA Media Office
Contact: Sandra Issar, 0207 664 3332