Bradford 2025
 A hundred young people from across the Bradford district went to Coventry (the current UK City of Culture 2021) last weekend. The trip was organised and run by our Youth Service in partnership with Bradford 2025.
The young people included UNICEF Child Rights Youth Work Trainees, Young Covid Ambassadors, Kick Start trainees and JU:MP Leads (sports, activities & leadership programme).
They experienced a packed itinerary including visits to some of Coventry’s -Year of Culture events including the ‘Be Yourself Be Yourself; Everyone Else Is Already Taken’ exhibition at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum and ‘Where There Is Light’, an immersive sound and light installation at Coventry Cathedral.
Find out more about Bradford 2025 the district’s bid to be UK City of Culture 2025 on the website or follow on social media @Bradford2025 or #Bradford2025
Speed up your £150 energy bill payment by setting up Direct Debit to pay your Council Tax
The government recently announced a £150 payment for households in Council Tax bands A-D to ease the pressure of rising energy bills.
If you live in the Bradford district, the payment will be made by Bradford Council and will not need to be repaid.
 Events as part of our Spring Back 2022 campaign kick off this weekend with the Sup beer festival in Shipley on Saturday 12 March.
Other events are:
Spring Back 2022 has been made possible thanks to the Welcome Back Fund, which is funding from the England European Regional Development Fund.
For more information, visit www.visitbradford.com/SpringBack2022
The Bradford district is currently one of eight longlisted places in the running to be the next UK City of Culture 2025, to find out more about the bid visit www.bradford2025.co.uk or follow on social media at @Bradford2025 or #Bradford2025
On release, new BAFTA nominated film Ali and Ava was made in the Bradford district with help from our UNESCO City Of Film office. It shares a story about people, love and the power of music. Congratulations to all involved in the making of the film and good luck with the BAFTA nominations. Watch the trailer here.
Professor Sir Chris Whitty
 Professor Sir Chris Whitty, the Chief Medical Officer for England, paid a visit to Bradford yesterday (Thursday 10 March) to learn about some of the major health initiatives and studies being undertaken in the district.
As part of the visit, Sir Chris was shown around the clinical research facility at Bradford Teaching Hospitals where he was accompanied by Professor John Wright, Director Bradford Institute of Health research and Sarah Muckle, Director of Public Health for Bradford district.
He met with staff at the hospital where he spoke with them about their experiences of working through the pandemic.
He also visited Al Mustafa Centre in Girlington where he was given an overview of the partnership work being done to help tackle obesity, particularly amongst South Asian children.
Director of Public Health for Bradford District, Sarah Muckle, said:
“It was a privilege to welcome Sir Chris to our district and we were proud to show off some of the great work we are doing in Bradford to tackle health inequalities such as obesity and the promotion of clean air zones.
“Sir Chris learned more about the work we are doing to improve air quality and health including the clean air zone and a new particle reduction strategy, which will help reduce exposure to both outdoor and indoor air pollution. Research carried out in Bradford confirms that environmental pollution a cause of ill health in the City.
“He was aslo interested in the industry-leading work being undertaken by our research centre in the field of Genes and Immunology.”
Sir Chris Whitty was keen to find out more about the work we are doing to improve air quality and health including the clean air zone and a new particle reduction strategy, which will help reduce exposure to both outdoor and indoor air pollution. Research carried out in Bradford confirms that environmental pollution a cause of ill health in the City.
COVID safety measures still in place in District's healthcare settings
Local people are being reminded that they need to continue to follow Covid safety measures when accessing health services across Bradford District and Craven.
The call comes from the Bradford District and Craven Health and Care Partnership following the publication of the Government’s Living with Covid plan which has lifted the last remaining restrictions for the pandemic. However to protect patients, visitors and colleagues all healthcare settings still ask people to wear a face covering on site (unless exempt), practice good hand hygiene and keep a safe distance from others.
In addition visiting restrictions still apply across hospitals, with people advised to check the latest guidance before travelling to see their loved ones.
A reminder is also being issued for people to come forward for any of their vaccinations if they’ve not yet had them. Those that have not had their first, second or booster dose are being encouraged to come forward and have the vaccine. There are pop-up and walk-in vaccination clinics taking place across the district, which you can find on the NHS Bradford District and Craven CCG website.
Hub reducing risk of exploitation, says Ofsted
Bradford’s multi-agency child exploitation hub is putting the right measures in place to tackle exploitation across the district.
The findings come from the latest Ofsted monitoring visit to our Children’s Services. The visit took place on 2 and 3 February and focused on the protection of vulnerable adolescents.
A letter with the findings has been published on the Ofsted website on 9 March.
The letter from Ofsted highlights that since the main inspection in September 2018, the Council “has continued to coordinate a multi-agency response to exploitation”.
Ofsted acknowledge that the Council “has made a significant investment in statutory and voluntary services for exploited children across Bradford.” The multi-agency hub is central to this and consists of specialist practitioners from social care, police and a range of statutory and voluntary partners.
More electric vehicle charge points for residential areas
The district’s electric vehicle charging network is expanding to more residential areas, thanks to a successful bid for Government funding.
We have received over £300,000 from the On-Street Residential Charge Point Scheme, part of the Government’s Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV), supported by the Energy Saving Trust.
This will enable 38 new fast charging points to be installed across 14 locations, allowing 75 electric vehicles to plug in. The grant will cover 75 per cent of the funding, with the council investing the other 25 per cent from Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) funding.
Most of these new charge points will be in residential areas where there is no off-street parking, such as areas with terraced houses, cottages and flats, where there are no driveways to install private charge points.
The locations are on council-owned land used for parking – either car parks or laybys – which are accessible 24 hours per day.
Watch out for text message scams
We have been made aware of a text message scam affecting residents in the district claiming to be from the NHS.
The message says you’ve been in contact with someone who has had a positive COVID test and asks them to click on a link to get a PCR test.
When you click on the link, it charges your phone for making this action.
Most scam SMS messages are short and ask you to click on a link. Never click on the link until you are sure it is genuine.
Here’s a guide on things you can look out for to help you spot a scam text message:
- Does it come from a number? Messages from the NHS will have NHS in the title like NHS Booster or NHS Booking. Messages from the Government will come from UK_Gov or UK.GOV.
- Does it ask you to click on a link? If it does, the link will only ever be from a URL ending with .nhs.uk for the NHS (for example nhs.uk/book-covid-booster) - and gov.uk for the Government (for example GOV.UK/coronavirus).
- If you are concerned, report your text message to Action Fraud and forward the text message free to 7726 to alert your mobile phone operator.
The best advice is to always be wary of text messages sent by someone you don’t normally get messages from. You can also contact them to check if it is genuine.
Most organisations will never ask you to send money, or important personal information such as bank details or passwords, by SMS.
For more tips on saying safe from fraudsters, visit the Government website.
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