Daily roundup: Public health, free schools, and a briefing for lead members on sexual exploitation

The UK’s largest local authority has called on government to adequately fund public health services when responsibility for provision shifts from the NHS to local authorities next year. The changes mean councils will become responsible for addressing a range of health issues including smoking, obesity, substance abuse and sexual health from April 2013. Birmingham City Council’s lead member for health and wellbeing, Steve Bedser, raised concerns that the Department of Health has used old data to calculate how much cash local authorities will receive. “We’re talking about a wide range of life enhancing and, in many cases, life saving services here,” he said. “The funding has to be there so that local authorities can deliver.”

The Education Secretary is failing to assess the impact of free schools on other local schools in the same areas, the National Union of Teachers (NUT) has warned. The union made the claim following the publication of a list of 102 new free schools that will open from next year by the Department for Education. “The NUT is continuing to demand that the Secretary of State release the impact assessments that he is obliged to carry out under Section 9 of the Academies Act 2010,” said Christine Blower, the NUT’s general secretary. “The NUT is not convinced that, had he carried out this duty properly, many of these schools would have been approved to open. This continued refusal to release these impact assessments is beginning to look as though there is something to hide.”

The Local Government Association (LGA) has published a briefing for lead members of children's services explaining the facts about child sexual exploitation. The document is intended to support lead members to understand what work is underway in their area to tackle the issue, listing “key questions” to ask of officers, the local safeguarding children board, and other agencies. The briefing also explores what areas should be doing to support victims and take a strategic approach to the problem. The LGA said it aims to provide “prompts to enable discussions about how the issue is being addressed locally”.

Councils in Wales could lose their powers over education services in the country as part of an overhaul of the education system, the Welsh education minister has said. Leighton Andrews announced a review of the education system yesterday, which proposes that local authorities lose responsibility for school improvement and direct funding of schools. “I have given local authorities time and money to get their house in order but the evidence is overwhelming that this has not occurred,” Andrews told the Welsh Assembly. The review was originally scheduled for 2013 but will now report in March next year.