<p>The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) is one of nine Government departments contributing to the cross-government work on loneliness. <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/a-connected-society-a-strategy-for-tackling-loneliness" target="_blank">‘A connected society: a strategy for tackling loneliness - laying the foundations for change’</a>, sets out the Department’s commitment to tackling loneliness across a range of areas, including funding research into the impact of community-led housing and cohousing solutions on loneliness and working with the Local Government Association (LGA) and National Association of Local Councils (NALC) to explore an effective means of sharing learning and good practice.</p><p>The loneliness strategy takes action on the Jo Cox Commission’s recommendation for a family test: it requires government departments to report on their work on tackling loneliness in their annual Single Departmental Plans from 2019/20 and commits to including loneliness in the guidance for the Family Test.</p><p>The Inter-Ministerial Group on Loneliness will be continuing to explore additional options to ensure social relationships are considered across Government’s wider policy-making. The Ministerial Group will publish an annual progress report on the loneliness agenda, recognising that this is just the start of government’s work on this issue.</p>