Ahead of new Chancellor Jeremy Hunt's Medium Term Fiscal Statement, scheduled to be made public today, the Local Government Association has made a stark case for the sound funding of Local Government service provision.

The LGA pointed out that from 2010 through 2020, Local Government has, disproportionately, borne the brunt of £15 billion of public sector cuts as it called on the Chancellor to make a "radical reinvestment in local and combined authorities that enables councils to turbo-charge local growth and create preventative public services that save money ... "

Whilst going through, in detail, the current cost pressures on Local Authorities, the LGA's case submission covers 5 areas: Adult social care; Children's services; Cost of living; Economic growth and Climate change.

On cost of living the LGA says it is necessary to "strengthen and maintain a collaborative approach between national and local government and key partners in the private, public and voluntary sectors" as councils can't tackle the current extreme challenges alone. The body points out, for example, that evictions in the private rented sector have increased by 100% and the number of households in the social renting sector who are owed a Homelessness Prevention duty has doubled and says "It's also vital that Government acts fast to implement rental reform .... "

Meanwhile, the Centre for London think tank (which provides policy input to London local authorities) also says that rental reform must remain a priority for Government and making the point that "These reforms would certainly strengthen councils' hand in cracking down on rogue landlords. Abandoning these reforms, rather than deepening them, would be a serious step back for tenants."

The think tank adds that the rental reform proposal for a national property portal and a national landlord register would "significantly strengthen local licensing [selective licensing, additional licensing and HMO licensing of private rented sector properties] schemes by providing comprehensive data to councils."

Pointing out that councils with property licensing schemes take twice as much enforcement action as councils that do not use such initiatives, Centre for London concludes that a properly designed national landlord register would strengthen council enforcement capacity in England."