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Council trading standards teams are now receiving reports of scammers calling to offer an appointment to receive a vaccine at a cost or sending a text that directs the recipient to a convincing fake NHS website with a booking link.

"Councils are committed to working closely with the Government to help deliver on its nationwide gigabit-broadband and mobile coverage ambitions."

“It is good the Government is providing further additional funding to tackle rough sleeping, but it is likely that councils will need further financial support in the difficult weeks and months ahead to move people into safe and secure housing."

“Schools and councils need to focus on providing education during the pandemic, without any unnecessary distractions. This is why we are urging Ofsted to postpone the resumption of monitoring inspections for schools, either in-person or virtual, until after February half-term at the earliest.”

"Councils know their communities best, with nearly 9 in 10 setting up contact tracing teams across the country to work with the national system and successfully find many hard-to-reach cases, while also helping to ensure as many people as possible can get vaccinated."

“Councils continue to work tirelessly to support communities and businesses through this crisis. This includes distributing more than £11 billion to 880,000 small businesses through previous grant schemes last year."

"Councils will continue to step up to support residents, especially those who are more vulnerable, businesses and education settings."

“While we support the premise of testing before term restarts, it is crucial that all secondary schools are properly supported and able to effectively administer these tests without significant disruption to the children’s learning."

“Social care staff have been on the frontline throughout this pandemic and rightly deserve all the protections they need to continue to doing their incredible work."

Responding to the report by the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee on broadband roll-out, Cllr Mark Hawthorne, Digital connectivity spokesperson at the Local Government Association, said: “During the COVID-19 pandemic, it has become clear that access to fast and reliable broadband is more important than ever and councils are committed to working closely with the Government to help deliver on its nationwide gigabit-broadband and mobile coverage ambitions. “As this report rightly recognises, councils need to have the local powers and adequate funding to help this ambition become