I wanted to share with you some correspondence that I have received from our MP in the House of Commons, Mark Pritchard MP, as my previous updates on these matters had been from the County perspective rather than our local constituency.
Government and Local NHS Covid-19 Response
In their response to the Covid-19 outbreak, Ministers have worked to strike the right balance between saving lives and minimising the economic impact of Covid restrictions. With vaccines happening at a rate of 285 every minute, there is light at the end of the tunnel. The UK has vaccinated more than any other European country, with over 33,000 people vaccinated locally.
Continuing the coronavirus vaccine rollout
Nationally, six million people have received a dose of the vaccine. The Government is confident of hitting its target of vaccinating the 15 million most vulnerable people by mid-February.
Locally, several local vaccine hubs are already up and running. There will be new vaccine centres in Wellington and at Audley Court in Newport opening this week. All over 65-year-olds in care homes will be vaccinated by the end of this week, as will the over eighties.
Most people will be invited to a hub within 10 miles of their home. Anyone who is offered an appointment at the national hub in Birmingham, but who would prefer not to travel there, can decline and wait to be offered another appointment locally. For those who cannot travel even short distances, a community and / or mobile vaccination unit will soon be available.
Business Support
At the start of the new national lockdown, Ministers announced additional support to the most affected businesses – a package worth £4.6 billion. Retail, hospitality, and leisure businesses forces to close can claom a one-off grant of up to £9,000. That one-off grant is in addition to the existing monthly closed grants of up to £3,000 per month that business can still claim.
The next Budget is on 3rd March, when the Chancellor will review current business support and set out the next stage of our economic response to coronavirus.
New support for local authorities
Councils in England will receive an extra £500 million of discretionary funding to support their local businesses. This builds on the £1.1 billion funding which local authorities in England have received to support their local economies.
Remote Education for Children
The Government only closed schools and colleges as a last resort and, until they open again, we are improving children’s access to online learning by:
- Providing 1.3 million laptops and tablet devices to support disadvantaged pupils.
- Funding Oak National Academy, an online resource designed by teachers which offers video lessons across a wide range of subjects.
- Helping the poorest students study at home by providing them with free internet access.
- Introducing minimum standards for remote education overseen by Ofsted. Schools will be expected to provide between three and five hours of teaching per day.
The Government will review the lockdown restrictions on 15th February, when the Prime Minister will decide whether lockdown should continue or whether the infection rate is falling enough to allow some restrictions to be relaxed. For the last few weeks, the number of cases locally has been on a significant upward trend, although there has been a slight plateauing in recent days.
The message generally though is that these are challenging times and vaccines do provide some light at the end of the tunnel, but please stay safe everyone.
Edward Bird - Councillor for Shifnal South and Cosford 