Local Authority round-up 21 August 2026
21st August, 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.
Education
AI bootcamp launched in North-West England to combat youth unemployment
Young people out of work or at risk of unemployment after school are set to benefit from an AI summer bootcamp kicking off in the North-West of England.
This forms part of the government’s new Techfirst AI Apprenticeship Pathway which builds on the Prime Minister’s mission to raise the profile of technical education and create opportunities across the country.
The scheme is designed to help youth falling into unemployment and provides recruits with 3 weeks of AI and workplace skills training. They will learn to build AI tools and understand how businesses use AI as well as how it can generate draft guides and documentation.
At the end of the scheme, businesses and public sector organisations around the North West, including JD Sports, Heinz and local SMEs will have apprenticeships on offer to help people move into employment.
For more information, please click here.
Children’s Commissioner demands reform of Prevent programme
The Children’s Commissioner for England has demanded reform of the government’s anti-extremism programme, Prevent, after statistics show at least 65% of referrals involving children from schools and colleges returned to an education setting, almost always after receiving no additional support.
New analysis by the Children’s Commissioner revealed that 7/10 child referrals to Prevent had no specific extremist ideology identified, and referrals without a clear ideology were less likely to progress through Prevent than those with defined ideology.
The Prevent programme forms part of the UK’s counter-terrorism strategy that focuses on prevention of young people being drawn into terrorism.
Other key findings were:
- Some children had been referred multiple times.
- Referrals often closed without support.
- Professionals highlighted children being exposed to extremist and violent online content, often without developing a fixed ideological belief. As such, many children referred were vulnerable to exploitation, bullying or unstable home lives, questioning whether Prevent was the appropriate response.
- The report also found that children’s mental health and neurodevelopmental needs were missing from 60% of referrals.
- When conditions were recorded, autism accounted for 16% of conditions in referrals whereas the estimated prevalence among school-ages children is around 3%.
For more information, please click here.
Housing
Prime Minister launches national drive to get everyone in for Christmas
The Prime Minister, in his bid to end rough sleeping, has announced immediate action to offer everyone who needs it a route off the streets by Christmas, backed by increased funding of £442 million.
To action this, new accommodation and support will be rolled out across England this winter. Alongside this, the programme which is fully funded within MHCLG budgets, will offer practical help with housing, health and other needs.
The Prime Minister will also hold a national summit in the Autumn to bring together leaders from business, finance, charities, health, faith communities, and more to ask them what role each of them can play in ending rough sleeping.
The change will not only benefit the lives of those currently on the streets but will have huge benefits for the whole country. Research from Crisis suggests preventing 40,000 people from becoming homeless for a year could save taxpayers around £370 million.
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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