Local Authority round-up 13 November 2026
13th November, 2026
Our Local Authority round up provides brief summaries of topical information on a weekly basis, to keep you aware of the changes and updates relevant to you.
Health & Social Care
£40 million for GPs to keep vulnerable patients out of hospital this winter
Thousands of vulnerable patients will receive more proactive support from their GP this winter thanks to a £40 million government funded programme.
This programme will help keep people well at home and prevent avoidable hospital admissions as the government ramps up preparations to bolster the NHS for the winter pressures ahead.
Patients with conditions like heart disease, frailty or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) will get access to additional support from their GP, tailored to their needs and designed to help them avoid reaching a crisis point and needing to go to hospital.
For more information, please click here.
Education
Strengthened guidance to take the next step to phone-free schools
Children will benefit from distraction-free learning under strengthened mobile phone guidance to help schools achieve a phone-free school day.
The new guidance will make it clear that schools should go beyond ‘not seen, not heard’ method where phones may remain in a pupils’ bags and instead, adopt a whole-school strategy to keep phones out of use and inaccessible throughout the school day.
Research carried out in March 2026 found that 40% of children ages 9-16 were turning down real-world opportunities to spend time online. The latest PISA evidence also found a significant international decline in reading and maths performance, alongside growing concerns about digital distraction.
For more information, please click here.
Curriculum overhaul to re-engage pupils in vital early secondary years
In response to the Milburn Review, the White Working Class Education inquiry and the Becky Francis Curriculum and Assessment Review, the government is announcing a distinct focus on the first years of secondary school, as part of their major review of the national curriculum.
The new national curriculum, due to be published in full later this year, has been developed by subject experts. It will see to over-crowded content being slimmed down and better sequence across all school stages to create more space for deeper understanding and richer experiences to ensure more children are making progress.
This will come with higher expectation on core knowledge and skills needed for the future, like oracy and confident speaking, reading fluently and reading for pleasure and numeracy. There will also be a more engaging offer in subjects like drama, PE, music and modern foreign languages, alongside technical and digital skills.
For more information, please click here.
Please note that this briefing is designed to be informative, not advisory and represents our understanding of English law and practice as at the date indicated. We would always recommend that you should seek specific guidance on any particular legal issue.
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