Reforms to the Health and Social Care Bill, giving councils greater powers of oversight, have been welcomed by Cllr David Rogers, chairman of the Local Government Association's community wellbeing board

A member of the Future Forum, which reported to health secretary, Andrew Lansley, following the Bill's two-month listening exercise, Cllr Rogers urged newly-proposed clinical commissioning groups to collaborate with councils on ‘Cinderella services', such as homelessness, mental health, learning disabilities, dementia and child health. He labelled as a ‘step in the right direction' the requirement forcing clinical groups to share and agree plans with council-led wellbeing boards.