The GLA does not provide effective scrutiny of the London Mayor and should be scrapped. The report argues that scrutinising the work of the Mayor does not require 25 full-time elected politicians and that much of their work is spent investigating and compiling reports that have little impact.

Research from NLGN warns that local councils may struggle to employ enough staff to run services over the next ten years as a third of its staff are due to retire. Two thirds of employees are over 40, whilst the proportion of those under 25 is half that of the wider economy.

This report from NLGN puts local authorities at the centre of fighting obesity. It calls on councils to adopt an obesity strategy as part of their LAAs and be rewarded by retaining 50% equivalent of the NHS savings on treating future obesity averted as a result of early interventions.

Research argues that devolving welfare to work policy to a local government level will be key to the Government achieving its target of 80% of people in employment. Local authorities and their partners are best placed to understand local issues and how best to target certain areas of worklessness.