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Dear Colleague,
The work of local government was given the Royal seal of approval earlier today, when the Royal Family's Twitter account, using the hashtag #ThankfulThursday, posted a thread to its 4.2 million followers heaping praise on councils' leading role in the response to COVID-19.
The thread, which incorporated the LGA's own Twitter posts, highlighted your work across several areas, including delivering food packages, ensuring the most vulnerable receive medication and providing mental wellbeing support, as well as thanking local resilience forums for the key role they have played.
Testing and tracing have featured in a number of discussions on your behalf today. We know that COVID-19 is best understood as a pattern of local outbreaks, rather than a national pandemic with similar, but different, impacts felt in all our communities. And we know that, if we are to have a place and community driven approach, it is crucial that local government is empowered to play our part as local public health leaders.
As has now been reported in the media, we expect the Government may soon announce that the new system will be trialed in a number of local authority areas. Though Nadine Dorries, the Health Minister, and Tom Riordan, Chief Executive of Leeds City Council and Senior Responsible Officer for COVID-19 tracing, are yet to confirm the exact composition of the first wave, we expect them to include urban and rural areas from across the country. This first wave of councils will be asked to develop COVID-19 outbreak action plans that focus on their individual communities. Plans will include efforts to prevent outbreaks in care homes, schools and workplaces.
I know councils are keen to understand how our skills and expertise will be utilised and are seeking the information we need to get things off the ground. We expect the Minister to make the announcement over the next few days, ahead of the national rollout of the Test and Trace Service.
Also – to help us understand where the outbreaks are happening and be able to act quickly to contain them – we are pushing for the Government to share vital and up-to-date data with councils alongside other agencies. Of course, this also needs to be accompanied by consistent and ongoing funding. These are all issues we are raising in our conversations with Ministers and officials on your behalf, and that I know Tom has been also pursuing.
If there are any other issues, on this or elsewhere, you think we should be engaging central government on please email coronavirus.enquiries@local.gov.uk or liaise with your Principal Adviser.
In Mental Health Awareness Week, I was pleased to join over 300 local and national government colleagues on a webinar on supporting the mental health and wellbeing of our communities during COVID-19 this morning. Thanks to those from your councils who joined and to the panellists who shared their perspective on how councils are working with partners to support people’s mental health and wellbeing both in this immediate phase, and looking ahead to recovery.
As usual, the latest update from the key developments over the past 24 hours is below:
This evening’s Number 10 Press Conference
This afternoon’s Number 10 Press Conference was led by Health Secretary, Matt Hancock. He was joined by Professor Chris Whitty, Chief Medical Officer, and Professor John Newton, who leads the UK COVID-19 testing programme. Mr Hancock announced two developments in relation to the Government’s testing programme. The first is a quick test for COVID-19 that began a trial today. This test would allow a person to get their test results on the spot, without a swab being sent to a lab, in about twenty minutes.
The second development is related to antibody tests, a small number of which are currently available. Two new lab-based antibody tests have now been approved for use. Mr Hancock announced that the Government will make over 10 million of these tests available in the coming months. Tests will be rolled out in a phased way from next week, with priority given to health and care staff, patients and residents. Each of the devolved nations has been allocated a number of tests and will make their own decision on how and when to distribute them.
Rapid testing
The trial of a new, rapid coronavirus swab test will begin in Hampshire today. The 4000 person trial will be rolled out to a number of A&E departments without access to laboratories, GP coronavirus testing hubs and care homes across Hampshire, and will run for up to six weeks. If successful, this new test could provide accurate results almost on the spot. This would enable health and care workers to carry on with their shift or immediately isolate on the same day, and could eventually offer the same benefit to the whole country.
Antibody testing
It is positive that care staff will be amongst the first to be eligible and prioritised for the new antibody tests. Of course, there are many unknowns in what having antibodies means – whether people are immune, for how long, and whether they can transmit the virus. Hopefully testing will allow some of these questions to be answered. We are seeking information as to what this means in practice and will be update as we receive further information.
COVID-19 local insights
I know many of you have found our LG Inform data reports on COVID-19 very useful. We now have a new report available which looks at deaths related to COVID-19, with a focus on care homes. This data is available for districts, as well as for counties and single tier authorities:
In addition, our previous reports have also been substantially improved. As well as adding districts, the data on cases and deaths is no longer limited to hospitals but includes all people who have tested positive for COVID-19 in a laboratory test:
I hope you find them useful, and please feel free to pass any feedback to coronavirus.enquiries@local.gov.uk.
Adult social care
The guidance that sets out the steps councils should take before exercising the Care Act easements was updated yesterday. Local MPs have been added to the list of people to whom the decision to exercise Care Act easements should be communicated. Details have also been added about who councils’ information will be shared with (which includes the LGA, ADASS and the CQC) and how to find out details of which councils are operating under easements.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) and Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) have issued a joint statement on CQC’s emergency support framework (ESF), the process CQC will follow to regulate the sector during the pandemic. They are committed to continuing to work collaboratively to keep people safe and to give providers and their staff the support they need during the pandemic. This statement sets out what that will mean in practice and how information gathered from the ESF will be treated.
Personal protective equipment
There have been a lot of concerns raised about the quality and ‘use by’ dates of PPE as there had been instances where PPE past their ‘use by’ date had been supplied to local resilience forums (LRFs). We have sought clarification and reassurance from the Resilience and Emergencies Division (RED) in Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) following verbal assurances given by DHSC during weekly LRF Chairs calls, that PPE issued to LRFs was tested and despite any “use by” date labels were safe to use. MHCLG has now confirmed this in writing:
- “All products being issued have passed stringent tests that demonstrate they are safe to use in line with relevant guidance. The PPE is exposed to extreme conditions for prolonged periods, to see how the product deteriorates. All that are not up to standard are destroyed and not distributed to service providers.
- Some items may be marked as out of date and in some cases relabelled ‘use by’ dates are added. All products that have been released for distribution have passed stringent tests that demonstrate a later ‘use by’ date is safe. This has been approved by the Health and Safety Executive.
- Due to the volumes of PPE that are being tested and released for distribution daily it is not practical to include a test report for those items which meet their original product specifications.
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There is now a dedicated product queries mailbox run by NHS England which colleagues in LRFs can contact if they have queries on particular items: c19productqueries@nhs.net When you report an issue, please tell the team managing the mailbox the name of the product/manufacturer and the date you received this item.”
These remain the current lines from MHCLG and we have been informed that their PPE Cell is still liaising with the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) on this and a further update should be available soon. We’ll keep you updated as and when we receive something more. If you have any particular concerns you would like us to raise on your behalf on PPE please email coronavirus.enquiries@local.gov.uk.
Shielding and supporting vulnerable people
NHS Digital have today published anonymous summary data on patients who have been identified on the COVID-19 Shielded Patient List. This includes regional and local data including by age band and gender. It can be broken down by local authority or clinical commission group areas. The data has been provided with the aim of providing health and social care providers with the planning of their response to the pandemic.
On other data issues, we are raising concerns to central government about the data burden being placed on councils as a result of the recent request for data on local shielding outcomes. This was circulated earlier this week and is not something that either the Shielding Stakeholder Engagement Forum or LGA had been consulted on. The request follows ongoing issues and concerns about the data shared with councils as part of the shielding programme. We have also highlighted to MHCLG that the request needs to be considered in the context of a range of other data requests being placed on councils that are cumulatively creating a significant burden. This evening MHCLG agreed that we need to review the cumulative impact and usefulness of the various data requests from across Government.
DEFRA has been working with a small number of councils to pilot a referral scheme which aims to provide supermarket slots to non-shielded vulnerable people. DEFRA are now looking to rollout the scheme to all local authorities from next week, and are inviting authorities to complete an online form to register their interest. The Department also continue to update their commercial food delivery service offers document.
Schools
With just seven working days to go until schools and early years settings could potentially reopen for more children, the Government continues to indicate that 1 June is not a fixed date and it is listening to the concerns some school and teachers have raised about a wider reopening. Our call for councils to have the powers to work with schools to decide how and when it may be best for them to open, and for local government to have access to vital testing data, continues to be reported widely across the media. It is positive to see that our calls and messages continue to receive wide coverage in all of the national papers and on the online versions of BBC, Sky and ITV News.
We have also been making the point that more needs to be done nationally to reassure families that it will be safe for more children to return. We understand the Government may publish the scientific advice on the safety of reopening schools tomorrow.
Early years
We continue to raise concerns at both official and Ministerial level about the financial pressures facing early years providers. This has been a key theme of our work on early years for a very long time, and the problems have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
We are also conscious that councils are receiving significant numbers of enquiries from providers about opening to more children. We understand that more practical guidance will be published in the coming days by the DfE. All of the guidance for early years settings published to date is available online.
Loneliness and social isolation
We are seeing higher levels of loneliness and social isolation in our communities because of the impact of the restrictions necessary to combat COVID-19. With the Association of Directors of Public Health, we have developed practical advice to help councils think through how they can support people who may experience loneliness or social isolation. Even as restrictions begin to ease, loneliness and social isolation will continue to be a challenge, with people who are shielding or self-isolating and without emotionally fulfilling contact and/or practical support networks, particularly at risk. We also highlight emerging positive practice, such as greater awareness about the impact of personal behaviours on mental wellbeing and the community and neighbourhood activity that has sprung up.
NHS and Social Care Life Assurance Scheme
Further details of the death in service benefit scheme, announced last night, and what it means for councils are now available. This aims to help provide guidance for local government pension scheme administering authorities, employers and employees.
NHS fees for social care workers
You may have seen the announcement this evening that NHS staff and care workers from overseas will now be exempt from having to pay a surcharge to use the health service. We understand further details will be released in coming days and we will keep you updated in this bulletin.
Pharmaceutical Needs Assessments
Pharmaceutical Needs Assessments are due to be renewed and published by local authority health and wellbeing boards in April 2021. This document is a statutory responsibility which records the need for pharmaceutical services within a specific area. Due to current pressures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Health and Social Care has today announced that the requirement to publish renewed Pharmaceutical Need Assessments will be suspended until April 2022. Your health and wellbeing boards will retain the ability to issue supplementary statements to respond to local changes and pharmaceutical needs during this time. The NHS Pharmaceutical and Local Pharmaceutical Services Regulations 2013 will be updated in due course. You may wish to forward this announcement to your health and wellbeing teams, who I’m sure will welcome this reduced burden.
Culture, tourism and leisure
The Government has announced the membership of the new cultural renewal taskforce which is charged with developing guidance for reopening the DCMS sectors. Councils are the only organisations with responsibilities and expertise that spans all of these areas, and the taskforce’s remit. We are therefore very disappointed at the lack of council representation and are making the case through our media work calling on Government to address this. We are also writing to Oliver Dowden and Robert Jenrick, the relevant Secretaries of State, to ensure we can contribute. The LGA is involved with the libraries, museums and galleries, and sport sub-groups that will inform the taskforce and will ensure council services are represented in this way. However, clearly councils need a place at the top table to ensure a joined-up approach to this major challenge.
The Government has appointed Neil Mendoza to a new role as Commissioner for Cultural Recovery and Renewal. He will advise on Government on how UK culture and heritage can begin the road to recovery from the pandemic. Neil has previously been a non-executive director at DCMS and led the independent review into museums, which highlighted that local authority museums were the most vulnerable part of the sector.
The LGA’s response to the DCMS select committee inquiry into the impact of COVID-19 on DCMS sectors has now been published. In it, we highlight the way in which councils’ libraries, culture and leisure services have responded to support peoples mental and physical wellbeing, but also the significant risks posed to council budgets if extra costs and loss of income are not fully compensated by government. We also highlight concerns about the lack of support for the tourism sector, supply chains and freelancers, and the need to reduce the digital divide that has been thrown into sharp relief by the pandemic.
Local government finances
A new report by the Citizens Advice, the Money Advice Trust and StepChange Debt Charity estimates that more than two million people may have fallen behind on council tax bills as a result of COVID-19. In our own response, we have promoted councils’ efforts to help residents who are facing financial hardship because of the virus, including using the Hardship Fund provided by the Government to support people claiming local council tax support. We know some councils have also delayed taking council tax payments for first two months of the year, rather than the last, and most have also suspended recovery action for people with existing arrears. Along with councils, we are working with the major debt advice charities and a range of other partners to ensure that we can support households in the most effective way possible. This will be particularly crucial as payment holidays and forbearance come to an end.
Of course, we also continue to reiterate the increased demand and cost pressures, as well as drops in income, councils are facing. We are calling for councils to be provided with ongoing and consistent funding from the Government to support communities through this crisis and help them readjust to life after it.
Media
It has been a busy week on the airwaves for our lead members this week, with interviews across BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, ITV News and BBC Radio 5 Live. Tune into BBC Radio 4 You and Yours tomorrow, we have our Deputy Chairman Cllr John Fuller lined-up to take part in a discussion about the response by councils to the pandemic and the financial challenges they face as a result. As I mentioned earlier this week, we are aware ITV News have sent a short survey to your communications teams on funding pressures. We know that more than 100 of you have already responded and they are likely to extend their deadline until Tuesday to see if they can get as full a picture as possible.
Honours
At yesterday’s Number 10 Press Conference the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Oliver Dowden, announced that The Queen’s Birthday Honours List will be delayed until the Autumn to allow people’s work through the pandemic to be recognised. Further to this, the Prime Minister has announced a new process for honours nominations. Contributions can now include information on those who have contributed positively to the COVID-19 response. This could include frontline work supporting vulnerable members of society or those who have contracted COVID-19, developing innovations to support these people, going to “extraordinary lengths” to keep critical services going, or volunteering endeavours. We have included the full information on our own website, which includes the nomination template.
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Best wishes,
Mark Lloyd
Chief Executive
Local Government Association
@MarkLloydLGA
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