Health and social care functions

Heath or social care?

Nothwithstanding the creation of the National Health Service (NHS) in 1948 to provide all residents of UK with free healthcare at the point of need, local authorities (LAs) have retained strategic role in promoting the health and wellbeing of the residents of their local area. This is based on the premise that local government is best placed to influence many of the wider factors that affect health and well-being and to assess the public health needs of people within their own geographical area; and central government is best placed to understand the needs of the national population as a whole and give general guidance on public health issues relevant to all local authority areas.

The Health and Social Care Act 2012 (HSCA 2012) as amended emphasises the need for strategic relationships between local authorities and other government agencies such as the NHS to ensure more effective delivery of services as well as placing additional health duties on LAs in terms of the scope of services they are responsible for and their obligations to promote integration of services.

Healthcare includes all

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Latest Local Government News

Local Government weekly highlights—22 May 2025

This week's edition of Local Government weekly highlights includes coverage of the Supreme Court judgment in Darwall v Dartmoor National Park Authority, confirming that section 10(1) of Dartmoor Commons Act confers a public right of access which extends to wild camping as a form of open-air recreation plus expert analysis of Vanhove v SSE and TRA, in which the High Court outlined the correct approach to be taken when considering an appeal against teaching prohibition orders; RP v Barnsley MDC, in which during an EHC Plan appeal, a bundle pagination error amounted to a procedural irregularity and error of law; the CA case of J v Bath and North East Somerset Council on the necessity of a DOLs order where all parties with parental responsibility consent; Tesco v SMBC, which considered the interpretation of the sequential test in retail planning; and Greenfields (IOW) Ltd v Isle of Wight Council, finding that failure to publish a section 106 agreement could put planning permission at risk. Case reports include R (Siderise Insulation Ltd) v The Mayor and Burgesses of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, in which the court granted permission for a judicial review of the LA’s decision to prohibit Siderise products in its construction projects based on an arguable inconsistency with PCR 2015; R (Stoke Mandeville Parish Council) v Buckinghamshire Council, in which the court quashed the LA’s decision granting planning permission for a residential development, finding that the LA misinterpreted the Vale of Aylesbury Local Plan Policy on loss of existing sports and recreation facilities; Ealing LBC v The Father, in which the court determined the best outcome for a child under a special guardianship order combined with a rare, co-existing care order to the LA; and Mayor and Commonality and Citizens of The City of London v 48th Street Holding Ltd, in which a debt claim brought by the City of London to recover unpaid non-domestic rates and for declaratory relief was dismissed. The weekly highlights also includes further updates on Public procurement, Education, Social care, Planning, Children’s social care, Governance, Pensions, Social housing, Licensing and Environmental law and climate change.

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