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Welcome to the NAG and SOPO newsletter for 10 July 2020. Feel free to circulate to your colleagues.
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Personal protective equipment
HM Treasury announced the VAT waiver on PPE purchased by care homes and domiciliary care providers to protect against COVID-19 will be extended until 31 October 2020.
Schools
The Department for Education has updated guidance on local lockdowns and educational and childcare settings. The guidance covers what schools, colleges, nurseries, childminders, early years and other educational settings in Leicester and the affected parts of Leicestershire need to do during the local lockdown and was updated yesterday to confirm the circumstances in which holiday, after school clubs, and other out of school settings, can operate.
Breakfast Club
Following last week's announcement of a Covid Summer Food Fund, the Department for Education has today provided further information on an extension to Breakfast Clubs programme that will result in pupils at 1,800 schools being offered healthy breakfasts over the summer.
The Department for Education (DfE) announced this week that schools in England will benefit from £320 million from the PE and Sport Premium during the academic year 2020-21. The PE and Sport Premium is designed to help children get an active start in life, supporting primary schools to improve the quality of their PE and sport provision so that pupils experience the benefits of regular exercise.
Summer Economic Update
In this week's Summer Economic Update, the Chancellor confirmed that the Coronavirus Jobs Retention Scheme would wind down flexibly and gradually, ending in October 2020. He also announced a range of measures aimed at supporting, protecting and creating jobs including;
Jobs Retention Bonus – The Government will introduce a one-off payment of £1,000 to UK employers for every furloughed employee who remains continuously employed through to the end of January 2021
Kickstart Scheme – A new 'Kickstart Scheme' will be introduced - a £2 billion fund to create six-month work placements aimed at those aged between 16 and 24 who are on Universal Credit and are deemed to be at risk of long-term unemployment
New funding for National Careers Service – An additional £32 million funding will be provided over the next two years for the National Careers Service so that 269,000 more people in England can receive personalised advice on training and work.
High quality traineeships for young people – An additional £111 million will be provided this year for traineeships in England, to fund high quality work placements and training for 16-24-year olds
Payments for employers who hire new apprentices – The Government will introduce a new payment of £2,000 to employers in England for each new apprentice they hire aged under 25, and a £1,500 payment for each new apprentice they hire aged 25 and over
Social worker placements
The LGA is looking for councils to host short placements for returning social workers within adult social care, as part of the Return to Social Work programme. This programme aims to help councils build their social worker workforce. By hosting a placement, your authority will get the opportunity to test how the candidates fit with your organisation, before discussing employment opportunities. To sign up to this free programme, visit the LGA website.
Social Care - Ofsted Inspections
Guidance for social care providers on a phased return to inspection has been published. Interim inspection arrangements will not start before September and this interim period will run initially until the end of December 2020. This may be extended if measures for responding to and recovering from COVID-19 carry on into 2021. As with education inspection there will be no graded judgements, but inspectors will make it clear if they have serious concerns about practice and/or the experiences of children.
Decarbonising Transport Plan
The Department for Transport (DfT) is creating a Transport Decarbonisation Plan to achieve net zero emissions across all modes of transport, as announced in ‘Decarbonising Transport: Setting the Challenge’.
Economic vulnerability and financial hardship
Councils and their partners have strengthened and expanded support to households who have been impacted materially or financially by the pandemic, to provide a vital safety net and prevent hardship. The LGA has adapted its reshaping financial support programme to share councils' learning and contribute to policy development in the immediate crisis, and we are continuing to work with councils as they support their communities and economies towards recovery.
As part of that work we have recently published our good practice guide on local financial hardship support schemes. We are piloting a 'demand dashboard' with councils on the reshaping financial support programme, and working with partners to explore the use of data to improve integrated, preventative support for low income households at risk of hardship. The LGA is hosting a webinar on 16 July – details below.
Modern slavery training
As we've highlighted previously in this bulletin, there is significant concern that the pandemic will have exacerbated the threat from modern slavery and human trafficking, with existing victims less visible due to the ongoing closure of some businesses and others at greater risk of becoming victims as their economic circumstances become more precarious as a result of the impact of COVID-19. To help councils and other organisations which are legally responsible for identifying and referring victims, the Home Office has developed a new training module for first responders. The 45-minute programme can be accessed online and can be used alongside your existing programmes for training staff about this important of councils’ work.
Opening up
Culture, hospitality, tourism and leisure
The Government has announced a package of £1.57 billion to protect Britain's cultural, arts and heritage institutions. The package includes a mix of grants and loans to support cultural organisations, targeted support for national cultural institutions, capital investment in cultural and heritage sites to restart construction work paused as a result of the pandemic and extra funding for the devolved administrations.
Webinars / e-learning
LGA Financial Hardship and Economic Vulnerability – 16 July
GO Excellence in Public Procurement Awards National – 17 July
CIPFA Unravelling the Mysteries of Open Book Contract Management for Procurement & Legal Practitioners - 22 July
Social Value Portal: Time to Act: Delivering Social Value after COVID-19 – 22 July
WIG Outsourcing Playbook version 2.0 Webinar - 30 July
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