Housing seminar

Representatives from local authorities, advice services and mortgage lenders will attend an emergency breakfast seminar at London Councils on 5 August to look at what boroughs and others can do to mitigate the impact of the credit crunch on London's housing market. The seminar will be chaired by London Councils lead member for housing Cllr Jamie Carswell.

Contact: Nigel Minto, head of sustainable communities

Policing green paper

Government proposals to give communities a greater say over local policing are set out in the Home Office green paper 'From neighbourhood to the national: Policing our communities together'. London Councils is developing a response on behalf of London local authorities. Anyone wishing to feed into that response should contact London Councils by 31 August.

Read or download policing green paper Opens in a new window

Read article 'Real community policing' in London Bulletin magazine

Contact: Anastasia Mulenga, project and policy manager

Welfare reform

Plans to streamline the benefit system and devolve employment services to a local level have been announced by Secretary of State for Work and Pensions James Purnell. The Department for Work and Pensions green paper, 'No one written off: reforming welfare to reward responsibility' is out for consultation until 22 October.

Read or download welfare reform green paper Opens in a new window

Contact: Catherine Ford, principal project and policy officer

Regeneration framework

Communities and Local Government has published consultation on a proposed framework for future regeneration investment - focusing on improved co-ordination and prioritisation, devolving power and better aligning local and regional investment. The consultation closes on 31 October.

Read or download the framework for regeneration Opens in a new window

Contact: Catherine Ford, principal project and policy officer

Be a councillor forum

The 'Be a councillor' website has launched its online forum where people can post a question about becoming a councillor and read other people's responses.

Visit the be a councillor online forum Opens in a new window

Read article 'Who wants to be a councillor?' in London Bulletin magazine

Contact: Emma Stewart, promotions manager

Political Map

A new 2008 political map showing political control in the capital at a borough, London Assembly and parliamentary level has been produced by London Councils in partnership with the London Communication Agency.

View or download London's political map 2008

Developing scrutiny

The London Scrutiny Network is to run an 'action learning set' for scrutiny members. The set, which will meet at least five times between September 2008 and March 2009, will be an opportunity for members to share and discuss challenges relating to their scrutiny roles.

Eight places are available and members who can commit to at least five sessions should contact Sunita Sharma, head of scrutiny and performance at Hounslow by 8 August, giving a brief outline of their reasons for wanting to join the set. The learning programme is part of the Developing Scrutiny in London project, funded by Capital Ambition.

Contact: Sunita Sharma, head of scrutiny and performance

Capital Ambition

The most recent Capital Ambition Programme Board meeting was held on 28 July 2008. Items included workforce strategy, the performance office and liaison meetings with London authorities. The full set of papers is now available on the Capital Ambition website

Read papers from Capital Ambition Programme Board Meeting July 08 Opens in a new window

Key Issues

Key Issues will now be taking a short summer break but will resume publication in September.

Contact: Ian Mitchell, publishing manager