A blow for Ben Ingham’s buddies: the district council’s scrutiny committee unanimously agreed the panel was not properly balanced saying it should have one councillor from each of the five Exmouth wards and officers should not have a voting right.

Cllr Paul Arnott, leader of the East Devon Alliance, who had called the decision in, said: ‘The number of elected members taking part in the selection panel is too few and it has insufficient Exmouth democratic representatives.’

A victory for proper scrutiny.

Daniel Clark  www.exmouthjournal.co.uk

The regeneration of Exmouth seafront is set to be delayed after the district council’s scrutiny committee objected to the composition of a panel tasked with deciding the site’s future.

East Devon District Council’s cabinet had agreed to launch a formal marketing exercise to identify a developer or operator for a potential 80-room hotel and a waterfront restaurant as part of phase three of the Queen’s Drive project.

The cabinet agreed that the selection panel for identifying the selection criteria for the development should be made up from EDDC leader Ben Ingham, portfolio holders for asset management, finance and economy, relevant officers and one Exmouth councillor.

The district council’s scrutiny committee unanimously agreed the panel was not properly balanced saying it should have one councillor from each of the five Exmouth wards and officers should not have a voting right. It had been hoped that bids for the development could be received and reviewed by May, with a report on the preferred developer/operator in July, but that looks set to be delayed.

The next full council meeting will not take place until Wednesday, April 22, with the council then making a recommendation back to the cabinet at their meeting on Wednesday, May 6.

Cllr Paul Arnott, leader of the East Devon Alliance, who had called the decision in, said: ‘The number of elected members taking part in the selection panel is too few and it has insufficient Exmouth democratic representatives.’

Exmouth councillor Nick Hookway said that the theme seemed to be people meddling in Exmouth who have no link or understanding about what is going on.

Cllr Chris Wright, who ran the former Fun Park on the seafront, said that in the past there was a selection panel of four people and ‘the council ended up with a bankrupt developer’. He added: ‘This panel should be widened to find a clear and robust process to move the development forward.’

Cllr Maddy Chapman added: ‘This is not what the public signed up to. There needs to be more involvement with the local people. We don’t want a developer – we want what we were told we would get, and it is about time people pulled their socks up.’

Owl says the real story lying behind these headlines is a comparison between Teignbridge’s and EDDC ‘s progress in formulating and taking action on climate change.

Teignbridge had been Conservative from 2011 until the LibDem took control in 2019. Their progress in formulating and implementing a climate change policy makes Ben Ingham’s progress look tame. Ben Ingham’s fragile coalition with Conservatives has had to look over its shoulder as Conservatives such as councillor Mike Allen tried to switch the climate change budget to fund more planning officers. As a result EDDC has a climate change budget and strategy which says: we will draw up 5 year Action Plans to address these key priorities, and progress towards them will be measured annually. 

Compare this with:

Daniel Clark  www.devonlive.com

New policies will require new development in Teignbridge to meet much higher standards of climate change mitigation and adaptation and have requirements for biodiversity net gain.

Councillors on Tuesday agreed to go out to consultation on the Draft Local Plan (Part 1) 2020-2040, which refreshes the existing climate change policies contained in the adopted Local Plan 2013-2033.

It includes a requirement that all new developments which propose the construction of new homes or non-residential floorspace are carbon neutral, while other draft policies also support the development of low carbon and renewable energy schemes, promote sustainable transport and require the provision of Electric Vehicle Charging points within new developments.

The Local Plan Part 2: Creating Quality Places which outline where development will take place, is expected to come forward in 2021.

Cllr Gary Taylor, portfolio holder for planning, said: “This has tougher policies to fight climate change and stronger policies for nature and it tasks developers to bring forward genuinely affordable homes. This will encourage a buoyant local economy and higher standards of design.”

Leader of the council, Cllr Gordon Hook, added: “I have every confidence in the document. It is a first class piece of work that I hope is favourably received. It is a fine piece of work and the foundation for a much better and sustainable program of development going forward.”

Michelle Luscombe, Principal Policy Planner, in her report the meeting, added that the policy wordings proposed are considered to be a significant update to the existing Local Plan policies, with improved climate change and design policies.

She added that the council’s new Climate Change Officer, William Elliott, would be feeding in additional technical information into the Plan.

William is initially focusing his efforts on assisting Teignbridge District Council (TDC) to identify the most eco-friendly gas and electricity contract renewal and to quantify and reduce its own in-house carbon emissions.

Based within Teignbridge’s Environmental Health team, William will work with managers and staff across the council and will also engage with climate taskforce groups, local authorities, the University of Exeter and Devon County Council. Part of his remit will be assessing the carbon impact of planning applications”.

Cllr Jackie Hook, TDC’s Climate Change Champion, said: “Doing our bit to reduce our impact on the environment is a matter for all of us as individuals, businesses and organisations.

“This appointment sets down a marker that Teignbridge means business when it comes to tackling Climate Change. Much of the early work will be internal, but William will also be looking at areas where carbon reduction targets can be raised and also working with colleagues at County Hall to support the Devon Climate Emergency programme.”

The consultation period will run for an eight-week period from Monday, March 23, 2020 until Monday, May 18, 2020, with consultation events will include, Drop-in community events, Planning Cafés, Online videos, Static displays and document viewing, Posters/leaflets.

But the meeting heard that given the current issues around the coronavirus, it may end up not being possible to do as many face-to-face consultations as planned but that the council would make sure the information does get out into the public domain via other methods.

Cllr Gordon Hook added: “I am very keen that the public should participate. Coronavirus is presenting a potential problem but we must overcome that. I really urge the public to engage with the document and very much hope that we will adopt the presentation as necessary if the coronavirus outbreak continues to unfold.”

The meeting also heard that as a result of council officers in the environmental health having to spend more of their time dealing with contingency plans for any coronavirus outbreak, it was having an impact on their workload and as a result some reports, including a review of policies and procedures around fly-tipping would be delayed.

Cllr Hook added: “It is a huge and growing problem and I wish to assure people there is no reason to panic. I am confident that the officers are doing all in their power to continue the smooth operation of the council and that will be our ongoing intent.”

Phil Shears, the council’s managing director added that the council taking advice from Public Health England and Devon County Council and it was up to individual councillors on the actions they take, but they should be guided by PHE.

Not quite the “all clear” but very good news.

The district council worker who was at the centre of a Coronavirus scare over the weekend is no longer displaying symptoms of COVID-19.

Daniel Wilkins  www.midweekherald.co.uk .

The council offices at Blackdown House, in Honiton, was closed to the public on Friday (March 6) afternoon after an employee who had just returned home from Italy was displaying symptoms of Coronavirus.

The offices re-opened on Monday (March 9) and the council has confirmed that the employee is in self isolation.

A spokesman for East Devon District Council said: ‘Over the weekend the Blackdown House offices were cleaned according to Government’s COVID-19 guidance and reopened this morning for business as usual.

‘We are waiting for the results of tests on the member of staff who was displaying potential cold/flu symptoms on their return from Italy.

‘They are currently in self isolation and are no longer displaying symptoms.’

Owl has recently posted the extraordinary news that the Tories had no plans on how to solve the social care crisis. This article paints a vivid picture of the problem and gives an insight into what might be going on. A long read but worth the effort.

Rachhel Sylvester  www.thetimes.co.uk

It’s like putting a broken leg into plaster then kicking away the crutches on which the patient is leaning. Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, has promised “whatever action is required” in the budget to help the NHS cope with coronavirus and yet the government still has no answer to the crisis in social care.

The Covid-19 outbreak is another reminder that the divide between the health and social care systems is not only artificial, it is counterproductive. With elderly people more vulnerable to the disease, the pressure on hospitals is sure to grow but what could turn difficulty into disaster is the lack of social care for those who are well enough to go home.

Already NHS wards are full of elderly patients who have no medical need to be in hospital. More than 148,000 bed days were lost in December alone as a result of delayed discharges. There has also been a 35 per cent rise in the number of dementia patients turning up at accident and emergency departments over the past five years following day care centre closures.

The system is driven by perverse incentives. It costs about £250 a day for someone to be on a hospital ward and £100 for a domiciliary care package, so from the point of view of the NHS (and the taxpayer) it makes sense for elderly people to go home quickly — but councils, which are responsible for funding social care, have a financial motive to transfer the cost to hospitals. Although health funding has been ring-fenced, local authorities face a shortfall of almost £4 billion by 2025 in social care budgets.

According to Age UK, 1.5 million elderly people are not getting the care and support they need. More than 1,600 residential and nursing homes have closed in the past five years and the government’s post-Brexit immigration policy, which includes a minimum salary threshold, will only make matters worse. There are already 122,000 vacancies in the sector and one in 11 care workers is from the EU.

Social care provision is also confusing and unfair for elderly users. People with assets worth more than £23,500 have to pay for their own care and these “self-funders” are charged 42 per cent more on average than local authorities for the same service. Care “black spots” have developed in poorer parts of the country where there are not enough self-funders to cross-subsidise the council provision. Many of them are, of course, in the so-called “red wall” areas that the Tories won from Labour at the last election. This will soon be a political crisis as well as a public policy catastrophe but, although the prime minister declared on his first day in No 10 that he had a “clear plan” for social care he has still not set it out.

Last week the government announced cross-party talks. Ministers, however, cannot agree a position between themselves. The dilemmas created by an ageing population have challenged traditional Conservative assumptions. The Tories have gone round and round in circles trying to find a market-based solution that would involve the private sector, encourage self-reliance and reduce people’s dependence on the state. The problem with this approach, though, is that social care is a broken market that defies the capitalist desire for individual responsibility. Half the population will end up spending less than £20,000, but one in ten will, through no fault of their own, have care costs of more than £100,000.

Insurance companies will not get involved because the costs are completely unpredictable. And, although Conservatives like to say that they support those who “work hard and do the right thing”, old age has become a condition lottery in which those with cancer have their treatment funded by the NHS while those with Alzheimer’s have to pay for the cost of their care. The only fair response is to pool the risk among as many people as possible.

Last year a report from Policy Exchange, the centre-right think tank founded by Michael Gove, proposed bringing social care into line with the NHS and making it free at the point of use. The £11 billion cost should, it argued, be funded from general taxation, with a £5,000 means-tested annual contribution from those who need social care. The plan was even more generous than Labour’s manifesto pledge to introduce free personal care (help with washing and dressing) but it is now being taken seriously by ministers.

It is significant that the foreword was written by Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Commons leader who is hardly a champion of socialism. “This is one area, it is clear, where the state has a significant role to play,” he argued, insisting that the policy was “something we can afford as a nation”.

Another proposal being considered by Matt Hancock, the health secretary, is for people over 40 to pay an extra social care tax. The third model under consideration — referred to in Whitehall as “free personal care plus” — would give the elderly help with washing and dressing and also remove the value of a home from the means-test for residential care. Senior Tories accept, however, that there is a simplicity in creating a universal system that creates a level playing field between those with different conditions.

No decision has been made but the balance is shifting in government away from a private or voluntary scheme to a publicly funded system. The merger of advisers between No 10 and No 11 would make it easier for the traditional Treasury concerns about additional spending to be overruled. Under Sajid Javid, the Treasury was pursuing a version of the Dilnot Commission proposal for a cap on individual care costs, but Downing Street fears that even a £100,000 limit would mean many of the new Tory voters in the north and the Midlands potentially having to sell their homes to pay for care.

Cabinet ministers are also adamant that the manifesto commitment to protect the family house should apply across the generations, meaning that care home fees cannot be charged to somebody’s estate after their death. “It’s an emotional rather than a rational thing,” one says. “People want to leave their home to their kids.”

There is in fact already a broad cross-party consensus on social care: Labour and the Liberal Democrats agree that taxes must go up to pay for improved provision and they support a cap on care costs paid by individuals. Until now the agreement has excluded the Tory party, but that could be about to change.

Officials say that “flooding is expected” to hit Devon and Cornwall over the next couple of days after a number of warnings were issued across the counties.

Owl, however, is reassured by Council Leader, John Hart’s solution which is to encourage a modern day dad’s army of individuals, villages and Parish Councils, where they care, to do more for themselves. Self-help is going to be the order of the day. No need to panic Captain Mainwaring.

George Thorpe  www.devonlive.com

The Environment Agency has activated six flood warnings and five other alerts in the region as rain continues to fall.

Weather forecasts from the Met Office, which is based in Exeter, for the counties both say the rain will continue to fall over Devon and Cornwall overnight.

The flooding is expected to hit mainly between tomorrow morning (March 11) and Thursday with the agency saying some areas could see wave heights increasing to over 5m and tides could be 500mm higher than predicted because of the weather conditions.

All six of the Environment Agency’s warnings, which are the second highest alert it issues and require “immediate action”, affect the coast of north Cornwall although one stretches out to Hartland Point in Devon.

Lands End, Chapel Porth, Copperhouse Pool Hayle, Wadebridge, Chapel Amble, The Rumps and the River Camel are among the areas mentioned in the warnings.

On top of these, the Environment Agency has issued alerts, its third level of warning, along parts of the south Cornish coast including Lizard Point, Gribbin Head and Rame Head.

An alert has also been issued in Plymouth and along the north Devon coast from Hartland Point to Lynmouth.

Within its warnings, the agency says it is “monitoring the situation” and will provide updates if the situation changes.

There is a long history of traffic problems in Cranbrook – see the archives – good to see  “children power” drawing attention to the problem outside their school. Owl wishes them success.

eastdevonnews.co.uk

Children in Cranbrook have staged a silent protest over parents’ antisocial parking outside their school.

Primary-aged pupils crafted their own placards calling on mums, dads and carers to stop-off safely at the town’s education campus in Tillhouse Road.

Pupils from Cranbrook Education Campus protest antisocial parking in Tillhouse Road.

The parent-teacher association (PTA) at Cranbrook Education Campus has been working with walking and cycling charity Sustrans on the campaign.

Its aim is to reduce the amount of traffic that parks or idles outside the school to improve road safety and air quality.

Headteacher Stephen Farmer said: “As a new campus, in a new town, we want to ensure that good habits related to safe parking and sustainable travel are embedded in our culture.

“The health and wellbeing benefits to both pupils and their parents/carers of walking, cycling or scooting to the campus are well researched and documented.

“However, we realise that some working parents/carers have to drive and drop off/pick up due to their commitments.

“If this is the case, we want to ensure that these parents/carers drive and park responsibly ensuring the safety of our pupils and their families at all times.

“Many of our pupils have concerns about some of the current unsafe parking practices of a few of our parents/carers and they are staging this protest to raise awareness of safer parking around the campus.”

Councillor Stuart Hughes, Devon County Council cabinet member for highway management, added: “Hats off to the pupils for taking a stand against antisocial parking outside their school and for bringing attention to this issue.

“It’s great to see such enthusiasm for sustainable travel and, while we appreciate not everyone may be able to walk, cycle or scoot to school, no doubt everyone would agree that the safety of children is paramount.

“I expect the local community will do everything it can to maintain the safety of the area outside the school gates.”

Charlotte Stokes, active travel officer for Sustrans, said: “It’s great to see the students so enthusiastic about this campaign that is encouraging parents to think carefully about their parking at the beginning and end of the school day.

“I have worked with the school to encourage walking, cycling and scooting as part of the school journey aiming to prevent the need for parking in the first place.”

One pupil said: “It feels safer crossing the road this morning.”

The school has successfully teamed up with Sustrans since 2015 on ‘active travel’ challenged such as Leg it to Lapland and the Big Pedal.

When asked last year, 76 per cent of pupils who took part in a survey said they would like to ‘actively travel’ to school.

Owl has reproduced Neil Parish MP’s thoughts on the environment bill, “much good in draft, but I think it can be more ambitious still”. Here is a riposte from Liz Pole, media officer for Devon Labour. She asks:

“why regale people in Devon with what’s needed, when it’s not in the government’s Bill in Westminster?”.

Seven years ago, Ella Kissi-Debrah aged 9, was rushed to a South London hospital unable to breathe properly, never to come home again. The World Health Organisation has been recommending 10 μg/m3 limits on fine particulate (PM2.5) air pollution since 2005. A new report from the British Heart Foundation warns dirty air will lead to more than 160,000 deaths from heart attacks and strokes over the next decade. “Let’s get on and put it in law”, exhorts Mr Parish. Yet Devon’s Conservative MPs are in process of voting an Environment Bill through parliament that includes no such legally binding commitment nor target date on air quality.

Poverty is also a threat to human health, and government policies, propped up by Devon Conservative MPs’ voting records, now mean 14 million people – more than one in five of the population – are living in poverty in the UK. East Devon District Council’s 2019 report on Poverty – A Local Picture, tells us that Universal Credit, the Right to Buy and the Housing Allowance cap are the easily avoidable factors driving families, who were previously getting by, over the edge into poverty. Over half of UK families living in poverty have at least one adult in low paid, insecure work, and over 30% of people aged 20-34 now live with a parent.

Another adverse effect of poverty is that it’s wasteful: and not just of human potential.  Investing in a good pair of shoes is a luxury enjoyed by those on a dependable income. People drawing their pay packets from zero hours contracts are more likely to buy a cheap pair that wears out quickly.

On waste, the Environment Bill’s RWS (Resources and Waste Strategy) and EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility) make good progress towards establishing the concept of a circular economy, encouraging suppliers and retailers to seriously reconsider the materials used and the lifecycle of their products. However, City to Sea – a not-for-profit organisation campaigning to stop plastic pollution – says the Bill’s waste strategy is “very vague with relaxed, or no deadlines” and “a considerable amount of language like ‘consider’ and ‘try’”. Umbrella group Greener UK confirms the Bill does not commit the Secretary of State to uphold existing environmental standards.

Labour’s 2019 amendment to the Climate Change Act committed the government to a clear 2050 net zero target, but the Tory logic of the invisible hand cutting carbon by individuals at their own pace will not get us there. The reality is that “those who can afford to decarbonise will do so, and those locked in poverty may not”, says Shadow Environment Secretary, Luke Pollard, MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport.

We should fund the new Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) “like the Environment Agency”, urges Mr Parish. Who isn’t alarmed by this? The Environment Agency has been one of the bodies worst affected by Tory austerity, suffering budget cuts of over 60 per cent over the nine-year period to 2019. As a result, prosecutions have fallen by around 80 per cent, and levels of food testing, water pollution sampling, and illegal waste prosecutions have all fallen sharply. The government response on flooding is slower even than that of its Part-Time PM. 

Mr Parish says the OEP should have “strong teeth”. It doesn’t. “The secretary of state both sets the OEP’s budget and appoints its leadership; will it be able to bite the proverbial hand that feeds it?” asks the Landscape Institute. They summarise what’s missing from the Bill: non-regression from EU standards, legally binding targets, independence of the OEP, and a sustainability skills agenda, equipping young people and employers. 

This week George Eustice, the government’s new Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, has voted against his own amendments to uphold British food standards in the Agriculture Bill. “Diverting agricultural financial support away from producing food and towards protecting the environment means that every Tom, Dick and Boris will use taxpayers’ money to invest in land for its ELMS (Environmental Land Management Scheme) payments”, says Paul Turner, Rural Affairs Officer for Wells Labour Party. “What is the point of planting the trees if we don’t have the labour to pick the fruit?”, asks NFU’s Horticulture and Potatoes Board Chair, Ali Capper on Farming Today. British Farmers must be wondering whether they’ve been sold “a pig in a poke” by the government.

Mr Parish rests on his environment and agricultural committee laurels locally, but does his vote up there in Westminster reflect what he writes in his column down here in Devon? “The government has grasped the nettle”, he proclaims in his latest column; but Devon’s farmers, Devon’s flooded and Devon’s FridayForFuturists alike may well wonder who is getting stung.

Owl doesn’t want to sound alarmist but this news doesn’t sit well with the recent posts Owl has made on the preparedness and funding of public health, and of general health funding in Devon. Let’s hope Leader John Hart has a better grip on this than he has on flooding.

By Sarah Knapton, Science Editor 8 March 2020 www.telegraph.co.uk

Devon has emerged as the worst affected area for coronavirus outbreak as the government released the first breakdown by local authority.

Devon and Torbay councils have so far seen a combined total of 18 cases, including one parishioner who tested positive after attending a Holy Communion service at St Mary’s Church in Churston Ferrers.

The church has since been closed for a deep clean, and pupils from the nearby Churston Ferrers Grammar School are also now receiving lessons online after a student was diagnosed with coronavirus. 

The Rev Prof Gina Radford, a vicar in south Devon who was formerly the deputy chief medical officer for England, said she hoped to merge her skills and experience in both roles to help both the physical and spiritual help of those impacted. 

“The Lord moves in mysterious ways,” she said. “To be able to bring my skills and experience from one role into my new role is an enormous privilege.”

Priests have been told they can suspend the sharing of the chalice during Communion and do not need to shake hands with the congregation. 

At least six schools and two GP surgeries have been closed in Devon and East Devon District Council’s Blackdown House headquarters in Honiton, Devon was shut for a deep clean after a member of staff displayed symptoms after returning from a high risk country. 

Elsewhere, Greater London collectively has a total of 51 cases spread out between the 32 districts, with Kensington and Chelsea council the worst hit local authority in the capital, with eight cases. Ealing has five confirmed cases and Barnet, four. 

Outside of the capital, the commuter belt and home counties have also been hit with high number of infections. Hertfordshire has 13 cases making it the highest local authority but not the highest county.

Eight cases have been reported in Hampshire, including a pupil of the Winchester sixth-form college and boarding school Peter Symonds College, whose alumni include Ben Ainslie, the British sailor, model Alexa Chung, and MP Caroline Nokes.

A spokesman said there were no plans to close the school.

“We are issuing all members of the college community with advice about preventative measures such as hand washing,” he said.

“At present we see no reason to make any significant college wide changes and, should that situation alter, we will issue immediate information and guidance.”

Brighton and Hove has seven cases including the third person to be diagnosed in Britain, businessman Steve Walsh, who contracted the virus at a conference in Singapore before passing it onto five britons who were staying at  French ski chalet.

A clear north/south divide also emerged in the figures with, around 68 per cent of cases appearing in the south, compared with 19 per cent in the north and 13 per cent in the Midlands.

Manchester also has five cases, one of whom is believed to be a Royal Mail worker. 

The regional breakdown was based on 244 cases, but the number has since risen to 273.

The number of cases is now doubling roughly every two days and experts warned that many more people may have the virus but do not realise it, or are self-isolating at home.

Dr Tom Wingfield, a Senior Clinical Lecturer at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, said: “While the majority of cases in the UK are still in people who have had travel to high risk areas outside of the UK or known contact with someone confirmed to have coronavirus, we are likely to see an increase in the proportion of cases without any relevant travel or clear contact history over the coming weeks.

“The evidence from multiple countries suggests that the great majority of people with COVID19 have only mild symptoms and will soon get back to full health.

“Indeed, in the UK, some people with mild symptoms are self-isolating and being managed at home. It is important that those at highest risk of more severe symptoms and illness, such as people aged over 60 or those with diabetes, chronic heart or lung conditions, or impaired immune systems, are especially vigilant.”

Owl’s earlier post on Flybe pension fund explained the lack of safety net, outlined the problems, and advised staff to contact the trustees. This article gives a bit more information. 

Patrick Collinson  www.theguardian.com

Trustees say there is £80m hole in scheme and no protection for workers at collapsed airline

The 1,310 members of a Flybe pension fund have been told that there is a hole of up to £80m in their scheme and no government safety net to protect them as it is based in the Isle of Man.

The British Regional Airlines Group pension scheme had assets of £138m but liabilities of £217.7m when valued in December 2018 on a “buyout” basis, according to a note put out by its trustees after Flybe’s collapse.

Usually, with pension schemes in the UK, employees qualify for 90% protection from the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) if their company is declared insolvent, while retired members are 100% secure. But the trustees confirmed that no such protection existed for the collapsed airline’s workers in the scheme, although it added that “the lack of PPF coverage has been regularly communicated to members (most recently on 10 February 2020)”.

The scheme’s large deficit does not affect the majority of people working for Flybe at the time of the collapse, as it is largely a historical fund comprising the pension savings of staff who were at Manx Airlines, British Airways CitiExpress and other brands acquired by Flybe, plus some of Flybe’s own staff. It has been closed to new members since 2002.

But the scale of the funding deficit will cause alarm among the 1,310 members, who now face a nervous wait to learn what will happen to their pensions as Flybe is wound up.

In December 2018, Flybe acknowledged that there was a significant shortfall in the pension plan, and began to make special contributions of £250,000 a month to close the gap. But the recovery plan for the scheme required Flybe to make the contributions every month until 2030 – which will now not be forthcoming.

In a note to members, the trustees of the scheme said: “The trustee and Flybe put in place a 12-year recovery plan that was intended to complete 1 December 2030. So far, in accordance with the recovery plan agreed with the trustee, Flybe has paid into the scheme 12 monthly payments of £250,000 and a separate payment of £830,000 on 28 June 2019.

“However, in light of its administration, it is anticipated that Flybe will not be in a position to meet the next monthly payment of £250,000 due at the end of March 2019.”

But the trustees said they were engaging with the Connect Airways consortium, which acquired Flybe in February 2019, about what funding it would now provide.

It said: “The trustee and its advisers are engaging with Connect to determine whether Connect will be in a position to honour its obligations under a guarantee that the trustee negotiated with Connect in respect of Flybe’s funding commitments under the recovery plan.”

The emergence of the Isle of Man base for the pension scheme – and the lack of protection for scheme members – has alarmed pension experts. Last week the former pensions minister Steve Webb, now at the pension consultants Lane, Clark & Peacock, said: “The creation of the Pension Protection Fund was designed to stop this happening, but the Flybe case shows that there are still gaps in the safety net. The government needs to do more to alert workers whose firms would not be protected by the PPF so that other workers do not end up in the same position as Flybe staff.”

Devon’s NHS continues to be in a financially precarious position and must make more significant cuts to operations, in order to break even by 2024.

Over £400m must be slashed from Devon’s NHS by 2024, from an annual budget of £2.6bn.

Claire  claire-wright.org

That’s the main message from a report that will be examined by members of Devon County Council’s Health and Adult Care Scrutiny Committee, next Thursday (12 March).

Devon’s NHS has been in a financial hole for many years, described as being in the top three most financially challenged health areas in the country, for much of the last decade.

But matters appear to have deteriorated and it seems that NHS England may now consider our local NHS to be in the top two most financially challenged health areas in the country.

From April, Devon’s NHS is under orders to save over £100m by next March, after which there must be a programme of swingeing cuts until at least 2024, overseen by NHS England.

Sustainability and transformation plans were set up some years ago all over the country to implement the government cuts agenda, which forced NHS organisations to make savings to the tune of £30bn nationally.  This is the latest iteration.

The scrutiny challenge

I have tried my hardest to try and keep track of these local savings via my role on the Health and Adult Care Scrutiny Committee, but the reality is that the NHS can be incredibly opaque – and each time I asked for a paper on these cuts, the committee has been given no more than a cursory report of vague areas where local NHS services were making savings.

It has been frustrating and quite wrong given the committee’s legal role in examining changes to health services, on behalf of local people.

I have been aware of private health scrutiny briefings on this issue for a few weeks and emailed committee chair, Sara Randall Johnson in January, asking for a paper to come to the March meeting.

There was no reply to my email.

Will Devon’s NHS be open about its response to the financial challenge?

I attended the most recent private briefing two weeks ago, which was enlightening and concerning.

After asking Philippa Slinger, chief executive of what is now called Devon Together (previously known as the Success Regime and various others) some questions about the timing and intention relating to forthcoming cuts, I eventually got agreement for this issue to come before our March committee meeting.

To be fair to Philippa herself, she gave me the impression of being as open as she could be.

Importantly she was willing to appear before the scrutiny committee as soon as possible.

It’s unthinkable to me that the Health and Adult Care Scrutiny Committee – as the only legal check on health services in Devon – may not have examined this issue, where it SHOULD be examined, in the public domain, with the debate recorded by webcast, BEFORE the next round of cuts starting next month.

Waiting times have soared

Over the past decade nationally and locally, waiting times have soared and more people than ever (who can afford it) are opting to go private for treatment because of long waits.

From simple treatments such as physiotherapy for a sports injury, right the way through to paying around £13,000 for a hip operation.

The presentation for Thursday’s meeting states: “In line with savings made in previous years for the system to break even by 2023/24 recurrent savings of between £99m and £108m are required every year.”

The presentation also states that the main challenges are focused on catering for a growing and largely elderly population in the county.

The most pressed area of the budget is acute care (such as at the RD&E or Plymouth Hospital for example).

The presentation refers to the impact of Devon’s NHS being both short of staff and short of cash:

• 300 people routinely waiting for more than a year for treatment when the target is 18 weeks
• 12 times as many people waiting over six weeks for key diagnostic tests than should be
• Eight out of 10 hospital beds are used for emergency purposes
• Devon’s population is set to grow by 33,000 in the next five years and by 2030 there will be 36.5 per cent more people over 75 years compared to today
• 25 per cent of children in Devon are overweight or obese and this rises to 33 per cent by the time they leave primary school

Bed cuts

The paper states: “If the way beds are used is not changed, the number available for planned, low risk treatment and operations will soon be zero.”

But over 200 community hospital beds have been closed in the past few years, and hundreds more acute beds in the area.

Unfortunately, the numbers of paid care workers have still remained a huge problem, leading to significant delayed transfers of care (hospital discharges) from the RD&E Hospital, in particular.

Senior doctors have been saying for a long time that we simply don’t have enough beds.

According to the Kings Fund the total number of NHS hospital beds in England, including general and acute, mental illness, learning disability, maternity and day-only beds, has more than halved over the past 30 years, from around 299,000 to 142,000, while the number of patients treated has increased significantly.

The Fund states that most other advanced health care systems have also reduced bed numbers in recent years. However, the UK currently has fewer acute beds relative to its population than almost any other comparable health system.

Thursday’s committee paper does not refer to the annual NHS increment which plummeted to around one per cent from around six percent, in 2010.

This will, of course, had a significant impact on how the NHS is able to deliver care.

Areas for action

I had hoped for a bit more detail on how Devon’s NHS were going to manage around £100m of savings in the next financial year but I’m unable to find anything approaching informative detail on this, which makes it quite hard to scrutinise effectively, on behalf of local people.

However, the presentation outlines the broad areas for action as the following:

• Transforming out of hospital care and integrating community services
• Reducing outpatient appointments by 30 per cent
• Address the challenges of increasing demand of hospital beds
• Consideration of creation of a major diagnostic centre in Devon
• Travelling further for planned care, such as a hip operation
• Widening access to online GP consultations
• New technology monitoring equipment supporting people to live independently in their own homes
• Support more people in their home and community and avoid urgent admissions to hospital
• Improving cancer outcomes
• Improving mental health services through a ring-fenced investment fund
• Shorter waits for planned care through protected capacity
• Reducing health inequalities
• Setting minimum requirements for community based care to reduce pressure on emergency hospital services

So Devon’s NHS is being requested to make further cuts at a very difficult time.

A long-term lack of paid carers are hampering hospital discharges

The desire to avoid hospital admissions and to get people out of hospital quickly is long-held one but is increasingly hampered by a significant and long-term lack of paid care workers, especially in the Exeter and East Devon area.

The massive government funding cuts to adult social care has also meant the closure of many care homes and a big reduction in the number of people who are now receiving paid personal care.

The impact of much of this falls on unpaid carers looking after loved ones.

There are a raft of recommendations on this in a scrutiny review I chaired which also comes before the Health and Adult Care Scrutiny Committee, this Thursday.

Public health budget pressures

As for Mr Hancock’s oft repeated mantra of investing in ‘prevention’, by which he means public health (preventing people from getting ill in the first place), Devon County Council’s Director of Public Health, Dr Virginia Pearson summed it up at January’s budget meeting:

She said almost none of the budget now goes on prevention. Almost all of it now goes on treatment because of government funding cuts.

Devon County Council still at risk of not providing enough nursing care or personal care

Finally, the council’s latest risk register has now been published for Thursday’s meeting. The following risks are among those recorded as ‘high’:

• Inability to recruit appropriate qualified adult social care professionals
• The council fails to meet its statutory market sufficiency requirement for nursing care
• The council fails to meet its statutory market sufficiency requirement for personal care

I find it very sad that our incredible NHS, which has been the envy of the world, has been brought to this.

The pressures facing Devon’s NHS are not of the fault of staff. They are as a result of government underfunding, forced cuts and the demographics of age and demand.

For the government to put Devon’s NHS under the cosh even MORE ruthlessly than in previous years will cause hardship. To those who need services, the most vulnerable and of course the unpaid carers who look after them.

It’s even more worrying at a time of a predicted coronavirus epidemic.

I see my role as a member of Devon’s Health and Adult Care Scrutiny Committee, is to ensure as much information reaches the committee to be examined in an open and transparent way, so that local people’s interests are being served as they should be, at least from a scrutiny perspective.

The committee meeting starts at 2.15pm on Thursday 12 March.

You can pick up the webcast here – https://devoncc.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/455423

The agenda papers are available from this link – https://democracy.devon.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?MId=3467&x=1

This is an offering from one of Owl’s followers, inspired by John Hart’s previous “words of wisdom” as recalled earlier today. 

“It is no surprise that Devon County Council Leader, John Hart, is ‘off–message’ from the official Conservative party line on flooding! Although such officeholders should be aware that central Government intends to double spending on flood defences in this week’s budget (in the light of the deluges that have devastated huge swathes of this country and, indeed, this county), many government officials seem utterly off-track, appearing not to be up-to-speed!

Many would find the recent off-hand comments by Councillor Hart offensive, by implying that the solution to flooding in Devon lies in a self-help attitude by a modern day dad’s army of individuals, villages and Parish Councils!

Presumably such voluntary work by the Devon masses will exonerate Devon County Council from any blame, fault or responsibility leaving them ‘off the hook’!!

Many find it offish to offload flooding problems by passing responsibility and they hope that DCC coffers have not run dry for such crucial, important issues?

Government officials must remain focussed on current affairs – it is a definite turn-off for politicians to become detached from reality and to display an off–planet attitude!!”

The government risks “another Carillion” if it does not get behind the reforms put forward after the firm’s liquidation, a report from the Institute for Government has warned.

Carillion collapsed in 2018 holding more than 400 public sector contracts.

www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk 

The IFG report, Carillion: Two years on, claimed that, despite signs of progress, the government had not consistently taken up the Cabinet Office’s guidelines to the way outsourcing contracts are designed, awarded and managed.

Authors Tom Sasse, Colm Britchfield and Nick Davies found that that departments “regularly ignore these sensible guidelines around publication of commercial ‘pipelines’, about how risk is allocated between government and suppliers, and how bids for contracts are selected”.

This meant that the government was “still signing risky contracts which may well collapse”.

The IFG report also noted that the Cabinet Office guidelines do not apply to local government and public bodies, including the NHS, despite those organisations being responsible for more than £100bn of procurement spending.

The report called on the government to:

• Name a Cabinet Office minister who is responsible for improvements in outsourcing.
• Use this summer’s spending review to give the Cabinet Office funding to support and scrutinise contracting by departments.
• Extend contracting training to local government, the NHS, and other public bodies.
• Equip the new Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority with the statutory powers recommended by the Kingman review, including to force changes in company accounts rather than applying to court to do so.

The report suggested that the Cabinet Office had done well to establish its new guidance in Whitehall and roll out training, at a time when the civil service had been under substantial pressure. “The department has improved its relationship with big suppliers, the reforms have wide support from industry and there is some evidence that the guidance is being used directly to change poor behaviour by departments.”

However, many suppliers still complained of poor practice, the IFG said. “Several departments continue to ignore aspects of the new guidance, and many have not updated their internal policies. There is little evidence of improvements to the way government assesses risk and balances cost and quality. And scrutiny of departmental plans is not yet rigorous enough, meaning good practice is still dependent on individual ministers and senior officials.”

It suggested that there was little awareness of the reforms beyond Whitehall, in local government and public bodies, including the NHS. The report said the Cabinet Office currently had no remit or budget to extend the reforms beyond central government.

The report said: “Carillion’s collapse was…. a stark illustration of a rotten corporate culture: the company took imprudent risks, acquired huge debts, and disguised its problems with aggressive accounting practices.

“That the company was able to behave so recklessly for so long demonstrated that the system of checks and balances was wholly inadequate.”

The report noted that Carillion might yet prove a crisis large enough to spur action. It said five inquiries into how to strengthen UK corporate governance had been launched since the company’s collapse; several had returned serious proposals for reform.

“Implementing recommendations from these reviews – and ensuring no company can get away with such behaviour in future – is essential if government is to show it has truly learned the lessons of Carillion,” it said.

Boss of Welsh plant vows to undercut Hinkley Point

The boss of the £14bn Horizon nuclear project has told ministers a new power station in North Wales could produce electricity at half the price of Hinkley.

John Collingridge  www.thetimes.co.uk 

Japanese industrial giant Hitachi has been trying to build a power station on Anglesey since 2012, spending more than £2.5bn, and wants a new funding model for nuclear that would slash costs but heap more risk onto taxpayers.

EDF’s long-delayed and over-budget Hinkley Point station in Somerset guarantees the French power giant a controversial price of £92.50 per megawatt hour.

Duncan Hawthorne, boss of Horizon, is understood to have written to Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson’s influential adviser, saying it could produce power at £55 per mwh — dropping to £44 if two more reactors were added. Hawthorne said it would produce 20 terawatt hours of electricity a year — enough to meet the entire power needs of Wales.

Ministers consulted last year on a new funding model for nuclear, the regulated asset base (RAB), but it is unclear whether it will be included in Wednesday’s budget. The model, used by Heathrow and the £4.2bn Thames Tideway “super sewer”, lets investors receive returns before a project is built. However, that means households and business would be paying for the plant years before it was generating electricity. Last year, Hitachi suspended significant work on Horizon after funding talks with the government broke down.

Hawthorne told Cummings that the power station could be connected to the grid by 2028 and help cut carbon emissions. Ministers have yet to publish a promised energy white paper and face a steep challenge to replace ageing coal and nuclear power stations while achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050. A boom in electric cars is expected to pile huge strain on the power grid.

Most of Britain’s nuclear fleet, which is co-owned by EDF and Centrica, is due to close in the next decade, depriving the UK of a stable slice of carbon-free power. Companies including Hitachi and Rolls-Royce also want the RAB model to be used for a fleet of small nuclear stations.

Readers will recall that Devon County Council Leader, John Hart’s solution to flooding, is to encourage a modern day dad’s army of individuals, villages and Parish Councils, where they care, to do more for themselves. Self-help, he said, is going to be the order of the day.

Is he  “off message” with his Conservative Party Leadership? 

The government is to double spending on flood defences in this week’s budget after recent storms caused havoc across the country and drove thousands from their homes., according to:

Toby Helm Political Editor  www.theguardian.com

The government is to double spending on flood defences in this week’s budget after recent storms caused havoc across the country and drove thousands from their homes.

The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, will announce an increase from £2.6bn to £5.2bn in spending on flood defences between 2015 and 2021. He will tell MPs that the money will give protection to 336,000 homes in England and allow 2,000 new flood and coastal defence schemes to be built.

The announcement will be a centre-piece of Sunak’s first budget, which he is determined will focus not only on measures to combat the spread of coronavirus but also on national infrastructure to reduce risk of flooding in England by 11% by 2027.

This follows grave warnings from scientists who have demanded far greater investment and Boris Johnson’s aim to “level up” the country.

Ministers said the extra spending would reduce the needed planning for future disasters, and warned that extreme weather would become far more regular. Last month Storm Ciara and Storm Dennis swept across the country bringing rain and wind gusts of up to 97mph and triggering more than 190 flood alerts.

More than 500 properties were flooded and about 25,000 homes left without power. A week later Storm Jorge followed, which in some areas caused more than a month’s rain to fall within 24 hours.

But Sunak – who is expected to delay announcing a far wider national infrastructure strategy until the summer or autumn – is coming under intense pressure to spend much more on the environment and the climate emergency to ensure the UK meets its climate targets.

On Sunday, on the eve of the budget, the Institute for Public Policy Research thinktank publishes analysis showing an additional £33bn a year must be spent on measures to tackle the climate crisis if it is to meet its target of cutting carbon emissions to zero by 2050. Investment in low-carbon transport alone – including more infrastructure for charging electric vehicles, improved railways and better facilities for cyclists – would have to rise by £12bn a year, and spending on low-carbon homes and other buildings would need to be increased by £10bn annually.

The huge sums would not only help tackle climate change but would also deliver an economic boost and help Johnson deliver on his ambition to “level up” the country, IPPR says.

Last summer the Tory government signed into law a commitment requiring the UK to bring all greenhouse-gas emissions to net zero, replacing the previous pledge to reduce them by at least 80% compared with 1990 levels.

Former Labour leader Ed Miliband, a co-chair of IPPR’s Environmental Justice Commission, said the budget needed to put climate change at its heart.

“This will take investment, but making these decisions will create hundreds of thousands of jobs, improve our natural environment, cut air pollution and make Britain a better place to live. It makes economic and environmental sense. The time to act is now.”

In order to hit net zero within 30 years, the UK will need to be running on renewable energy with industry using mostly carbon-free processes. All homes and other buildings will have to be fully insulated and public transport will need to be greener, and more efficient.

Currently the government spends around £17bn a year on measures related to the climate and environment which, the study shows, would not even be sufficient for the government to meet its previous target of an 80% reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050. IPPR calculates that it would need to spend an additional £11bn just to meet that previous target.

A £2.55million budget has been agreed to revamp an ‘inadequate’ road past Exeter Airport – so a major new business park boasting 1,000 jobs can be built.

East Devon District Council’s (EDDC) cabinet agreed the move on Wednesday – just hours before the collapse of Flybe was announced.

Oops! A spectacular piece of mis-timing by Ingham’s regime (a few hours is a long time in politics). Never mind, the Council Tax payers are always the funders of last resort.

About Author Daniel Clark  eastdevonnews.co.uk 

A £2.55million budget has been agreed to revamp an ‘inadequate’ road past Exeter Airport – so a major new business park boasting 1,000 jobs can be built. 

East Devon District Council’s (EDDC) cabinet agreed the move on Wednesday – just hours before the collapse of Flybe was announced.

The scheme will see ‘unfit-for-purpose’ Long Lane – which links the airport and the Hampton by Hilton hotel – widened and improved.

This will enable plans for a new ‘Airpark’, one of the four planned ‘Enterprise Zones’, to progress.

Questions were raised over the uncertainty surrounding Flybe during the cabinet meeting, but members signed-off the budget. The airline went into administration early on Thursday.

EDDC deputy chief executive Richard Cohen said the Long Lane project was not an investment in Flybe or Exeter Airport.

He added that the scheme would put infrastructure in place to allow the Airpark to be developed – creating new jobs and helping the economy.

Work on the East Devon and Exeter employment hub could begin early next year.

Long Lane’s improvements includes a T-junction at the airport’s Car Park One. The carriageway between this site and the Hampton by Hilton hotel will be widened to 6.5m, allowing for a footway.

While this work takes place, a new road connecting Silverdown Office Park and the Flybe Academy site access road – known as the ‘Silverdown Link’ – will be created.

This will become a permanent bus- and cycle-only link when the Long Lane improvements are finished.

Public cash from the Enterprise Zone programme will fund the scheme.

The Long Lane initiative had initially been approved by EDDC last summer, but the authority had to revisit the budget as tenders for the work revealed another £950,000 was needed.

Project director Andy Wood told councillors: “This road scheme will unlock the delivery of new jobs in the district and the Silverdown Link will be retained as a bus and cycleway, so will facilitate the expansion of the bus service that serves the airport terminal.”

But Mr Wood said that the threat of Flybe’s collapse ‘reinforced the need to press ahead’ with the project, adding: “The Airpark site cannot come forward until the road is improved and that will bring 1,000 jobs and new businesses that are not related to Flybe or the airport at all.

“A lot of the current trade for the hotel relies on Flybe, so having better access will help them recover if the worst happens. No development can happen at the site until the road is widened.”

Councillor Paul Hayward had questioned whether a decision should be deferred in light of Flybe’s problems.

He added: “To consider a £2.5million budget with all the uncertainty is ludicrous.

“It should be deferred so we know what will happen and if Flybe can survive.

“How can you consider the £2.5m investment in a road that may be a road to nowhere?”

Cllr Geoff Jung said: “This is investing in the new road to open up an industrial area for 1,000 jobs, so maybe now is the time to invest in the area to provide further jobs or replacement jobs.

“We should send out a message that the area and the airport has our full backing.”

Cllr Kevin Blakey, portfolio holder for the economy, said ‘Flybe is not the Airport’, adding: “If there is a chance to allow the airport to evolve its operations, then now is when we should be investing and getting the groundworks done so development can take place.

“We should press on and get the roads built as soon as possible.

“The airport will evolve and we have to be ready for it.”

A report to cabinet members said: “The works will help to create a public transport loop and cycleway which will serve a major employment area.

It added of Long Lane’s current state: “When travelling in an easterly direction, the lane quickly narrows to below the standard (6.5m) needed to accommodate the two-way flow of HGV traffic.

“This includes substantial stretches of single carriageway. The inadequate nature of the current highway is a major barrier to bringing forward the Airpark Enterprise Zone site.

“The enhancement of Long Lane is an important project which, in addition to unlocking the Airpark Enterprise Zone site, will also bring a series of wider benefits including improved public transport provision.

“The works are now in a position where they can progress imminently and be complete early in 2021.”

Failed rail firm Northern upped its bosses’ pay by nearly HALF as passengers faced misery ­during the timetabling crisis.

Accounts published just two days after the franchise was taken back into Government control last Sunday show bosses received an eyewatering increase of nearly £200,000.

Alan Selby  www.mirror.co.uk

That took total pay to £596,000 – including £248,000 for managing director David Brown.

Northern’s fatcats were rewarded while they presided over one of history’s worst-ever timetable fiascos in 2018.

Thousands of services were cancelled – with 165 a day cut to areas including Manchester, Liverpool, Blackpool and the Lake District – as passengers endured crammed trains in the week and chaotic Sundays.

Manchester’s Mayor Andy Burnham was among those calling for the firm to be stripped of its franchise and said the pay figures showed renationalisation was “not a moment too soon”.

Mr Burnham said Northern had been “a licence to print money that simply rewarded failure”.

Northern rail, which has now been taken under control by the Government (Image: Evening Gazette)

Shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald said passengers would be “incandescent” to hear about the pay rises, adding: “They should give every single penny back. It’s outrageous.”

Northern’s parent company Arriva blamed its failure on track operators Network Rail and other “challenges outside its control”.

Also from The Times www.thetimes.co.uk :

Rail fares have increased at double the rate of wage growth over the past decade….

…..Matthew Gregory, 49, the chief executive of First Group, was given a £876,000 pay package when he was promoted to head of the multinational transport company last year. First Group runs four train networks including South Western, which was the focus of the longest strike in the history of the railway last month. First also runs Transpennine Express. Almost 60 per cent of Transpennine trains were late in the year to the end of September, and many were cancelled…..

….Martin Griffiths, the chief executive of Stagecoach, received an £848,000 bonus on top of his £652,000 salary. His total remuneration almost doubled to £1.8 million, up from £987,000 the year before. Stagecoach and Virgin shared ownership of the west coast rail franchise until the start of last month, when it was taken over by a consortium led by First Group. Stagecoach now does not run any rail franchises in Britain…..

Coronvirus test results are awaited on an East Devon District Council employee but its offices will reopen tomorrow (Monday, March 9).

Tony Gussin  www.exmouthjournal.co.uk 

The council closed the Blackdown House offices on Friday after a possible case of the virus was identified in a member of staff who had returned from Italy.

A statement said test results were awaited on the employee, who would remain in isolation.

An EDDC spokesman said previously: “They are displaying potential symptoms and although the risk is very low, we are taking the correct measures.

“All members of staff have been sent home and the majority will be able to continue working remotely.

“The offices will be thoroughly cleansed, according to recommended guidelines, over the weekend and we anticipate reopening early next week.”

The news for re­gional jobs in Bri­tain was not good last week. The col­lapse of Flybe will have se­vere con­se­quences for eco­nomic pros­per­ity in smaller com­mu­ni­ties, with about 2,000 jobs at risk at the re­gional air­line. Bar­clays an­nounced last week it would close a ma­jor of­fice in Leeds, with the out­right loss of more than 200 jobs. Both of these de­vel­op­ments over the past week are in­struc­tive of a wider trend in Bri­tain, the most unequal coun­try for re­gional pros­per­ity among large wealthy na­tions.

Maybe the Great South West shouldn’t just be pitching to government – Owl

 Business analysis The Observer 8 Mar 2020

While Boris John­son has pledged to “level up” poorer re­gions to bring them closer into line with the rest of the coun­try, it is equally im­por­tant that the coun­try’s big­gest com­pa­nies play their part.

Lloyds Banking Group has a slo­gan that risks sound­ing as empty as John­son’s: “Help­ing Bri­tain Pros­per”. Yet the UK’s big­gest mort­gage lender has an­nounced plans over re­cent weeks to axe about 780 jobs and close 56 branches across the coun­try. The news adds to a dis­ap­point­ing trend since the fi­nan­cial cri­sis, as the bank has ef­fec­tively halved the size of its work­force to about 70,000. Thou­sands of re­gional roles have van­ished.

Lloyds Banking Group has a slo­gan that risks sound­ing as empty as John­son’s: “Help­ing Bri­tain Pros­per”. Yet the UK’s big­gest mort­gage lender has an­nounced plans over re­cent weeks to axe about 780 jobs and close 56 branches across the coun­try. The news adds to a dis­ap­point­ing trend since the fi­nan­cial cri­sis, as the bank has ef­fec­tively halved the size of its work­force to about 70,000. Thou­sands of re­gional roles have van­ished.

Banks and other big firms have off­shored re­gional Bri­tish jobs to eastern Europe, In­dia and else­where, un­der pres­sure from share­hold­ers to boost their prof­its at the ex­pense of lo­cal com­mu­ni­ties. Vir­gin Money – which has merged with the soon-to-be re­branded Cly­des­dale and York­shire Bank – is in the process of sac­ri­fic­ing 500 roles and 52 branches on the al­tar of share­holder value. Di­rect Line will cut 800 jobs from its 11,000-strong work­force as part of a £60m cost­sav­ing drive. All these il­lus­trate the in­creas­ingly lop­sided na­ture of the UK econ­omy, ex­ac­er­bat­ing di­vi­sions be­tween small towns and big cities.

Banks and other big firms have off­shored re­gional Bri­tish jobs to eastern Europe, In­dia and else­where, un­der pres­sure from share­hold­ers to boost their prof­its at the ex­pense of lo­cal com­mu­ni­ties. Vir­gin Money – which has merged with the soon-to-be re­branded Cly­des­dale and York­shire Bank – is in the process of sac­ri­fic­ing 500 roles and 52 branches on the al­tar of share­holder value. Di­rect Line will cut 800 jobs from its 11,000-strong work­force as part of a £60m cost­sav­ing drive. All these il­lus­trate the in­creas­ingly lop­sided na­ture of the UK econ­omy, ex­ac­er­bat­ing di­vi­sions be­tween small towns and big cities.

For too long, jobs have been lost in re­gional com­mu­ni­ties as big busi­ness pulls back to metropoli­tan cen­tres. Lev­el­ling up should be about more than just the pub­lic sec­tor – pri­vate en­ter­prise must play its part.

Owl heard a radio interview yesterday in which it was explained that the burden of any Public Health response to the Coronavirus emergency falls on local authorities. Owl understands they don’t know whether or how much emergency funding they might get. We all know local authorities ate strapped for cash. This article gives an idea of the scale of the problem. Think care homes.

Polly Toynbee  www.theguardian.com 

Blame Boris Johnson for almost everything, but not for the arrival of the coronavirus. He puts on his serious face, slightly unrumples his hair and tells people to wash their hands. As no one voted for him for public health advice he would do well to let untrusted politicians opine as little as possible, leaving public announcements to the respected chief scientific officer and chief medical officer.

But there is no way of keeping politics out of this. If this epidemic is only half as bad as the official worst-case scenario, the pressure on every aspect of public services will be tested to breaking point. The full effect of a decade of austerity is about to be brutally exposed.

Until now, the Tories have won and won again, despite the deepest austerity – confident that most people, most of the time, know nothing of cuts in public services they aren’t using now or can’t see. Though the A&E crisis is never off our TV screens, the remainder stays below most voters’ radar. But this virus may expose the true state of the country for all to see.

Tim Cook, an ICU doctor, writing in the Guardian, gave a graphic picture of the lack of intensive care and critical care beds – Britain ranking 23rd out of 31 countries for provision, and almost bottom for the number of hospital beds overall. But what of every other service?

Local authorities have the lead role in public health emergencies: they do disaster rehearsals for imaginary terror or biohazard attacks, coordinating with the army for emergency tents and temporary morgues, says Tony Travers, professor of government at the LSE. But coronavirus would probably be a crisis in every council simultaneously, with each being unable to call on help from the others. Over the past decade councils have lost between a third and a half of their income, with a quarter of their staff gone and up to a half lost in some places. Already the flooding has left those local authorities warning they haven’t got the money to cope.

Councils’ incapacity was exposed, Travers says, over the Grenfell tragedy. Kensington and Chelsea was not exceptionally badly run, but it could not cope with rehousing and supporting its residents after the tower block calamity: a team of chief executives from other local authorities had to come in and take over. The council on its own had lost too much administrative capacity. Councils run most services, and most, such as environmental health, have been hugely depleted: the National Audit Office describes that service as “failing”.

That civic incapacity will be revealed time and again by a coronavirus outbreak, with Whitehall’s civil service reduced to its smallest size in decades: look at the panic-hiring just announced to manage the Brexit customs fallout. If, as government plans suggest, one in five staff are out of action, the care sector will be hit hardest and fastest, as it is already so fragile and understaffed. That puts at risk the lives of old people at home alone or in care homes unable to care, with day centres mostly closed down in the cuts.

Money will need to flow fast to stop some care homes going bust and to hire emergency staff from agencies, no doubt at higher rates. Children’s homes face the same crisis, with many more children in care than a decade ago: social work departments are already overstretched. As for understaffed prisons, the prospect of virus outbreaks there and many staff off sick is frightening.

A spokesperson from the Department of Health and Social Care said yesterday, somewhat over-reassuringly: “The UK is extremely well prepared for these types of outbreaks and Public Health England has issued tailored guidance for care providers setting out action to be taken in a variety of circumstances.”

Public Health England does indeed inspire trust in its advice and oversight, but boots on the ground and helping hands are provided locally, and councils have taken the heaviest hit in the great austerity. Ever since George Osborne’s first budget in 2010, the plan was to “devolve the axe” to them. The Local Government Association this week warns they have lost £15bn.

The public realm will be exposed: the number of people working in it has fallen to just 16.5% of all jobs, the lowest since 1945. We will feel the spending cuts, with only £86 spent now on public services for every £100 spent in 2010.

The government is trying to recruit the 20,000 police it cut, but this takes time. Call in the army, says the emergency plan, but it’s now at its smallest ever, down to 73,000 from 103,000 in 2003. Even if there are no food panics requiring police or army at supermarket checkouts for rationing, emergency services are already planning to triage what they can provide with tough restrictions on their services.

In our book, The Lost Decade 2010-2020, David Walker and I have chronicled this unprecedented decline. The Tories have escaped electoral censure for austerity – so far. Perhaps, with luck, the virus will pass over without putting the country to the test. But if it is an epidemic on the scale Public Health England warns of, the politicians who have left the country so defenceless can expect trouble. Voters will be shocked to discover how far the things they took for granted have been depleted; and that the government may no longer be able to keep its citizens safe.

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