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Public: coronavirus (COVID-19) advice for Devon on our website
Please pass this onto district, borough, parish and town councillors as appropriate. The bulletin can be shared as a link by clicking the 'View it as a Web page' link at the top. Find previous bulletins on our web page.
Do it for Devon
Stick with us and keep following the guidance to keep everyone safe and well.
We need the support of local residents and visitors to keep following the guidelines. Please remember to follow advice and guidance around social distancing, washing hands and sanitising hands regularly, wearing a face covering in enclosed spaces (unless exempt), and avoiding busy places.
#RespectProtectEnjoy #DoItForDevon
14 May 2021
Now, Councillor John Hart, the Council's Leader Elect, is taking the opportunity to thank Team Devon for the way the partners have pulled together during the coronavirus pandemic to support Devon residents. Team Devon, which includes District, Borough and City Councils, Town and Parish Councils, as well as independent and voluntary sector groups, have worked together as part of the county's response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Councillor John Hart wants the good work, and the Team Devon collaboration, to continue. He said:
"Councils have always worked together on behalf of residents to provide the public services that we all rely on. Never more so than during the coronavirus pandemic has the value of working together, and seeing what can be achieved together, been so clear.
"I would like to thank all of the Team Devon partners for their part in supporting people through these extraordinary times.
"Local councils have been at the heart of the response to coronavirus, and they remain central to our recovery from it. Town and Parish Councils in particular already take much responsibility for local life, and have stepped up again to prove their value.
"We have a lot to do over the next four years, to rebuild our local economy as we come out of the pandemic, and to continue - with speed - the work we are already doing to cut carbon emissions in our county. Team Devon is part of that, and with our Town and Parish and District Council partners, we will work together for the people of Devon."
What does the council do?
In most of Devon there are three tiers of local government - the County Council, District, Borough or City Councils, and Town and Parish Councils.
Devon County Council is responsible for services including education; transport; roads and street lighting; social care for adults and children; support for Devon's economy; waste management; public health and trading standards.
Devon's District, Borough and City Councils cover a smaller area than the County Council and are responsible for services including household waste and recycling collection; planning applications; housing; council tax collection and benefits and support.
Town and Parish Councils are smaller in size again but play an equally essential part in the delivery of public services and support for local communities and provide a wide range of services to local residents, including allotments, public toilets, tourist activities and community transport schemes.
Torbay and Plymouth are known as unitary authorities, they are just one tier of local government which provides all the local services.
Cabinet
Discussions will continue regarding the make-up of the council's Cabinet, chaired by Council Leader, Cllr John Hart. As you'll be aware, Cabinet will comprise of nominated councillors who will be responsible for the delivery of key public services including schools, social services, highways and waste management. Membership of the council's other committees will also be proposed, including who will Chair each committee. The make-up of the Committees reflects the overall political make-up of the council.
All of these new posts will need to be finally agreed at the first meeting of the Full Council - a meeting that all of the Councillors will attend, at 2.15pm on Thursday 27 May. You can watch the meeting online.
A forward plan for Cabinet is also published on our website, which lists decisions that will be made over the next four months. It includes a short description of the decision to be made; who will make it; when the decision will be taken; details of the planned consultation with local people and other stakeholders; and contact details for further information, including reports and background papers.
CCG Members' briefing - coronavirus vaccination in Devon
Please see the latest coronavirus vaccination briefing for Members from NHS Devon, Devon’s CCG (Clinical Commissioning Group):
You can view current and previous copies on the Provider Engagement Network (PEN) website
One million milestone reached in Devon as over 38s invited to book vaccination
Two-thirds of UK adults have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and in Devon vaccinations have passed the one million milestone, thanks to the enormous efforts of vaccine staff and volunteers over the last five months.
Residents aged over 38 years old are now being invited to book their vaccination appointments via the NHS website or by calling 119.
 UK COVID-19 alert level moves from level four to level three
On 10 May, the UK Chief Medical Officers recommended that the UK COVID-19 alert level move from level four to level three.
It means that, although coronavirus is still in general circulation, transmission is no longer high or rising exponentially, and so restrictions can gradually be relaxed.
Their joint statement said:
"Thanks to the efforts of the UK public in social distancing and the impact we are starting to see from the vaccination programme, case numbers, deaths and COVID hospital pressures have fallen consistently.
"However COVID is still circulating with people catching and spreading the virus every day so we all need to continue to be vigilant. This remains a major pandemic globally.
"It is very important that we all continue to follow the guidance closely and everyone gets both doses of the vaccine when they are offered it."
From Monday 17 May, you can only meet up with friends and family you do not live with, either in groups of up to six from any number of households or a group of any size from just two households indoors or in groups of 30 outdoors.
Easing of restrictions – what it means for us
The Prime Minister has announced that further easing of COVID-19 restrictions will take place on Monday 17 May, as outlined in Step 3 of the Roadmap.
While we welcome the further easing of restrictions from Monday 17 May, and the chance to get out and about to support the local economy and see more of our loved ones, it’s important to note that Government guidance in relation to the use of offices and workplaces has not changed, and we are therefore continuing to encourage staff to work from home wherever possible. The next step in the Government’s roadmap sets out 21 June as the day all restrictions will lift, but we do not expect staff to be back working in our offices or buildings from this date.
From Monday 17 May:
- There's new guidance on meeting friends and family which emphasises personal responsibility and caution rather than instructing you to stay two metres apart from anyone you don’t live with.
- You can socialise indoors in a group of up to six people or two households, including for overnight stays, and up to 30 people can meet outside.
- Indoor hospitality, such as restaurants, pubs, bars and cafes, can reopen. Venues will not have to serve a substantial meal with alcoholic drinks nor will there be a curfew. However, customers will have to order, eat and drink while seated.
- Indoor entertainment venues, including cinemas, museums, and children’s indoor play areas, can reopen with COVID-secure measures in place.
- Organised indoor sport, including group exercise classes, will be able to take place.
- All holiday accommodation, including hotels, hostels and B&Bs, can reopen and be used by groups of up to six people or two households of any size.
- Up to 30 people will be able to attend significant life events such as weddings, bar mitzvahs, christenings, receptions and wakes.
- Funeral attendance will no longer be limited to 30 people, but will be determined by how many people the COVID-secure venue can safely accommodate with social distancing.
- The Government will also allow people to attend some larger performances and sporting events indoor and outdoor, with restricted numbers.
- Care home residents will be allowed up to five named visitors (two at any one time), provided visitors test negative for COVID-19.
- There will no longer be a legal restriction on travelling abroad, but a traffic light system with strict testing and quarantine rules depending on whether you return to England from a red, amber or green list country.
- You should continue to work from home if you can. When travelling within the UK, you should aim to do so safely and plan your journey in advance.
Please check the Government's website to find out more about what you can and can't do.
 Director of Public Health Devon Steve Brown is encouraging everyone to Go for the Flow
 Hugs are back!
Please remain cautious and continue to obey social distancing measures where you can, warns Public Health Devon.
Even as restrictions ease, including a relaxation by the Government on social distancing rules between friends and family, the science still indicates that along with washing our hands regularly and wearing face coverings in enclosed public spaces, social distancing is an important measure in preventing the spread of coronavirus.
Steve Brown, Director of Public Health Devon said:
“The rules will relax further from Monday 17 May, but the Government has not given a green light to dropping social distancing from the main-stay rules designed to prevent the spread of coronavirus. While the rules from Monday will allow friends and family members to be close enough to hug, my advice, and that of other public health professionals, is to err on caution.
“The vaccine programme, while progressing well, has not reached all adults yet, and we know that one in every three people with coronavirus do not show any symptoms of having it. So there is still cause for us to be cautious, even among our closest friends and family.
“I also urge people who show no symptoms of having the virus to take up the rapid lateral flow tests – they’re quick, convenient, and can be done yourself at home, or with assistance at any of our mobile sites. Regular testing means that people with the virus can self-isolate, preventing the spread of the virus to other people.”
The Goodie Box scheme is back for summer half-term 2021!
Devon County Council is running ‘The Goodie Box’ initiative over summer half term. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought a year of difficulty for many people. We hope the Goodie Box scheme can give families with young children some fun activities for them to do together and ideas for new recipes to try out with the food included, which are tasty, nutritious, and affordable.
It also contains some great tips on how to stay healthy, prevent food waste and how to access other support available that may be of interest.
We are relying on professionals to identify families currently experiencing challenging times, including those disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
If you know of a family please discuss the offer with them and then order on their behalf using the Goodie Box order form.
Please be aware that referrals will be accepted up until Friday 21 May.
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New SEND strategy launched
Devon County Council, NHS Devon Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), Devon’s Parent Carer Forum and partners have launched a new strategy that sets out how they will help and support Devon’s children and young people living with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).
We are inviting parents and carers of children and young people with SEND to join a virtual roadshow event on either Wednesday 19 or Thursday 20 May, where they can find out more about the new strategy, how it will be embedded into practice and the difference it will make to young people who need help and support.
To find out more about the SEND Transformation programme visit Devon’s SEND Local Offer website.
 Devon schools urged to take learning outdoors
Outdoor Classroom Day is a global movement aiming to make time outdoors part of every child’s day.
Schools across Devon are being encouraged to take lessons outside next Thursday (20 May) as part of Outdoor Classroom Day. School leaders say the pandemic has reminded us all of how important spending time in nature is for both physical and mental health.
Devon’s children in care GCSE results for 2020 are the 12th highest in England
After a long delay, the Department for Education has recently released the national children in care results for GCSEs taken in the summer of 2020.
We are really pleased to be able to share that the results Devon’s children in care achieved improved significantly last year. In Key Stage 4, children that achieved a Level 4 (the equivalent to a Grade C) or above in both English and Maths rose to 37.5%. This is an increase of 30% on the previous year compared to a national increase of 7%.
In fact, it means that in this measure Devon’s children in care were the 12th highest out of all 151 local authorities in England.
Attainment 8 scores - the average grade across a range of subjects - are also now above the national average of 23.6 compared to 20.1. This is especially good news as 44% of this cohort have an Education Health and Care Plan for Special Educational Needs (compared with 27.1% nationally).
There is still some work to do to help more of our children achieve the higher grades but we are working on that too. Given the year we have had, it is credit to all our young people and everyone who has helped them succeed that they have been able to achieve these results.
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Guide for students released by Ofqual
Students taking GCSEs, A levels and many other qualifications this year are being offered important support with a new guide from qualifications regulator Ofqual.
The easy-to-use ‘Student guide to awarding: summer 2021’ contains advice on where students in England and their families can go for more information and support, including with mental health concerns, and reminds students, parents and carers not to put teachers under pressure over grading.
This year students will only be assessed on what they have been taught because of differing levels of lost learning due to COVID-19-related disruption. The arrangements follow a public consultation in January which attracted more than 100,000 responses – mainly from students, parents, carers and teachers.
GCSEs, A levels and AS levels will be graded by teachers’ judgements using evidence from mocks, tests, coursework, or other work. They will be signed off by school, college and department heads before going to the relevant exam board no later than Friday 18 June.
Schools, colleges and exam boards will then carry out quality assurance checks so that students, their parents, employers and the wider public can have confidence in how this summer’s grades are determined. After grading, all centres will send samples of some students’ work to exam boards, which will carry out further checks at random or where there are concerns.
The new guide also outlines how students can appeal if they believe a grade is wrong. For most qualifications, students will have the option of sitting exams this autumn to improve their summer grade.
Arrangements for many vocational and technical qualifications follow similar principles, although assessments will still be needed for qualifications that require students to demonstrate occupational or professional competence or proficiency. This is explained further in the guide and Ofqual’s qualification explainer tool. The guide also contains advice for private candidates who do not study in a school or college, such as home educated students.
Update on face coverings for secondary schools
From Monday 17 May, in line with step three of the Government's roadmap, face coverings will no longer be recommended for pupils in classrooms or communal areas in schools.
However, children and young people aged 11 years old and over must still wear a face covering on public transport and when travelling on dedicated secondary school or college transport, unless exempt.
Face coverings will also no longer be recommended for staff in classrooms, however they still should be worn by staff and visitors in situations outside of classrooms where social distancing is not possible, for example when moving around in corridors and communal areas.
College students may be asked to wear face coverings where the teaching setting is more similar to, or is, a workplace environment or where students are likely to come into contact with other members of the public.
 More restrictions eased for care homes
As part of step three of the Government's roadmap, the number of named family members or friends able to visit their loved ones in care homes will be increased from two to five, as the visiting restrictions continue to ease. A maximum of two visitors will be allowed at any one time or on any given day.
This follows a reduction in COVID-19 cases and the ongoing successful vaccine rollout with 95% of older care home residents receiving their first jab.
As well as low-risk outdoor visits out, such as a trip to the park, a garden or the beach, residents will also be able to go to medical appointments, a workplace, educational setting and day centres without having to self-isolate on their return.
Each care home is unique and will have developed suitable plans and processes to protect residents, visitors and staff, so please speak to them directly to find out more about visiting.
Care home providers show the county is in safe hands!
Senior Nurse and Service Lead, Bridget Spooner said:
“With hand hygiene continuing to play a huge part in our lives as we strive to prevent the spread of infections, including COVID-19, and with current practice complicated by routine use of wider personal protective equipment, such as face masks, simple messages such as the importance of product availability are valuable. We also wanted to represent the obvious commitment to best practice that we’ve witnessed across social care since the new service started a year ago and to celebrate that we are one community, brought together to ensure residents and staff are kept safe.”
The Community Infection Management Service is a CCG/NHS initiative providing infection control advice and support to primary care, care homes, housing with support and domiciliary/personal care services.
Take up the vaccine to help protect others
Evidence is building which suggests that having the vaccine not only protects you from becoming ill should you catch coronavirus, but it also reduces the likelihood of you transmitting it to others.
 How local people can get involved
We want Devon residents to be well informed on issues affecting where they live. It is also important that residents know how to give their views on matters affecting them and their community. There are lots of ways for people to get involved and help shape services across Devon.
Meetings of the full County Council, Cabinet and the majority of committees are open to the public who may attend and observe. Alternatively people can watch some meetings online.
People can also ask a question or, in certain circumstances, make a representation or presentation to Members at some meetings.
People may also, at any time, deliver or present a petition to the council or one of its committees (depending on the subject matter).
Devon County Council runs a number of consultations on different proposals in order to understand the opinions of those who may be affected. To view current consultations and find out how get involved, visit our consultations web page.
Click to watch the short clip explaining Cosy Routes around Exeter
Exeter Cosy Routes feature on the BBC ahead of Dementia Action Week
Viewpoints around Exeter - Exeter Cosy Routes - get a national television spotlight this month on the BBC’s Songs of Praise, in a programme coming from the city on Sunday 16 May 2021. Hosted by presenter Aled Jones, one of several projects chosen for filming was Exeter COSY Routes, launched last year by the Exeter Dementia Action Alliance (EDAA).
The Cosy project is a mapped 26.2-mile marathon distance route around the city, comprising eight shorter circular routes of between four and seven miles. These routes all have their own character, points of interest, history and are part of the unfolding and growing picture of the city. Each route has a dementia accessible suggestion, which may be a short stroll, picnic stop or viewpoint.
The Alliance is able to share the routes just in time for Dementia Action Week from Monday 17 – Sunday 23 May.
By pulling together across the Council, with our partners and our communities, we are doing everything we can to help us all through this incredibly difficult time. Thank you to you and your community and stay safe and well.
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