Politics and partnership
The political landscape and housing partnerships.
Three hours on politics and partnership: the wider political landscape, the reorganising state, where housing sits across England and Wales, and multi-agency delivery under statutory duty.
- Level
- Focus
- Learning time
- 3 hours
- Where
- Serving the public
- Price
- £69
When you step up to a higher level, what you paid in the last 12 months for lower-level courses inside the bigger course comes off its price, in proportion to how much of each is inside it, whichever topic it's from. Courses at the same or a lower level don't give credit against each other. A Focus course or above always costs at least £15. Read the full terms
Certificate of Completion, or Certificate of Completion and Assessment with a short assessment
Overview and Outcomes.
Who It's For
Officers and managers in councils, housing and partner agencies working across organisational and national borders
Overview
The political map is being redrawn just as serious public service work crosses organisational lines. Taken from Knowing the public landscape, this course maps three tiers of government in England and four in Wales, devolved and reserved powers, and the casework of councillors, MPs and Members of the Senedd, with the Renters' Rights Act 2025 as one issue under two regimes. It explains combined authorities, Rewiring the State and why reorganisation is paused rather than cancelled. Housing follows, comparing councils and housing associations and regulation in each nation. To finish, it takes up MAPPA, the Civil Contingencies Act and Avanti's four conditions for leading partnerships.
Aims
This course sets out to help officers read the political context behind a local issue, work steadily through reorganisation without speculation, check the nation and landlord type before relying on any rule, and ask the right questions whenever a case crosses an organisational boundary.
In summary, you will be able to:
- Distinguish reserved, devolved and council delivered matters, and describe how they differ between England and Wales.
- Apply a two-part check of nation and landlord type before relying on any housing rule, including Awaab's Law.
- Explain why accountability blurs when delivery crosses organisational boundaries, and use the four conditions for partnership to keep it clear.
What you'll develop
Through this Focus course, you will build the ability to:
- Describe the tiers of government in England and in Wales and explain how the Senedd changes the shape of the Welsh system.
- Describe the types of local authority in England and explain what a combined authority and its mayor can and cannot do.
- Distinguish council housing from housing associations by ownership, decision-making and the rules that apply.
- Describe how MAPPA, integrated health and social care and joint emergency response bring separate bodies together around shared work.
- Distinguish reserved, devolved and council delivered matters and identify how they differ between England and Wales.
- Explain the four structural moves in Rewiring the State and why Wales sits outside this agenda.
- Compare how social landlords are regulated in England and in Wales, including the changes made by the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023.
- Explain why accountability blurs when delivery crosses organisational boundaries, using the four ways delivery slips and the limits of coordinating frameworks.
Built from 2 parts.
3 hours of learning.
- 01The bigger political pictureNational politics and local government reformBitesize · Working in a Political Environment2 modules
- 02Housing and working togetherWhere housing sits, and multi-agency workingBitesize · The Public Sector2 modules