The government commitment to spending on infrastructure and levelling up across the South West has been welcomed by Peninsula Transport at its Board meeting last Friday.

[However, Owl notes the “however” hovering above a long list of hoped for projects]

Daniel Clark www.devonlive.com

A series of transport, regeneration, housing and flood prevention schemes across the South West feature in the National Infrastructure Strategy.

Clear commitments to the South West and Peninsula include:

• A new railway station at Edginswell in Torquay, thanks to £7.8million funding confirmed in the Spending Review.
• “Restoring rail links to Okehampton in Devon”, via a £500million fund to restore transport services lost in the Beeching cuts of the 1960s.
• Development funding to progress seven other rail schemes in the South West, including opening the station in Cullompton.
• £59million for Plymouth, including £12million to improve walking and cycling, via the Transforming Cities Fund.
• Work and plans are progressing on several other schemes not mentioned by name, including the upgrade of the rail line at Dawlish.
• Nine South West towns will receive up to £25million each via the Towns Fund to support major regeneration plans, including Torquay.
• Seven South West projects have been awarded a total of £526million via the Housing Infrastructure Fund to unlock thousands of new homes, including £55.1million for South West Exeter.

“The projects in this strategy, including £27billion of public funding next year, will create wealth and thousands of jobs to repair some of the scars from the pandemic,” said Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who drew attention to the dualling of the A303 in his foreword.

The strategy reaffirms that “the government will invest in the South West to help rebalance the UK economy”.

Chairman of the Peninsula Transport Shadow Sub National Transport Body, Cllr Geoff Brown, said: “We warmly welcome the government’s commitment through the National Infrastructure Strategy (NIS). Investment is critical to the South West economy whether it is on rail, roads, ports, airports, broadband upgrades or charging infrastructure for electric vehicles.

“We are also greatly encouraged by the commitment of the government to Sub National Transport Bodies (STBs) and the £425,000 of funding agreed with Department for Transport for our strategic transport work this year. However as always we await the detail on some of the wider spending announcements just to see how much benefit they will provide for the Peninsula.”

Highlights which may support the Peninsula from the government’s spending review include:

• A package of Covid-19 support to keep critical transport links available, including an agreement that the Treasury will absorb risks associated with rail passenger revenue.
• £4billion Levelling Up Fund, including up to £600m in 2021/22, with the additional funding spread over the remaining years to 2023/24 with details on bidding due in the New Year.
• £27.5billion for England’s Strategic Roads.
• £1.7billion for potholes and local road upgrades including £310m for the major road network and large local major schemes programmes.
• £420million bus funding (£120m for zero emission buses and £300m for recovery & transformation).
• £257million cycling and walking funding.
• Continuation of the Plug-in Car, Van, Taxi and Motorcycle Grants until 2022-23.
• £20million in 2021-22 to enable a UK network of technology demonstrations in alternative marine fuels and green shipbuilding.
• £21million for the decarbonisation of aviation.

Cllr Brown added: “We also are really pleased to see that the Department for Transport is now seeking views on The Future of Transport: Rural Strategy. It is so important for our rural communities that their transport needs are considered and we will be making strong representation on this. We also welcome the news on £60m funding for the North Devon Link Road.”

Reacting to the news, Torbay MP Kevin Foster said: “The £21.9million Torquay Town Deal and the £7.8million of New Stations Funding for Edginswell will help create the infrastructure and opportunities our bay needs to build back better from the impact of Covid-19 on our economy and community.

“This, combined with investment in our region’s infrastructure such as strengthening the sea wall at Dawlish and approving work to finally solve the problems on the A303 at Stonehenge, are signs of this government’s commitment to our region after decades when the South West did not get its fair share of infrastructure spending.”

This article has been produced for the Annual Business Guide Top 150, sponsored by PKF Francis Clark.

The guide profiles the biggest firms in Devon and Cornwall and takes a comprehensive look at the sectors that dominate the regional economy.

We examine how they have been affected this year and chart the COVID-19 bounceback.

See the full list, published on October 22, at BusinessLive and in print in the Western Morning News, or sign up to the WMN newsletter, here.

You can also view it here.

David Thomas, Conservative group leader on Torbay Council, said: “The Conservative group of councillors in Torbay are delighted to have received funding for the Torquay Town Deal (£21.9million) and Edginswell rail station (£7.8million).

“Although entirely different schemes, they clearly complement each other and are a real game-changer for the town.

“This government investment comes on the back of £120million of private money coming into the bay, where we are seeing five new hotels being built.

“This is a positive indication of levelling up working for Torbay when we have previously missed out.”

Central Devon MP Mel Stride said he was “absolutely thrilled” to see the restoration of the Okehampton to Exeter rail service included in the strategy.

He said: “The service will be a huge boost to the local economy in and around Okehampton and will also have a positive impact on Crediton as more people travelling between Okehampton and Exeter stop off to shop.

“It will provide a valuable service for local residents, especially those without a car, and will also be good for the environment by taking cars off the road.

“I will be making urgent enquiries to see what final steps need to be taken for services to begin in 2021.”

Obviously nothing as frivolous as shopping!

We have had the “Secret Diaries of Sasha Swire” (Aged 57 and eleven twelfths). Now another local author publishes a satire on Politicians, People and Covid-19.

Satire can entertain, expose and ridicule incompetence.  In his latest book, Devon author Philip Algar offers an imaginative and satirical account of politicians, their behaviour and policies and public reaction in the early days of the corona crisis.  He does not underestimate the tragic impact of corona nor does he belittle the disease, unlike some international leaders.  Instead he takes some real incidents, exaggerating their potential impact and invents almost plausible stories.

For example, he reveals how President Trump decided to blame the World Health Organisation and explains why there was a shortage of dogs in the UK.  Why were Irish mountain climbers victimised and how might Sir Humphrey Appleby have reacted to the use of government slogans?  Why were some Mexicans disappointed when they learnt what was disallowed under the heading of essential items?

Why did some rare bats become even more rare and why did a lake and beach change colour?  Why did thieves want government financial support?  Why was it so difficult to visit the local pub?  How did cyclists imperil road safety and cause pollution?  How did a radio broadcast give a totally wrong impression and why did children fear an invasion from space?  What happened to subtitles when a government minister was speaking to the nation?  How did some press conferences go seriously wrong?

All this, and much more, is revealed in this topical book which is available from the Curious Otter Bookshop, Ottery St. Mary and Amazon. The author can also supply copies at £7.49, including postage and packing to the UK.  (philipalgar@btinternet.com) 

While millions of high earners benefit from financial aid during the pandemic, HM Revenue & Customs and local councils have pursued families on low incomes for relatively small amounts in tax. In more than 1,000 cases since April people have been visited at business premises by HMRC enforcement staff.

Paul Morgan-Bentley, Head of Investigations www.thetimes.co.uk 

Thousands of others have been sent letters and text messages from private debt collection agencies used by HMRC, including care home workers, those who have been unwell with Covid-19 and the vulnerable.

‘I got the letter, went upstairs and cried’

Tax officials have been shamed into dropping a case against a young mother after her MP accused them of chasing her for £2,000 in error and causing her distress during the pandemic.

Patricia Gibson, MP for North Ayrshire & Arran, wrote to HM Revenue & Customs in September asking officials to “cease the action being taken” against a constituent, whom she described as “a young mother on low income”.

The woman, who is 27 and has two children aged seven and one, claimed tax credits for five years to top up her £9,000-a-year earnings as a part-time hairdresser. In July 2018, she phoned HMRC to stop the benefits because her circumstances had changed and she was moving to England with her husband, who was in the army.

A call handler told her that the only way she could do this before the end of the financial year was to submit exaggerated earnings of £30,000 while she was on the telephone. She went along with the suggestion and her tax credits stopped. However, this year she received a repayment demand, wrongly claiming she owed £2,078 in tax credit overpayments.

In her letter Ms Gibson wrote that the constituent was then reassured during another call with HMRC that the matter would be resolved. Despite this, she was contacted at home by debt collectors in August. The young mother, who asked not to be named, told The Times that 1st Locate, a debt collection agency working with the Revenue, wrote to her at home, texted her and tried to phone her.

“I was devastated,” she said. “The day I got the letter I went straight upstairs, put my baby to sleep and then cried on my bed.”

1st Locate said it could not comment on individual cases. It said that it was regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, subject to extensive due diligence and trained to identify and help vulnerable customers and assess affordability.

‘I’ve been shielding, and now I’ve been threatened that someone could turn up at my home’

A freelance office manager who was unable to work while undergoing chemotherapy and radiotherapy for cancer during the pandemic has told of her emotional trauma after HMRC gave her financial details to debt collectors.

The woman, in her fifties, had spoken to HMRC and it agreed that she could defer a tax bill. Six months later, however, she received a letter from debt collectors stating that she should urgently pay more than £5,000.

“I am so distressed by how HMRC have acted,” the woman, who asked not to be named, told The Times. “I have been shielding and so spent months without seeing friends and family, and now I’ve been threatened that someone could turn up at my home.”

After calling the firm, it agreed to close her case and return it to HMRC, which told her it passed it on in error.

HMRC said it could not comment on the specific cases without the taxpayers’ permission.

“I’m terrified. HMRC staff lack human empathy”

HMRC staff added interest to Kirsty Howe’s company tax bill after she called them for help while struggling to cope financially during the pandemic.

Ms Howe, 52, who runs a small company that manages diaries for camera crews, was unable to make any money for months this year after television production stopped. She has until the end of the year to pay a £9,400 corporation tax bill for the 2019-20 financial year but phoned HMRC before the deadline to ask to start a payment plan.

With her son George, 21, moving back home with her in Brighton and only about £500 per month from the furlough scheme, she feared she would be unable to save enough to pay the whole tax bill in time. She has had a mortgage holiday but has to start paying £750 a month again this month.

Ms Howe assumed HMRC staff would take kindly to her being conscientious and trying to set up a payment plan. Instead, they tried to persuade her to wait to see whether she could pay it in full. A call handler agreed she could pay £5,000 immediately and cover the remaining £4,400 throughout next year if she also paid interest at 2.6 per cent. The rate is applied to late payments and will start being added to Ms Howe’s company account in 2021.

“I’m so upset and angry,” she said. “Why am I being charged extra? I was acting responsibly and doing the right thing in asking to set up a payment plan. I am terrified by HMRC. They won’t budge. It is like they lack human empathy.”

Ms Howe’s small business, the Firm Booking Company, is now making about 40 per cent of its usual income. “There has been so much help for so many big corporations,” she said. “It does not make sense that a small business owner like me is penalised.”

HMRC said applying interest in Ms Howe’s case was “standard practice for any debt” and that it “followed correct protocol and process in the case and agreed a manageable payment plan”.

Care home worker told belongings could be sold

Richard Hull, 59, has told of the “immense struggle” to cope financially after he and his wife were unwell with Covid-19 before being threatened with repossessions by HMRC. The self-employed carpenter, from East Grinstead, West Sussex, owes £9,733 in tax but is unable to raise the funds because almost all of his customers have delayed or cancelled works.

He told The Times that he was struggling to cover bills at home, where he lives with his wife, Teresa, 47, who works part-time as a cleaner in a care home, and their 11-year-old son. He has had a pay-as-you-go gas meter installed for the winter to prevent heating bills rising too high. In recent weeks their landline has been cut off and his car has been repossessed. He has been rejected for help from the self-employment income support scheme because of a previous late tax return.

He was contacted by HMRC about his tax debt before his case was passed on to private debt collectors. After failing to settle the bill, he received another letter in October from HMRC’s internal staff, which said that his debt had been increased to £10,327 and threatened repossessions. It stated: “Continuing to not pay what you owe is a serious matter. Previously, we treated this as something you didn’t mean to do. However, if you still don’t pay, we’ll now treat you like you’ve deliberately chosen not to.”

It stated that the law allowed HMRC to take action to collect the money owed, adding: “We can take things you own and sell them and we charge you fees for doing this. If you don’t act now it could cost you more money. Alternatively, in certain circumstances we can take money directly from your bank or building society accounts.”

It directed him to a government web page explaining that officials can visit him at home, make a list of his possessions and take them immediately, while charging hundreds of pounds in fees.

Mr Hull and his wife had the coronavirus in April. He said that he tried to respond to previous letters from Advantis Credit, a debt company used by HMRC, but was unable to get hold of its staff on the phone.

“It has been an immense struggle,” Mr Hull said. “I have had to borrow money from friends and ask for advances from customers, so when I eventually do the work I’ll only be paid half. This is just so we can survive.

“The letters have become increasingly threatening — saying they will come and take our possessions and sell them. I am so stressed that I’m hardly eating and my hair has been falling out.

“I know someone on £80,000 a year with £50,000 in savings who has been furloughed. How is it fair that we are being chased for a tax debt that it’s impossible for us to pay at the moment?”

Advantis Credit said that it was regulated and “we take our commitment to delivering fair treatment of customers extremely seriously”, including performing affordability assessments, helping vulnerable customers and providing support during the pandemic. A spokeswoman said that it was unable to comment on individual accounts.

HMRC said the letter “was a mistake and does not reflect our current approach to debt collection”. A spokesman said: “We apologise for any distress caused to Mr Hull and have put in measures to stop this happening again. We will make contact with Mr Hull to discuss and agree a way forward.”

Suicidal man was threatened with a home visit

A vulnerable man who tried to commit suicide last month is among those who have been threatened with bailiff visits because of owed council tax.

The man, whom The Times has chosen not to name, was on benefits for the first time and living alone when he received a letter in August from Bristow & Sutor, a company hired by his local authority to collect unpaid council tax. It stated he owed £1,186 — a figure he contested — and that he could pay the full amount in a week or in instalments for three months. It said that local authorities needed the money “to ensure vital services can be delivered, whilst also helping those in need”.

“It was threatening to say they were going to come round to my home and give me aggravation,” he said. “I’ve been living alone because my partner had to move in with her mother because of coronavirus. I was scared.

“The idea of them coming to my home gave me a lot of anxiety. It has been the most stressful time in my life and it has affected my mental health.”

The man, who is in his 50s, handed in his notice at a restaurant at the beginning of this year after being offered a job elsewhere. The job offer was withdrawn because of the pandemic and he had to sign up for universal credit.

The letter that he received in August related to council tax that he did not pay when he moved from his previous home to the flat in which he now lives. He acknowledged that he owed a few months of payments but the council said he owed money in three consecutive financial years and the full amount was signed off by a magistrates’ court.

He told the company he was happy to pay what he owed but was warned that contesting the charge would be a lengthy process. He agreed to a six-month payment plan without knowing how he was going to afford it. “I wasn’t able to work for months,” he said. “My doctor put me on antidepressants.”

He attempted to take his own life in November and after staying overnight in hospital is being supported by a debt charity and doctors. He has recently got a new job and is continuing to pay back his council debt. There is no suggestion that the actions of Bristow & Sutor caused him to try to take his own life.

Bristow & Sutor said it had been given no indication that he was vulnerable and did not attend his home. Its letter stated that it could offer “more flexible payment terms” due to the pandemic. It said it was “sorry to hear about this person’s circumstances” and that it was going “above and beyond to achieve a high standard of ethics and professionalism”, including training staff to identify and help vulnerable customers.

The council said that the case was passed to Bristow & Sutor before the pandemic and it had not known the man was vulnerable. The debt has now been sent back to the council and arrangements for him to repay will only be made once he has recovered. A spokeswoman said that enforcement action was taken only as a last resort.

The debt collection agencies said that they were regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and trained to identify and help vulnerable customers and assess affordability. They said they have offered additional support during the pandemic including changes to repayment terms and are subject to extensive due diligence overseen by HMRC.

After being contacted by this newspaper, HMRC apologised for about 800 letters it had sent during the pandemic accusing people of deliberately not repaying debts. HMRC said that repossession “is only mentioned in a letter after we have already made several attempts to contact a customer” and that less than 1 per cent of field force collector cases lead to goods being removed.

HMRC said that it stopped debt collection activities in March but contacted a million people with tax debts built up before the pandemic when restrictions were lifted in some areas, allowing them to agree to more than 500,000 payment plans covering £4 billion in debts. It said that visits to work premises “have not been to list or collect assets, but to discuss the customer’s ability to pay during the pandemic and offer support”.

A spokesman said that contact initially focused on working with people to help them to find an affordable way forward and “more strongly worded communications only go out as a last resort where customers have not responded to our initial communications”.

He said: “The last thing we want to do is cause anyone more worry at this difficult time but it remains vital the tax system continues to function to pay for vital public services, like the NHS.”

For confidential support, call the Samaritans on 116 123 or visit a local branch. See www.samaritans.org

This article was updated on 10 December 2020.

Plans to give MPs a pay rise of more than £3,000 have been scrapped, the parliamentary pay watchdog has said.

Finally, the Government has been shamed into reaching this obvious conclusion following: “The Public Sector saved Britain. So why are MPs who broke us getting a rise?”

Owl discusses local MPs’ reaction below.

Lizzy Buchan www.mirror.co.uk

The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) said hiking MP pay next year would be “inconsistent” with the financial hardship faced by many workers during the pandemic.

The watchdog said in October that MPs could be entitled to a 4.1% rise in April, taking their salaries to £85,291 – despite wage freezes for millions of public sector workers.

But the comments provoked a major backlash, with even Boris Johnson’s spokesman saying the Prime Minister was against the hike.

Confirming the u-turn, Ipsa interim chair Richard Lloyd wrote to MPs: “The unprecedented impact of the Covid pandemic has had an unexpected, but different, effect on public and private sector earnings.

“It is clear that applying the forthcoming official statistic for public-sector earnings growth would result in a salary increase for MPs that would be inconsistent with the wider economic data and would not reflect the reality that many constituents are facing this year.

“The Ipsa board has therefore decided that the salary for Members of Parliament will remain unchanged for the financial year 2021/22.”

The watchdog had been planning to raise MPs’ salaries in 2021 in line with this autumn’s public sector wages.

If previous trends had continued, that could have triggered a 4.1% rise of to £85,291 – in the depths of the pandemic.

Yet millions of public sector workers including teachers and police now face a freeze in April – after the cut-off date for MPs’ pay.

That would have meant they were suffering a real-terms pay cut at the same time as MPs enjoyed an above-inflation hike

IPSA had stressed no final decision had been taken.

The body’s four board members reflected on the PM’s comments and wider context before they made one.

Local MP reaction

We know that Ben Bradshaw MP intended to donate his rise to charity. Did we ever hear from  Neil Parish MP and “jumping Jupp Flash”?

If they were happy to trouser the cash, they will be disappointed.

City MP ‘would donate pay rise to charity’

www.radioexe.co.uk

It comes after the independent body, set up after the expenses scandal, recommended that MPs pay should increase by 11 per cent to 74 thousand pounds.

The news has provoked fury from unions in the public sector – who’ve seen their own pay frozen along with job cuts and other austerity measures.

Ben Bradshaw told Radio Exe it would be a disaster to return to the ‘bad old days’ of MPs setting their own pay and conditions.. which was what allowed the expenses scandal to happen.

If the rise is imposed he’ll simply use it to help fund good causes, and he says he’ll also seek to ensure that his expenses remain the lowest of any MP in Devon.

A large outbreak of Covid-19 at an Exmouth care home reached 26 positive cases among residents and staff.

Anita Merritt www.devo

Knappe Cross Care Centre in Brixington Lane had its first Covid-19 case confirmed last Saturday, December 5, after one of its residents was tested positive during a hospital admission.

Since then steps have been taken to try and halt its spread, with extra staff coming on board to cover for staff who are currently having to self-isolate and to look after the residents.

All ‘window visits’ to the care home by family and loved ones have been suspended until the outbreak is under control.

Devastated registered manager Mircea Ciobanu said: “It was something that was very unexpected. We have been fairly fortunate so far up until now that we have not had any cases through this pandemic.

“It was a disappointment to us, as much as it was to families, residents and staff that this has now happened. We are doing the best we can to control the outbreak and I think we have done very, very well so far in doing that.

Knappe Cross Care Centre

“We have not had any residents or staff who have been very, very poorly, and nobody has died.

“We have been in touch with the local authority, Public Health England and the Care Quality Commission, and have a meeting scheduled with them.

“We are fortunate to say that in spite of some staff testing positive we have managed to cover the floors and bring in enough staff. They are very busy and are doing their best to keep our residents safe following the advice we have been given.

“What matters now is how we manage it and how things will be when this is over.”

The care facility is home to 37 residents and it employs up to 45 members of staff.

Expressing his gratitude to all the care home’s staff for what they have done this year, Mr Ciobanu added: “My staff have made very big sacrifices through the pandemic to take care of our residents such as sacrificing holidays and not seeing their own loved ones.

“I would like to thank them for how supportive they have been.”

A spokesman on behalf of Public Health Devon said: “Public Health experts and Devon County Council are working together to support staff at Knappe Cross Care Centre in Exmouth following a number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 at the care home.

“The home is following all of the current guidance to control infection. It is minimising the risk of the transmission among its residents and staff through a comprehensive range of measures including self-isolation of those affected, wearing of correct PPE, rigorous cleaning, as well as social distancing and hand hygiene.

“Any contacts of the confirmed cases have been contacted and asked to self-isolate for the appropriate duration, and should symptoms develop they should be tested.”

Steve Brown, director of Public Health Devon (designate) said: “Care homes in Devon are working extremely hard to keep residents and staff safe and to control the risk of infection.

“We are working closely with care homes to support those currently affected and will continue to monitor the latest data and intelligence.”

Plans for hundreds of new flats and an aparthotel  in Cambridge have been put forward for public consultation.

Benjamin Hatton www.cambridge-news.co.uk 

Vertex Living, which would manage the property if approved, has proposed the development on the site of the former National Institute of Agricultural Botany in Huntingdon Road.

The plans include 297 build-to-rent apartments, a 201-room aparthotel, a cafe, microbrewery and bike shop, as well as “pocket parks” on site.

The plans have no formal planning status at present, but a planning application is expected early next year after the consultation.

The developer said the tallest building on site would be around five storeys.

Vertex Living is the property managing agent for Marchingdale Developments, which already has permission to convert the former NIAB offices into 149 flats.

That proposal proved controversial for including “very small” flats with a floor space of 17 square metres, about the size of a disabled parking bay. The city council’s executive councillor for planning policy. Labour’s Katie Thornburrow, branded it “appalling” and said it would provide “inadequate spaces to live in”.

‘Gym and swimming pool’

Marchingdale Developments obtained permission for the conversion in May via a national policy that encourages developers to convert offices into homes, bypassing some of the locally enforced regulations, including, in this case, the council’s minimum space standard of 37 square metres.

At the time, the leader of the city council, Labour’s Lewis Herbert, described the method of obtaining planning consent as a “loophole”.

The developer defended the plans, saying they comply with the relevant planning legislation, and saying “the units are of a perfectly reasonable size, allowing for all of the necessary functions to support daily life”.

The latest proposal would retain 68 of the flats that proved controversial, which will be developed by converting the frontage of the 1920s building of the former NIAB offices while replacing the plans for the other 81 flats with the new purpose-built flats and aparthotel.

Although the developer is seeking permission for its latest proposal, it already has permission to implement its original plan should it choose to.

Vertex Living says that all of its plans for the site are compliant with the necessary planning policies and that the latest build-to-rent scheme will address a need for rented homes in the city by offering purpose-built rental accommodation with secure tenancies, aimed at those who do not qualify for affordable housing but who cannot afford to buy a property.

‘Build-to-rent for those who cannot afford to buy’

A spokesperson for Vertex Living said: “The private rental market is the largest housing tenure in the city and currently 49 per cent of all households in Cambridge rent privately.

“The build-to-rent concept is new to Cambridge, however the council has acknowledged that there is a need and demand locally for this form of accommodation. The new homes are primarily targeted at those people who cannot access social housing but also cannot afford to buy due to the high cost of property in Cambridge.

“The build-to-rent homes will provide future residents with secure tenancies within a well-managed development that will offer excellent communal facilities, high-speed internet and on-site maintenance.

“Affordable dwellings will be delivered as part of the build-to-rent offering and provided as discounted rent homes allocated to local workers. This approach is compliant with National Planning Guidance and supported by the housing team at Cambridge City Council.

More than 100,000 patients will not be able to get the Covid vaccine from their family doctor after their GP surgeries decided not to take part in its deployment, the Guardian can reveal.

Denis Campbell www.theguardian.com

Dozens of GP practices in England have chosen not to join the NHS’s coronavirus vaccination programme amid concerns their workloads are already too heavy, they have too few staff and that patients could suffer if practices have to cut back other services so doctors can administer the injections.

Their reluctance to inoculate patients threatens to overshadow the start of the second phase of the vaccine rollout, which is due to start next week, with GPs taking part for the first time.

The Guardian has established that a number of practices in Manchester, Sussex, Lincolnshire, Yorkshire and the Thames Valley have opted out of the programme. The local NHS will have to arrange for patients registered at those surgeries to be vaccinated elsewhere.

While GPs are pleased the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine has become available, many are concerned at how they will put on vaccine clinics from 8am to 8pm seven days a week, as they are obliged to do under the terms of the contract covering their involvement, which NHS England negotiated with the British Medical Association, the doctors’ trade union.

A new rule requiring every vaccine recipient to then be monitored for 15 minutes, introduced by NHS England after two hospital workers had an allergic reaction to it when deployment began on Tuesday, has also prompted some surgeries to not get involved.

Many GPs are torn between their desire to immunise patients in order to save lives and the practical difficulties of participation. Their feelings are also complicated by not wanting to be seen to be undermining public confidence in, or access to, the vaccine.

Discontent in Manchester is so great that two primary care networks (PCN), or groupings of practices, which between them have more than 100,000 patients, have decided not to take part. One, Cheetham Hill and Crumpsall PCN, involves eight surgeries which between them have around 56,000 patients. The other, Higher Blackley, Harpurhey and Charlestown PCN, comprises nine surgeries with about 46,000 patients.

“We are already struggling to staff our surgeries, so how are we going to provide the staff to do the vaccinations? And how can we scale back other services, to free up staff time to vaccinate people, without compromising patients’ safety?” said one GP in Cheetham Hill and Crumpsall.

Primary care services in England are delivered by about 7,000 surgeries organised in 1,260 PCNs. Family doctors in about 250 PCNs are due to start vaccinating patients next week. They will join the 70 “hospital hubs” across the UK which began delivering the vaccine to over-80s, care home staff and NHS personnel with underlying health conditions on Tuesday.

Dr Julia Patterson, the lead for Everydoctor, a network of grassroots NHS medics, said: “I’ve not spoken to a single doctor who doesn’t want to take part in the vaccine rollout; medical professionals are acutely aware of the importance of vaccinations. However, PCNs in some areas may simply be forced to opt out in order to keep normal patient services going, and keep their patients safe this winter.”

There is concern that, once a surgery has signed up, the length of the contract – nine months – could mean that patients may struggle to access care during that time.

A letter from GPs at a surgery in Lincolnshire claimed the “inflexible” contract, and NHS England’s ability to unilaterally impose new conditions during the rollout, “pose a real risk to the safe and essential general medical services we provide to our patients, to the wellbeing of our colleagues, and to the financial stability of the GP practices”.

Pulse, a news website for GPs, reported on Thursday that the 15-minute observation rule had prompted North East Derbyshire PCN to pull out of the scheme.

The Royal College of GPs acknowledged the challenge facing GPs and tension in their ranks.

Prof Martin Marshall, its chair, said: “It is going to be an enormous challenge, given the workload and workforce challenges GPs and our teams are currently working under … Given these challenges, we understand why some practices have felt like they cannot sign up. But there has been an excellent response from the large number of practices able and wanting to be involved.”

A spokesperson for the NHS said: “As set out and supported by the BMA, general practices will deliver the vaccine from nominated sites within primary care networks, where it is safe and practical to do so. There has been a fantastic response from GPs across England signing up to do so.

“Given the well-known logistical challenges of delivering this particular vaccine, GPs like others across the NHS are now responding rapidly to make arrangements for this to happen.”

A building firm that carried out demolition work at a site known to be inhabited by bats has been handed a £600,000 fine, the largest ever issued by a court for a wildlife crime, according to police.

The pound at East Budleigh comes to mind. Would the police take action here? – Owl

www.theguardian.com

Bellway, the housebuilders, admitted damaging or destroying a breeding site or resting place in Artillery Place, Greenwich, south-east London, in 2018, where soprano pipistrelle bats had been documented the previous year.

All species of the animal in the UK are protected.

Bellway, which also had to pay costs of £30,000, agreed to make a £20,000 donation to the Bat Conservation Trust, the Metropolitan police said.

Inspector David Hawtin praised Sgt Simon Henderson and PC Giles Balestrini for their roles in the investigation.

“With the expert assistance of colleagues from specialist units within the Met, the officers constructed evidence to prove that the company had indeed committed an offence by carrying out work at a site where bats were known to inhabit,” he said.

“Bellway Homes has admitted responsibility for this and I hope it reinforces the message that this legislation is there for a reason and should be adhered to.”

At Woolwich crown court on Tuesday, the company pleaded guilty to damaging or destroying a breeding site or resting place of a wild animal of a European protected species between 17 March and 17 August 2018.

The company had been notified in planning documents that it would first need to obtain the appropriate mitigation and a Natural England European protected species licence.

A significant password data breach involving East Devon councillors has been uncovered – and is now under investigation by the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Owl can confirm that they failed to spot the data breach! (The article contains a splendid photo of “Colditz”.) 

Daniel Clark www.devonlive.com

Passwords used by at least 37 of the 60 strong East Devon District Council were briefly made publicly available as a result of the data breach that happened at the start of November.

Swift action was taken to rectify the breach, with councillors having their passwords reset.

It is understood that Strata, East Devon District Council’s IT provider, at some stage took the decision to add the both Airwatch, and Outlook 365 passwords to the individual councillor profiles, and as such, the data breach meant passwords were available.

It also meant that all the data within the councillors’ emails, which could have included confidential information such as probation reports, medical info and electoral register data, could have been accessed by other council members.

The Strata team acted quickly to reset the passwords and notified the Information Commissioners’ Office of the breach, and a full report will come before the council’s cabinet in 2021.

Cllr Paul Millar, who discovered the initial data breach, asked questions around the issue at Wednesday’s full council meeting.

He asked of Cllr Jess Bailey, Portfolio Holder for Corporate Services, what her assessment of the recent significant password data breach for Members, what steps is she taking to ensure that the appropriate safeguards are introduced to prevent the same or similar situation from happening again, and when will Cabinet receive a report?

In response, Cllr Bailey said: “Whilst I recognise that this is a serious matter, I have been sufficiently reassured such that in my view the actual risk of anything untoward having occurred is extremely low.

“Quick and early responsive action was taken to rectify the issue – acknowledged by the ICO – and I understand that the issue is very specific and, as such, is highly unlikely to result in any wider implications for the rest of the Council’s systems.

Blackdown House, East Devon District Council\’s new HQ in Honiton

“The investigation report from Strata, which will come to Cabinet in the near future, will address this and I have been reassured that the Council’s Data Protection Officer will be ensuring that the recommendations and any mitigation actions identified are appropriate and that they will be implemented.”

As a supplementary, Cllr Millar asked for a yes or no answer to the question of ‘can you offer a categorical assurance that my emails and the data of many residents inside those emails were accessed by a third party?’

Cllr Bailey replied: “There will be a report coming through and once that’s available will be brought through,” to which Cllr Millar said: “That’s a no then.”

After the meeting, he added: “The Portfolio Holder’s evasive answer to my question confirms that she does not appear have any handle on an extremely significant data protection issue within the Council.

“There are simply no grounds to suggest that the risk is “extremely low” as she suggested in her written answer to me.

“I look forward to a proper explanation on behalf of the residents in my Ward that my email password and sensitive data will never be able to be viewed by third parties.

“There is no doubt of the seriousness of this situation and I have to say that I am very unimpressed with the Portfolio Holder’s total lack of urgency in terms of providing Members and residents with the much-needed clarity and peace of mind that she is personally on the case..”

A spokesman for East Devon District Council said there was nothing more they wanted to say in addition to the answer from the portfolio holder.

The government’s test-and-trace programme to combat Covid-19 has repeatedly failed to meet targets for delivering test results and contacting infected people despite costs escalating to £22bn, a damning official report has revealed.

Rajeev Syal www.theguardian.com

The National Audit Office (NAO) has found that the centralised programme is contacting two out of every three people who have been close to someone who has tested positive, with about 40% of test results delivered within 24 hours, well below the government’s targets.

The report said a target to provide results within 24 hours of in-person testing deteriorated to a low of 14% in mid-October before rising to 38% in early November.

Call handler contracts for those working on test and trace were worth up to £720m but many staff had very little to do, auditors said.

By 17 June, the utilisation rate – the proportion of time that someone actively worked during their paid hours – was 4% for health professionals and 1% for call handler staff, the report shows.

Utilisation rates remained well below a target of 50% throughout September and for much of October. This means substantial public resources have been spent on staff who provided minimal services in return.

Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, told the Guardian that the report has uncovered a gaping hole in the UK’s defences against the disease.

“The £22bn test and trace now has a budget larger than policing and fire service combined, has seen multimillion pound contracts handed to big private outsourcing firms rather than mobilise experienced public health expertise, and failed to trace sufficient numbers of contacts or ensure those who are contacted have decent financial support to isolate,” he said.

The study from Whitehall’s spending watchdog found that up to the end of October, the scheme spent £2bn less than forecast due to underspending on laboratories, machines and mass testing. Of the £15bn of funding confirmed before the November Spending Review, about £12.8bn (85%) was assigned to testing and £1.3bn to tracing.

In total, 70% of early contracts by value were directly awarded without competition under emergency measures, the report said.

 Dido Harding, head of the NHS test-and-trace programme, which plans to spend a further £16.2bn on contracts by 2021. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

Contracts worth £7bn have been signed with 217 public and private organisations to provide supplies, services and infrastructure, including test laboratories and call handlers for tracing. NHS test and trace (NHST&T) has plans to sign a further 154 contracts, worth £16.2bn, by March 2021.

A target to provide results within 24 hours of in-person testing in the community has not been met, auditors found. The report said that turnaround within 24 hours peaked in June at 93% but subsequently deteriorated to reach a low of 14% in mid-October before rebounding to 38% in early November.

Auditors found that while the government had “rapidly scaled up” the operation from a low base, at times “parts of the tracing service have barely been used”.

The report said: “In May, Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) signed contracts for the provision of 3,000 health professionals and 18,000 call handlers. The call handler contracts were worth up to £720m .

“By 17 June, the utilisation rate (the proportion of time that someone actively worked during their paid hours) was low for both health professional (4%) and call handler staff (1%), indicating that they had little work to do.

“DHSC had no flexibility to reduce the number of call handlers under the original contracts, which ran for three months.

“It negotiated new terms in August and reduced the number of these staff to 12,000, but utilisation rates remained well below a target of 50% throughout September and for much of October. This means substantial public resources have been spent on staff who provided minimal services in return.”

The report found that NHST&T did not plan for the sharp rise in testing demand in September when schools and universities reopened. As a result, laboratories processing community swab tests were unable to keep pace with the volume and experienced large backlogs, which meant NHST&T had to limit the number of tests available.

A DHSC spokesperson said turnaround times had been steadily improving over recent weeks, and the latest performance figures showed that tracing had dramatically improved, now reaching 85.7% of contacts.

“As the Covid-19 vaccination programme is rolled out, we are determined to ensure that NHS test and trace plays an even more effective role in stopping the spread of the virus.”

Yet again, Larry and Paul have captured the essence of a Downing Street briefing, with a sketch that contains as few facts as the real one, but – unlike most government updates – is absolutely unmissable.

Oonagh Keating  /2020/12/10/larry-and-pauls-real-daily-briefing-hilarious-parody-sketch/

The briefing bot may have had a tear duct error, but we haven’t – we’re just not sure whether they’re tears of laughter or despair.

A legal challenge has been launched against Boris Johnson’s decision to clear Priti Patel of bullying despite advice that she had breached the ministerial code.

[Quite a queue forming for judicial review! – Owl]

Rajeev Syal www.theguardian.com

Lawyers for the FDA union sent a pre-action notice to Downing Street on Wednesday accusing the prime minister of acting unlawfully when he chose to stand by his home secretary and overrule his independent adviser.

The letter, first reported in the Times, accuses Johnson of “setting a damaging precedent which gives carte blanche to the kind of unacceptable conduct which the home secretary was found to have committed”.

The union hopes the letter is the first step towards a judicial review of Johnson’s decision. The government has so far refused to make public the full Cabinet Office investigation led by Sir Alex Allan, which concluded that Patel’s actions amounted to bullying.

The government is expected to fight any legal challenge against Johnson’s decision.

The move comes after Jonathan Evans, the chair of the committee for standards in public life, launched a review of probity rules, which will include the ministerial code.

Dave Penman, the general secretary of the FDA, told the Guardian: “The prime minister’s decision has laid bare the inadequacies of the ministerial code as a mechanism for dealing with the conduct of ministers when it comes to their civil servants. The code provides no commitments or rights to the civil servants who were bullied by the home secretary nor any mechanism for challenge.

“Unless this perverse decision by the prime minister, ignoring the evidence provided to him, can be challenged in the courts, it essentially deprives civil servants of the very protection against ministerial misconduct which the code is meant to ensure.”

Allan resigned last month after Johnson reportedly tried to persuade him to tone down the report.

Overruling his adviser on ministerial standards, Johnson acknowledged that while Allan had concluded Patel’s behaviour could “on occasion” be described “as bullying in terms of the impact felt by individuals”, he had “full confidence” in the cabinet minister.

The legal letter sent on Wednesday states: “Civil servants in the Home Office and beyond will rightly object to their conduct being measured against a standard of conduct and unacceptable bullying which, it seems, does not apply to the home secretary or other ministers.”

Sir Philip Rutnam, who quit as the department’s permanent secretary after accusing Patel of a “vicious and orchestrated briefing campaign” against him, is taking the home secretary to an employment tribunal in September.

He claims he was forced out following anonymous briefings after blowing the whistle on her behaviour. Patel denies all allegations against her.

The government has been approached for a comment.

Further details about the two mass vaccination sites that have been identified to deliver the Covid-19 vaccine in Devon have been unveiled – with one to be in Plymouth and one in Exeter.

Daniel Clark sidmouth.nub.news 

Darryn Allcorn, Chief Nurse at the Devon Clinical Commissioning Group, told Thursday’s Team Devon Local Outbreak Engagement Board meeting that two sites have been secured in the county to deliver vaccines en masse to the population early in 2021.

One site will be in Plymouth – the exact location to be announced next week once contracts are signed, he said.

The second will be in Exeter, and agreement from NHS England for the location has been reached, so further conversations with the site owner are now taking place.

Vaccinations in the county have begun after Derriford Hospital received 975 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, with Mr Allcorn saying that 55 people were vaccinated on Tuesday along with 90 on Wednesday.

Another 830 vaccinations are set to be carried out by midday on Saturday, after which the next batch will be delivered.

What other sites will be giving the vaccine – and when?

He stated that on Friday, the first eight primary care sites in Devon to receive the vaccine would be announced, with each of them to receive 975 doses of the vaccine, with vaccinations to begin on December 14 and 15, with a further 21 sites to become active in the New Year, if not beforehand.

On the large-scale mass vaccination sites, Mr Allcorn said that one would be in Plymouth and one in Exeter, and they hoped to confirm publically the locations next week, with the sites more likely to be administering the Oxford vaccine, which does not need to be stored at -70C like the Pfizer jab does, if and when it is approved for use.

Cllr Andrew Leadbetter, vice-chairman of the Board, asked what the plans were for the Northern part of Devon, if the mass vaccination centre were in the south of the county.

Mr Allcorn said: “We will be working with primary care teams to have a model where we can bring a slightly larger site to North Devon. The challenge is the geographical isolation, so once we can transport it, we will go to the flu vaccine model and deliver it to people as close as possible to their home, and the Northern teams up for that model.”

Dr Paul Johnson, chair of the Devon CCG, added: “The vaccination programme is up and running and given the numbers of over 80s who are getting Covid-19 and that they are the highest risk group so targeting them is the right priority.”

What’s the Covid infection rate now?

The Board heard that Devon had seen a decline in the number of coronavirus cases confirmed over recent weeks, but that decline had stared to slow down and stabilise.

Simon Chant, Public Health Specialist, said that the latest infection rate for the county was 75.7 per 100,000, half the English average, but the rate for Devon was now higher than both Plymouth (46.5) and Torbay (36.7), areas that had seen a higher peak but a much faster drop.

Mr Chant said that the county was seeing a gradual increase cases being confirmed in the 80+ age group, which was seen by outbreaks in care home and hospital settings, and that was skewed to those 90+, but the infection rates were starting to stabilise and were decreasing, while the 0-19 age range had the lowest current infection rates.

Across the county, East Devon and West Devon were the areas with the highest current infection rates based on the seven-day rolling average covering the period of specimens between December 1 and 7, with South Hams and Teignbridge the lowest.

Dr Phil Norrey, Devon County Council’s chief executive, confirmed that the decision will be taken by Government on what happens in terms of the Tier system on December 16, with it being announced on December 17.

He added: “We will know next Thursday whether Devon continues in Tier 2 or moves up or down. It is extremely unlikely to move up, but we have no idea if it will move down.”

Dr Norrey added: “The vaccinations news is not a signal for people to lower their guard and the virus will remain in the community for months to come.”

Cllr James McInnes, cabinet member for children’s services, added: “I am starting to worry about people lowering their guard because the vaccine is coming. We need to incorporate the message to people to welcome the vaccine but also to keep yourself well so you will actually be able to take the vaccine.”

A new report has revealed the risks that Cornwall faces as a result of Brexit included major hits to agriculture and fishing industries.

Author: Richard Whitehouse, Local Democracy Reporter Published 9th Dec 2020 planetradio.co.uk 

The document, written by Cornwall Council leader Julian German, is set to go before the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Leadership Board when it meets on Friday (Dec11).

With the EU transition period set to end on December 31 the nine-page report sets out what the impact of changes could be and the risks they pose to Cornwall.

Cornwall Council has an EU transition working group which has been meeting fortnightly to assess the risks and what might need to be done to mitigate those risks.

On trade with the EU the report states:

“The changes to the way the UK trades with the EU will have an impact on Cornwall’s businesses and the wider economy. Cornwall’s trade with the EU is higher than the UK average, with 55% of Cornish exports going to the EU and 47% of its imports coming from the EU.

“This equates to a slight trade surplus with £364m in exports v £325m in imports. However, less businesses export to the EU (1,127), than those who import (1,832), with approximately 5% of Cornish businesses exporting to the EU.”

The report highlights that, at the time of writing, it is unclear whether there will be a trade deal in place by December 31 but says whatever happens there will have to be new processes for imports and exports.

There are also concerns about the impact on the wider economy with the Government forecasting that GDP will be 4% lower than if the UK remained in the EU.

The report states:

“Cornwall’s economy is particularly vulnerable to the impacts of the EU exit due to the average low wage, and importance of the tourism, food, fish and agriculture sectors. This could be compounded with the impact of COVID-19 which is likely to see a greater contraction than the 2010 financial crash.

“In order to mitigate this impact Cornwall Council have been working with partners to provide support for our different sectors and businesses and seeking assurances from government on a number of key areas.”

With Cornwall having received a large amount of EU funding due to its status as being one of the poorest areas in Europe there are also concerns about whether that funding will be replaced by the Government and how.

While the Prime Minister has promised that Cornwall will not miss out there have been few details about the replacement funding and how it will be administered.

Cornwall Council has submitted a bid to the Government for £700million of funding to be provided over the next 10 years to fill the gap left by the loss of EU funding.

The report states:

“The Government have previously pledged that the replacement UK Shared Prosperity Fund (SPF) would see no region worse off. However, there is a possibility that replacement funds could use different metrics which could see Northern/urban areas benefit over Cornwall. This presents a significant risk that the “no worse off” commitment may not be delivered as it relates to more than the value of the fund.

“The local devolution of decision making, simpler process, outcome delivery and a 10-year delivery period that Cornwall Council are calling for are also at risk.”

Concerns about the impact on seasonal labour and workforce are also highlighted in the report which states that the agriculture sector is dependent on seasonal workers.

It states that the brassica sector is worth £200m a year to Cornwall and the daffodil sector is worth £100m a year to Cornwall but less than 5% of those working in fields are UK residents.

The report says that it is still “urgently seeking” an extension to the Government’s seasonal agricultural workers scheme into 2021 and beyond and for it to cover non-food crops such as daffodils and bulbs.

It states:

“With non-food crop production (including daffodils) not covered by the current SAWS scheme, and the imminent closure of the SAWS pilot scheme at the end of December 2020, Cornish farming businesses are very concerned.

“It appears that seasonal labour is being caught up in Government policies relating to immigration rather than being treated separately. Due to the current immigration policy focusing on skills – defined as qualifications – field operatives are not considered for visas. The industry estimates 70,000 workers are needed nationally each year.”

The report adds:

“Cornwall Council have been raising this issue to the Treasury and Home Office and have been told that it is an issue that the Government have sight of and that options are under consideration. However, we have been advised that a ‘Pick for Britain’ campaign will be an important focus regardless of what is decided.”

And it continues:

“At a time when Cornwall and the UK are facing the unprecedented challenges that Covid-19 has had on our economy, the potential loss of these businesses would impact the national Exchequer as well as the local Cornish economy. Our daffodil industry alone contributes £20m a year of VAT.”

Turning to fisheries the report raises concerns about how export restrictions will impact live bivalve molluscs (LBM) and set to run from January to April.

It says that this would “significantly impact” the Fal Fishery and the export of mussels, oysters and queen scallops to the EU – the first sale value of queen scallops for the 2019/20 season was around £256,000.

The report states:

“If the anticipated restrictions stand, the fishery will cease to operate due to the complete loss of the market. The fishery currently supports 30 licence holders, a further 42 registered crew and ancillary businesses.

“This issue is due to a change in regulations which will mean that it will only be possible to export LBM to the EU that have come from A grade shellfish harvest areas or have been appropriately purified. As these products are deemed fit for direct human consumption and classified as a food product, they can be exported alongside an export health certificate.

“However, LMB from B grade shellfish harvest areas are considered live animal exports and cannot be exported without a Live Animal Health Certificate (LAHC) which is not due to be made available by the EU until April 2021.”

The report is set to go to the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Leadership Board when it meets on Friday (Dec11). The board will be asked to review the risks and consider mitigation methods which could be implemented.

The board will also be asked to write an open letter to EU residents in Cornwall reminding them to apply for settled status by June 30, 2021 and that it continues to raise the need for the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme to be extended and include non-food crops.

Revenue officials have written to families struggling to settle bills during the pandemic and threatened to “take things you own and sell them”.

Paul Morgan-Bentley, Head of Investigations | Rosa Ellis, Data Journalist www.thetimes.co.uk 

Letters have been sent accusing people on low incomes of “deliberately” choosing not to pay taxes. They are warned that officials “can take money directly from your bank or business society accounts”.

While much of the country has benefited from billions in financial aid, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has tried to collect debts by sending agents to visit people.

The enforcement tactics, which have included the use of eight private debt collection companies, have been condemned for causing “distress” and “emotional trauma”. In some cases, however, the arrears are the result of HMRC errors.

After being contacted by this newspaper, the department apologised last night for about 800 letters it had sent during the pandemic accusing people of deliberately not repaying debts.

It said that the content “was a mistake and does not reflect our current approach to debt collection”. It did not apologise for threatening repossessions and a spokesman said this was “a pretty standard line” that “we often use”.

An investigation by The Times also found that:

• HMRC has passed on 4.5 million personal records to private debt collectors since 2014 without taxpayers’ specific consent and they are incentivised to maximise takings.

• The debt-collection companies use the pandemic as a means of pressing people to pay, writing that “Covid-19 has damaged the economy” and tax is needed “to fund the NHS”.

• Cancer patients and care home staff are among those who have been chased by debt collectors working with the government department.

• A vulnerable man whose local authority passed details of his council tax debt to collectors tried to commit suicide last month after suffering anxiety over mounting debts.

• The department refused to disclose the number of cases it had passed to debt collectors during the pandemic, despite the release of equivalent figures for the previous six years.

HMRC uses private companies to chase tax debts relating to issues such as credit overpayments and miscalculations on self-assessments.

People on low incomes who are eligible for tax credits can be overpaid for many months without realising and then face repayment demands for thousands of pounds, which they cannot afford. Others owe money relating to freelance work for the previous tax year but cannot pay because of loss of earnings during the pandemic.

The debts in cases seen by this newspaper range from £66 to more than £10,000. In recent months, several of the debt collection companies have written to families struggling to pay.

They all used the same wording: “Covid-19 (Coronavirus) has damaged the UK economy, which means more than ever it is important that tax debts are collected to help it recover. These are also needed to continue to fund vital public services like the NHS.”

They can contact taxpayers by letter, text message and phone. If there is no response or they do not pay the cases are handed back to HMRC.

In October, the taxman wrote directly to Richard Hull, 59, a carpenter who has been unable to settle a tax bill of £9,733 because he and his wife, a care home worker, were ill with the virus in April and most of his customers cancelled or delayed work.

Mr Hull had tried to respond to other letters from one of the debt collection firms but was unable to get through on the phone. While furloughed workers have had 80 per cent of their wages covered, many self-employed people, including Mr Hull, have not qualified for government help. This is often because they are newly self-employed or directors of limited companies.

The letter to Mr Hull from HMRC stated: “If you still don’t pay, we’ll now treat you like you’ve deliberately chosen not to . . . We can take things you own and sell them and we charge you fees for doing this. If you don’t act now it could cost you more money. Alternatively, in certain circumstances we can take money directly from your bank or building society accounts.”

HMRC did not respond to requests for the number of letters threatening repossessions it has sent since April.

In the 2019/20 financial year, HMRC gave 1.1 million cases to private debt collectors — more than double the number five years earlier. HMRC refused to disclose the number of cases handed to debt collectors since the pandemic struck in April, claiming this is “commercially sensitive information”. Taxpayers have made more than 1,400 complaints about the companies to the department since 2014. Over the past decade HMRC has spent at least £179 million on debt collection services.

The department also employs an internal team of 285 “field force collectors” who visit people at home or at business premises. They have made 2.4 million visits since 2014, with 1,091 of them made during the pandemic.

These have been only to business addresses. HMRC said they were not to list or collect assets but to “offer support”. Local authorities also use private companies to chase council tax debts and have continued to do so this year.

Rushanara Ali, a Labour MP on the Treasury select committee, called for a review of public services’ use of debt collection agencies and aggressive practices. “We all recognise the need to recover taxes but in the middle of the pandemic there needs to be greater sensitivity so that it doesn’t become counter-productive,” she said.

StepChange, the largest debt advice charity in Britain, said government debt collection practices were more aggressive than those in other sectors.

Peter Tutton, head of policy, said: “At a time when so many people are struggling due to coronavirus, outdated and harmful approaches to debt collection cannot be allowed to continue.”

The debt collection agencies said they were regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and trained to identify and help vulnerable customers. They said they have offered additional support during the pandemic, including changes to repayment terms.

HMRC said that repossession “is only mentioned in a letter after we have already made several attempts to contact a customer”. Less than 1 per cent of field force collector cases lead to goods being removed.

HMRC stopped debt collection activities in March but contacted a million people with tax debts built up before the pandemic when restrictions were lifted in some areas.

A spokesman said that contact initially focused on working with people to help them find an affordable way forward and that “strongly worded communications only go out as a last resort”.

Private firms are awarded commission to hunt debts

Private companies chasing struggling families for tax debts are given incentives by the government to maximise the amount of money they collect.

They are reimbursed using a “payment by results” model, according to a contract for the work seen by The Times. If people who owe taxes pay HMRC after being chased by a debt collection agency, “it will be able to claim commission on these payments” up to a cap, it states.

In some cases the agencies amend debt balances to add interest and penalties when instructed to do so by the Revenue. Although the contract, which runs for seven years from 2015, offers basic information about the arrangements, details about amounts paid, how the commission is calculated, at what level payments are capped and extra penalties have been redacted to protect “commercial interests”.

HMRC outsources the collection of arrears to Integrated Debt Services, also known as Indesser, which is a private company majority owned by TDX Group. TDX Group is owned by Equifax, the consumer credit reporting agency headquartered in the US Indesser then sub-contracts the work to eight debt collection agencies.

In 2019 HMRC spent £25.4 million on debt collection services, according to figures compiled by the accountants UHY Hacker Young. Over the past decade it paid at least £179 million to debt collectors. The companies can try to contact people by letter, text messages and calls and if they do not respond or they cannot pay the cases are handed back to HMRC. The contract states that scripts — for instance for the letters and text messages — are approved by a government department. If the department decides a type of debt should not be collected on a “payment by results” basis, the contract allows different payment models to be used.

For instance, it offers a “platinum” package that allows a set fee to be paid in return for a debt agency sending three letters, making five calls and sending five text messages.

Indesser has collected more than £1.7 billion in public sector debt for 17 government bodies since its inception in 2015, according to its annual report for 2019. Its highest paid director earned £277,000 in 2018.

Indesser and HMRC declined to provide more details about the amounts paid in commission. Indesser said debt collection agencies were subject to “extensive due diligence” before approval by HMRC. It said all correspondence with the public had been updated in light of the pandemic “to acknowledge the impact on lives and finances across the country” and that people were allowed extra time to repay. It only added penalties or interest to bills if instructed to do so by a government department, at no financial benefit.

HMRC said that the law allowed it to delegate work to private sector suppliers. It said that safeguards were in place to ensure that they were monitored and complied with rules and that it had a “robust complaints process” and “will always work to rectify any mistakes”.

The government is facing a backlash from local councillors – including more than 350 Conservatives –over its proposals to shake up the planning system.

www.theguardian.com 

More than 2,000 councillors from across England and campaigners have signed an open letter to the housing secretary, Robert Jenrick, calling on him to rethink the plans.

Ministers want to overhaul the planning system, which they say is necessary to boost the building of high-quality, sustainable homes, by streamlining the process, cutting red tape and harnessing technology.

Proposals include speeding up the creation of local plans by communities and creating zones for growth, renewal or protection, with development in growth areas pre-approved as long as it meets local design standards.

The proposals are also aimed at much quicker development in renewal areas, replace the planning process with a clearer, rules-based system, and protect green spaces by allowing for more building on brownfield land.

But councillors have said the plans will undermine local democracy by removing the public’s right to be heard in person at local plan examinations and taking away development decisions from elected planning committees.

They said the zoning system could radically reduce protections for nature, local green spaces and fail to tackle the climate crisis, and put additional pressure on greenfield sites.

The proposals would also weaken provisions for affordable, sustainable, good-quality homes, the open letter warns.

The letter states: “The right development, in the right place has the potential to deliver social equity and sustainable economic growth, as well as meeting our environmental ambitions. The government’s proposals as they stand will not achieve these goals.”

Crispin Truman, the chief executive of the countryside charity CPRE, which has hosted the letter alongside Friends of the Earth, said it was not too late for the government to rethink its changes to the planning system.

“Planning done well can create the affordable and well-designed homes that communities are crying out for,” he said. “We can create low-carbon and nature-friendly homes, with an abundance of green space on their doorsteps, all connected by low-carbon public transport.

“Investing in a locally led democratic planning system, that empowers local councils to create these places, should be the government’s top priority.”

Naomi Luhde-Thompson, a senior planner at Friends of the Earth, added: “It’s clear to so many MPs, councillors and local communities that the prime minister’s vision for decision-making on development in England is not one that guarantees local control and centres local voices.”

She said the proposals would “drown out community voices, stifle local democratic responsibility, and weaken legal protections for the environment”.

James Jamieson, the chairman of the Local Government Association, said councils were committed to ensuring new homes were built and communities had quality places to live.

He said: “It is vital that these are delivered through a locally-led planning system which gives communities the power to ensure new developments are of a high standard, built in the right places, and include affordable homes.”

He said nine in 10 applications were approved by councils and that more than a million homes given planning permission over the last decade were yet to be built.

“Any loss of local control over developments would be a concern,” he warned. “It would deprive communities of the ability to define the area they live in and know best and risk giving developers the freedom to ride roughshod over local areas.

“If we are to truly fix our chronic housing shortage, councils need the tools, powers and flexibilities to plan for and deliver the quality homes and places communities need.”

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said the concerns were unfounded and “demonstrate a misunderstanding of our proposals”.

They added: “Our reforms to the planning system will protect our cherished countryside and green spaces for generations to come. The proposals will put local democracy at the heart of the planning process, enabling green belt decisions to remain with councils and giving communities real influence over development location and design.”

A fleet of environmentally-friendly electric vans have hit the road in East Devon as part of the district council’s drive to become carbon-neutral by 2040.

East Devon Reporter eastdevonnews.co.uk 

The authority is one of the first in the country to trial the seven specially-modified vehicles – each kitted out with a custom-made caged tipping body.

Their rechargeable batteries have a range of between 124 and 187 miles.

East Devon District Council (EDDC) is leasing the lower-emission Nissan ENV200 vans which will be used daily to help keep parks and public areas ‘clean and green’.

And plans are in place to convert more of its vehicles to electric in the future as part of a £100,000 programme.

East Devon District Council StreetScene deputy operations manager Tom Wood. Picture: EDDC

Councillor Marianne Rixson, portfolio holder for climate action, said: “I am very encouraged by our greener fleet and I’m excited to see how this area of our work will progress in the future.

“Each and every one of us faces an enormous environmental challenge and any changes that we can make to reduce our footprint is a positive step forward.”

EDDC, which has been using electric vehicles since 2012, signed up to a Devon-wide climate change emergency declaration last year.

Its climate change action plan includes earmarking £100,000 towards the electrification of its fleet of vans and cars.

The ‘associated infrastructure’ of the environmentally-friendly motors initially costs more to buy than standard diesel or petrol vehicles.

The East Devon District Council vans have a bespoke caged tipping body. Picture: EDDC

EDDC has also been working ‘smart’ electric vehicle charging equipment installer Elmtronics, which has supplied four stations in Sidmouth.

The charge facilities can be increased ‘as more vehicles come on-stream’, says the council.

Two builders’ bags full of asbestos sheets were found in the Mill Leat, on the River Clyst, near Sowton Village, East Devon. It is thought the illegal dumping happened on or near 20 November 2020.

Mirage News www.miragenews.com 

Fly-tipping is not a victimless crime. The cost of clearing up falls on the landowner. But in limited circumstances the Environment Agency can step in. The asbestos is now being removed and disposed of safely.

Dave Brogden of the Environment Agency said:

The burden of investigating and clearing waste from fly-tipping often falls on local councils and we get involved if the amount and type of waste is so bad it can only be classified as illegal dumping.

On this occasion we have stepped in to sort out this problem, the result of someone showing a complete disregard to the safety of the public and the environment and for the time and resources of local services such as ours, which are already under extreme pressure.

Everyone who produces waste has a duty of care to make sure it does not cause harm to human health or pollute the environment and that it goes to the right place for disposal. On this occasion there were at least three sites within a few miles of the location permitted to accept this sort of hazardous waste.

If the cost of any work being carried out is unusually low, the contractor may not have a permit to carry waste nor any intention of paying for its proper disposal. You can check their waste-carrying credentials at https://environment.data.gov.uk/public-register/view/search-waste-carriers-brokers.

Dave Brogden said:

If you use someone to take away waste, we want you to take 3 steps: check if they if they have a permit, ask where the rubbish will end up, then record the details of the vehicle used to take the rubbish away. Never pay cash and insist upon a receipt.

If you have any information about who is responsible for this waste crime, contact the Environment Agency’s 24/7 hotline 0800 807060 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111 or www.crimestoppers-uk.org.

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A Town council survey has revealed that there is ‘no consensus’ over the future of Budleigh Salterton’s high street to make the town centre safer.

[Exmouth story here]

Daniel Wilkins www.exmouthjournal.co.uk

High Street, Budleigh Salterton. Picture: Google

Budleigh Salterton Town Council had agreed to undertake the survey after proposals for temporary alterations to the town centre to help with social distancing were criticised by traders and residents.

The results of the survey, which closed at the beginning of October, were presented to the town council on Monday, November 23.

The main conclusion of the summary report is that there is no consensus amongst local people about the way forward for the High Street.

A spokesman for the town council said: “Responses presented a really mixed picture, and it became quite apparent there was no one scheme which the majority of respondents wished to be carried out.”

The survey, which asked for opinions and ideas relating to the safety of the High Street in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic, received 371 responses – 333 of which were completed via an online form.

More than 85 per cent of those who took the survey lived in Budleigh and the same figure said Budleigh high street was important to them.

Around half of those who took part in the survey said designated disabled parking bays are needed, with 21 per cent saying they were not.

Earlier this year the town council proposed to widen the pavements in Budleigh to make it easier for shoppers and 75 per cent of those taking the survey said the pavements are currently too narrow.

At the council Meeting, councillors thanked local residents and businesses who had made their voices heard through the survey and agreed that this had been a ‘huge learning curve’ for all involved as all the comments were ‘really valuable’ in gauging the wide variety of local opinion.

The Town Council is publishing a summary of the results, so that people can see the breadth of views expressed.

It will continue to monitor issues, for both pedestrians and drivers, in the High Street and will continue to review the many positive suggestions for improvement to see if an obvious solution becomes apparent which it can then bring it to fruition.