A surge of new courses for members and officers of councils at universities around the country is a clear sign that academia is responding to the skills gap. It is recognised that there is a real need for sector specific training for council officers and members following recent changes to the structure, roles and responsibilities of local government and to the changes on the horizon.
Coventry University is among institutions responding to the growing need. 

Given that 90% of the UK’s population lives on 10% of the land, it is extremely easy to forget that this is still a very rural country. However, there are many regions where remote living and the associated hazards of extreme weather conditions are a fact of ordinary life. In such areas, the need to deal with emergency situations occurs frequently and involves types of response that are seldom required in the more temperate heartlands of the country. 

A local identity card system would be better for citizens, cheaper and quicker to implement than a national identity card, is the claim in a paper from the New Local Government Network. Since 80 per cent of the public’s contact with the State is through local councils, individuals would benefit from a single form of identification when information is shared within the local government family. The proposal is based on the entitlement cards currently operated by many local councils.