The Local Government Group represents 466 authorities in England and Wales.

Until 1997, there were separate bodies representing different types of council but, in this year, a single body was created to represent the whole of local government in England and Wales. 

The LG Group has its headquarters at Local Government House in Smith Square, Westminster, close to the Houses of Parliament and to Whitehall.

The LG Group is a membership organisation and it exists to "deliver our shared vision of an independent and confident local government sector, where local priorities drive public service improvement in every city, town and village and every councillor acts as a champion for their ward and for the people they represent".

The Local Government Association is part of the wider LG Group which seeks to assist members to:

The members of the LG Group represent over 50 million people and spend around £113 billion a year on local services. They include county councils, metropolitan district councils, English unitary authorities, London boroughs, shire district councils and Welsh unitary authorities, along with fire authorities, police authorities, national park authorities and passenger transport authorities.

The Chairman of the LG Group is Cllr Sir Merrick Cockell (Conservative Leader of Chelsea and Kensington LB).  The Conservative Group Leader is Cllr Gary Porter (Conservative Leader of South Holland district Council). I will provide a link to the LG Group Leading Members as soon as the LG Group has updated their web site.  As and when appointments are made to the various LG

Here is a link to the LG Group web site for more information.

I have served as am Chairman of the Resources Panel which has responsibility for the finances of the LG Group for the last three years.  I will be handing over my responsibility for this to Cllr Stephen Castle of Essex County Council and taking up a new role as the Conservative Lead on and Vice Chairman of the Community Wellbeing Board which has oversight of Adult Social Care policy.  I welcome this move at a time when health and social care policy is subject to considerable change and I expect to be in a position to exert some influence on the direction and pace of that change.  Here is a link to the Community Wellbeing Board.

I am also Chairman of the LG Group Selector Panel which is the body charged under the Sustainable Communities Act 2008 with considering applications from local authorities under the Act and forwarding to the Secretary of State those thought worthy of consideration and subsequent negotiation with the Secretary of State on the bids so submitted.  Here is a link to the agendas of the Selector Panel.  Here is a link to the Local Works Web Site which has promoted the Sustainable Communities Act ab initio. 

The Conservative Group is the largest on the LG Group and therefore provides the Chairman from its members.  All Group Offices were up for election this year.  Nominations closed on Wednesday 1 June at 5:00 pm and election results were declared at the LG Group Conference on 28 June 2011.  Here is a link to the Runners and Riders for the Conservative Group Offices which have now been declared.