Dozens of protests have called for an end to underfunding and understaffing in the NHS across England, Scotland and Wales to mark the health service’s 73rd anniversary.

Mattha Busby www.theguardian.com 

Campaigners from Keep Our NHS Public said they wanted an end to health service privatisation, better pay and to highlight threats to patient safety due to working conditions.

Outside University College Hospital in London on Saturday, NHS health workers and activists chanted: “Boris Johnson hear us shout, pay us properly or get out”. They also begged for the NHS to be kept alive, as it continues to face structural reforms that many say damage efficiency and see some services in effect privatised.

Nearby, a critical care nurse said NHS staff had been so “battered” by the pandemic that “a lot of us are still carrying scars … We’ve seen things we shouldn’t see and its broken a lot of our nurses”, Dave Carr, also a Unite representative, told Sky News.

“The NHS is in an existential crisis. We love the fact we are trusted by the British public to look after their sick [relatives]. So I want them to trust us now when we say if we don’t get a pay rise we are going to continue to haemorrhage nursing staff. Patient safety is already compromised; our NHS is crumbling and around the edges the vultures are privatising lumps of it. It’s on a knife-edge.”

There was anger in March when the former health secretary Matt Hancock recommended a 1% increase for nurses and doctors in consideration of what he said was “what’s affordable as a nation”.

On Friday, the British Medical Association said it planned to ask members about taking industrial action and halting paid and unpaid overtime if the government’s pay offer was not closer to 4%, after years of real terms cuts. The Royal College of Nursing also said it was considering balloting for action over the “slap in the face” pay offer.

Before the protests, co-chair of Keep Our NHS Public Dr Tony O’Sullivan, said the founding principles of the NHS, to institute universal free healthcare, were undermined by government underfunding of the NHS, while “giving priority” to investment with private health companies.

“The weakened NHS has been stretched to breaking point by Covid and the population has suffered,” he said. “Staff are underpaid, overworked and their health put in danger. The new health bill threatens further large scale private contracting.”

Holly Turner, an NHS nurse and founding member of campaign group NHS Workers Say No, said: “I have been dealt over a decade of real terms cuts to my pay despite my workload only continuing to increase. Staff have been victims of avoidable deaths and illness while crony contracts and profit has been placed above workers’ safety. We are struggling to keep our patients safe due to chronic understaffing and unmanageable waiting lists.”

John McDonnell, former Labour shadow chancellor, told a rally outside Downing Street: “We’ve all known people who have been lost in the NHS as a result of this, in my local hospital we lost one of the matrons in the early stages of the pandemic. We cannot let their lives be in vain; they gave their lives to save their patients … We’ve got to ensure in honour of them we save the NHS.”

Almost 800,000 people have signed a petition set up by a nurse from Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, which says the weekly national rounds of applause, broadcast with images of ministers clapping, is “a nice gesture” but that what they most want is for NHS workers to be given a 15% pay rise.

The protests come as the NHS turns 73. More than 70 landmarks across England will be lit up in blue on Saturday to thank staff for their work during the pandemic and commemorate the hundreds of NHS workers who died in relation to Covid.

The NHS chief people officer, Prerana Issar, said: “Each of the colleagues who sadly died while caring for and protecting patients represents an irreplaceable gap in a family and a workplace.

“It is no exaggeration to say that health service staff have helped to keep the country going during the pandemic, and while NHS staff have rightly been celebrated for their contribution, we know that the role played by other key workers – people keeping supermarkets open, refuse collectors, childcarers and other public services – as well as the resilience of the general public, has helped ensure we can start to move forward.”

Forty-six disused railway bridges under threat of being filled in have been given a reprieve amid mounting anger over “vandalism” caused by the policy.

Graeme Paton, Transport Correspondent www.thetimes.co.uk 

Before: The bridge in Great Musgrove, Cumbria, declared unsafe

The Times has learnt that the number of bridges and tunnels on a target list drawn up by Highways England has been quietly cut from 115 at the end of last year to 69 now. The work will be carried out over the next five years.

It is understood that the 40 per cent cut has been driven by new assessments of the bridges combined with possible deals with local councils to carry out repairs as an alternative to infilling.

After: Campaigners said pouring aggregate under the bridge was “vandalism”

This includes one 162-year-old bridge designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel near Saltash, Cornwall, which had been earmarked for infilling just ten months ago because it was in a “deteriorating condition”.

Highways England now says that it has no current plans to plug the bridge.

The disclosure prompted claims from campaigners that the entire infilling policy was unjustified. There has been anger over the approach particularly after tonnes of aggregate were poured beneath a bridge at Great Musgrave near Warcop, Cumbria, amid warnings from Highways England that it was unsafe. Heritage groups branded the work as “vandalism” and claimed it would have cost just £5,000 to repair it.

Highways England manages 3,200 structures on disused railway lines across Britain on behalf of the Department for Transport. It has identified a series of bridges and tunnels to be infilled or demolished after judging they are at risk of collapse, with maintenance and upgrade costs too high.

However, heritage campaigners said that most bridges are in good working order and many are on disused lines that are earmarked as future cycling and walking routes. Some could be reopened for railways, it has been claimed. The campaigners fear that the policy is being pushed purely because Highways England no longer wants to be liable for the structures.

Yesterday, the government-owned company said that the original list included structures that were “in the process of being assessed for maintenance”. It said that “suitable schemes for 46 bridges from that list remain in development”.

Richard Marshall, Highways England’s historical railways estate director, said: “Most of the 3,200 tunnels, bridges and viaducts that make up the estate were built well over 100 years ago. We will spend £13 million this year on keeping the public safe when using these structures . . . We also recognise their wider social value, and we work with local authorities and other organisations to help them find viable ways to re-use these structures wherever possible. Our remit is to keep old railway structures safe but we aren’t funded to re-purpose them.”

Graeme Bickerdike of the Historical Railways Estate Group, an alliance of engineers, cyclists and heritage campaigners, said: “This apparent 40 per cent reduction in the number of at-risk structures exposes the deceit Highways England has been peddling for the past five months in persistently claiming that these bridges are a threat to public safety and have to be infilled . . . How can we trust their judgment about the remaining 69?”

Many “watchers” are ahead of Owl this morning in refreshing their memories of Sasha Swire’s innuendo riddled description of Michael Gove’s “manhood”. 

The Gove/Vine split is reported in the Telegraph under the intriguing headline:

Michael Gove and Sarah Vine split raises Covid distancing questions

The article reports:

Michael Gove on Friday night became the second senior Cabinet minister in a week to split with his wife as Downing Street refused to say whether any social distancing rules had been broken.

www.telegraph.co.uk 

Fears are growing for the ability of health services in the Westcountry to cope with a predicted influx of hundreds of thousands of tourists this summer.

From today’s Western Morning News

With coronavirus restrictions putting many foreign trips off-limits, around 23 million Britons are planning UK staycations this year.

Cornwall comes top and Devon in third place on a list of destinations chosen by staycationers as the best place for a break at home.

But the predicted influx has prompted renewed efforts by NHS Kernow, which provides health services in Cornwall, to issue a series of warnings to people all over Britain not to put the Duchy’s health system under strain when they come away.

Using national advertising, including promotions on the popular music-sharing website and app Spotify, health bosses hope to target younger visitors and make sure they know how to access healthcare without swamping already over-stretched services.

Pressure is building at Truro’s Royal Cornwall Hospital, where on more than one occasion this week more than 20 ambulances have had to queue outside the hospital’s emergency department.

Truro MP Cherilyn Mackrory said the hospital and its A & E department was not at crisis point, despite it being at ‘Opel-4’, or black alert – the highest level of pressure. She said the government was providing huge support to Cornwall.

Newquay and St Austell MP and a junior health minister Steve Double said getting on top of the post-pandemic crisis was “a national challenge and one we are experiencing in Cornwall as well.”

A third English local authority has declared itself effectively bankrupt after the discovery of a “catastrophic” £100m black hole in its budget – the result of what it admitted had been years of poor financial management and mishandling of commercial investments.

Patrick Butler www.theguardian.com

Labour-run Slough borough council in Berkshire issued a section 114 notice on Friday, after admitting it could not meet its legal obligations to meet planned running costs. Without drastic remedial action it warned its financial deficit could rise to £150m by 2024.

As a consequence, the council is to impose “rigorous spend control measures” that are likely to mean significant job losses, cuts to services, and the sale of buildings and land, to ensure it can “live within its means” in the long term.

Slough is the third English council to become effectively insolvent in the past three years, following Northamptonshire and Croydon, and its predicament reflects a much wider precariousness in local government. The National Audit Office warned in March at least 25 authorities were on the brink of bankruptcy.

Eight councils, including Slough, were told earlier this week they faced an independent government-commissioned review into their finances as ministers decided whether to bail them out financially. The others are Bexley, Copeland, Eastbourne, Luton, Peterborough, Redcar & Cleveland, and Wirral.

Although Slough said its finances had been hit hard by the impact of Covid – leading to a collapse in council tax and business rates income – a report by its chief financial officer, Steven Mair, made clear the problems were deep-rooted and linked to accounting errors, lax financial controls and poor decisions.

“Slough’s financial problems have not arisen in the past few months. The approach to financial decision-making, leadership and management, processes, quality assurance and review etc that has been adopted by the council over a number of years was not robust and consequently highly detrimental to the council,” Mair’s report said.

Many of the problems recently uncovered related to previous years, the report said, and had they been know about at the time it is likely that the council would have been unable to meet its legal duties to set a legally balanced budget – raising the prospect it could have been technically insolvent as early as 2019.

These shortcomings included weak management and oversight of a number of companies partly or wholly owned by the council, exposing it to “significant financial risk”. The council has borrowed £580m since 2016, and the cost of servicing these loans added to the pressures on its budget.

An audit revealed in May that the council’s reserves – thought to be £7.5m – were only £500,000 after it emerged they had been drained to correct an accounting error made two years previously that had overestimated the council’s income from a commercial joint-venture, Slough Urban Renewal.

The local government secretary, Robert Jenrick, said: “Slough council’s financial position and clear mismanagement is deeply concerning and completely unacceptable – local people deserve better than this from their local council leaders.

The leader of the council, James Swindlehurst, said: “The process of repairing council finances continues and our commitment to the provision of essential services remains unchanged: bins will still be collected, potholes still filled, care still provided to our most vulnerable.”

However, the opposition Conservative group leader, Wayne Strutton, said Slough’s plight was “a consequence of years of financial negligence and over-ambition by the Labour administration. It is time that those responsible for this financial catastrophe are held accountable.”

Slough had approached the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) in December for approval to spend £15m of capital loans on funding day to day costs. However, the section 114 report said the emergence since March of a growing number of financial issues meant this sum was not enough.

Last week, the Tory-run Peterborough council was told by its auditors than even with £24m of government bailout loans agreed in February it would need more government financial support or be forced to undertake a “significant unplanned reduction in services” to remain financially viable.

“Whilst we have found that the authority has responded appropriately to its deteriorating financial position, we have serious concerns about the authority’s current and future financial resilience and ability to remain viable following the Covid-19 outbreak,” a report by auditors Ernst and Young said.

Funding for deprived schools in England has shifted to wealthy areas, study finds

Sally Weale www.theguardian.com 

Government promises to level-up funding in education have resulted in money being shifted away from schools in the most disadvantaged areas and invested in pupils in more prosperous areas of England, according to the official parliamentary spending watchdog.

A report by the National Audit Office (NAO) found average per-pupil funding in the most deprived fifth of schools fell in real terms by 1.2% between 2017-18 and 2020-21, while it increased by 2.9% in the least deprived fifth.

It follows the implementation of the government’s new national funding formula in 2018-19 which introduced a minimum level of per pupil funding across England, triggering increased payments to schools in wealthier areas of the country with traditionally lower funding levels and leaving schools in cities with high levels of deprivation worse off.

The report was published on Friday amid mounting evidence elsewhere of the disproportionate impact of Covid on already disadvantaged pupils. Official new government data revealed that disadvantaged pupils who were eligible for free school meals (FSM) had higher rates of Covid-related absence from school during the autumn term than their wealthier peers. It also found that children from most ethnic minority backgrounds missed more school than their white classmates.

Data obtained by the National Education Union and shared exclusively with the Guardian meanwhile found that autumn attendance was at its lowest in schools with the highest rates of FSM eligibility – 79% in secondary schools with the highest rates of FSM, compared with 86% in those with lowest FSM rates.

At the same time, a new survey by the National Foundation for Educational Research of attainment among six and seven-year-olds in England found the disadvantage gap between rich and poor widened post-Covid.

Overall pupils in year two were three months behind in their reading and two months behind in their mathematics, compared with pre-Covid levels, but the disadvantage gap increased from six months’ progress to around seven months for reading and eight months for maths.

The NAO report also challenged the government narrative of a huge injection of extra cash into schools in England. It found that although total funding for schools increased by 7.1% in real terms between 2014-15 and 2020-21, the growth in pupil numbers meant real-terms funding per pupil rose by 0.4%.

Gareth Davies, the head of the NAO, questioned whether the government’s new funding model was matching resources to need. “There has been a shift in the balance of funding from more deprived to less deprived local areas. Although more deprived areas and schools continue to receive more per-pupil funding than those that are less deprived, the difference in funding has narrowed.”

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, backed the introduction of the national funding formula but said the government had failed to put sufficient money into the system to support its aims.

“The result is that slicing it in a different way has created a new inequity with many schools in deprived areas losing out. These schools support children and young people who face the greatest degree of challenge in their lives and they desperately need this funding. The government has failed them.”

Shadow education secretary Kate Green said: “The Conservatives have abandoned children on free school meals and are letting their learning fall further behind their peers. Their woeful catch-up plans – which even their own expert adviser described as ‘feeble’ – are utterly insufficient to help children recover the education and socialising they’ve missed.”

A Department for Education spokesperson said areas with high proportions of students from disadvantaged backgrounds continued to receive the highest levels of funding under the new funding formula.

“We are providing the biggest uplift to school funding in a decade – £14bn in total over the three years to 2022-23 – investing in early years education and targeting our ambitious recovery funding, worth £3bn to date, to support disadvantaged pupils aged two to 19 with their attainment.”

Louise leads move to help communities prepare for floods

(Remember last year John Hart, said with regard to flooding, “You are on your own”! – Owl)

Tim Dixon www.exmouthjournal.co.uk 

A free event to help communities across Devon prepare for incidents such as severe weather and flooding is being held by independent charity Devon Communities Together next week.

The virtual event, which is being chaired by Budleigh Salterton’s Dr Louise MacAllister, will include guest speakers, workshops, case studies and the opportunity to ask questions of the experts. 

It’s being held on Friday, July 9, from 9.45am to 5pm, via Zoom (see here for programme and booking).

Aimed at those interested or involved in emergency and recovery planning in their community, the event will include a keynote session on climate change impact and local actions to increase our resilience from Luci Isaacson from Climate Vision and Crystal Moore from the Environment Agency.

Further sessions include a workshop on updating community emergency plans for those communities with a plan existing, a local case study and information on accessing funding to support community resilience, a catchment wide approach to flood risk, warm weather and wild fires, and property level flood resilience.

All sessions will include plenty of time to ask questions and will be chaired by Dr Louise MacAllister, the Devon Community Resilience Forum project manager at Devon Communities Together. 

She said: “Community emergency plans strengthen the resilience of Devon’s communities and enhance our local ability to respond, building on local knowledge and resources with specialist knowledge gained at our forum events.

“I am really excited that once again we have an array of expert speakers and workshops to help our communities explore risks, mitigation, and action locally.”

The Devon Community Resilience Forum (DCRF), is a partnership between The Environment Agency, Devon County Council, Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue, Devon and Cornwall Police, The Devon Association of Local Councils, and Devon Communities Together who deliver the work of the partnership. The DCRF has delivered two such forum events per year since 2015, and this is now the third virtual forum event due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Dr MacAllister has lived in Devon for 20 years. She holds a first class BA in human geography (Exeter), MRes (masters in research methods) in critical human geography (Exeter), and a PhD in human geography (Exeter). For her PhD research she worked with families, schools, and health promotors to critically examine the effects of anti-obesity messaging.

“New guard” at EDDC grapples with another legacy problem. – Owl

Paul Nero www.radioexe.co.uk 

People in selected areas around Cranbrook are to be asked for their views about how the new town to the east of Exeter, should develop.

The settlement, which has been growing steadily over the past eight years or so and will eventually have around 7,750 homes and a population of around 18,000.

Originally, East Devon leaders claimed infrastructure such as a rail link, to be opened early in the development, and regular bus services, as well as cycling and walking routes, would mean residents would rely less on private vehicles. Now more than 2,000 homes have been built, but no town centre, the streets are riddled with cars, unattractively parked in the streets near homes that lack sufficient parking.

Now East Devon District Council wants people to tell them if they think the planned expansion of the current town boundaries is appropriate. They’ve sent a letter” “to all relevant consultees within the affected area.”

Councillor Sarah Jackson, East Devon District Council portfolio holder for democracy, transparency and communications said: “It is important that the boundaries of any parish or town council be defined as appropriately as possible in order to assist the town or parish council to deliver consistent services to all of their residents, as well to ensure that households fall within the boundary of the community that they most closely identify with.

“For these reasons, it is entirely understandable that Cranbrook Town Council would seek a boundary review in anticipation of the growth expected for Cranbrook over the coming years. However, it is also just as important that the views of the smaller parishes and long-established communities which surround Cranbrook are properly considered prior to any changes to parish boundaries.

“Therefore, I would wholeheartedly encourage all those living in Whimple, Rockbeare, Broadclyst, Clyst Honiton and Cranbrook to engage with the consultation and take this opportunity to make your views known in the interest of ensuring the long term sustainability of every one of these unique historic villages and the vitality of East Devon’s newest town.”  

To mix metaphors – essential reading for lab rats. – Owl

Ian Sample www.theguardian.com 

Not for the first time in the coronavirus pandemic, the UK finds itself in a unique position. Through a combination of history, biology, mathematics and politics, the country stands alone in pitting an advanced vaccination programme against a substantial wave of Covid driven almost entirely by the fast-spreading Delta variant.

Nowhere in the world is the race between vaccination and virus more keenly watched than here.

Other countries – and Israel stands out – have vaccinated more of their population. India has endured more Delta cases.

But much of North America, Europe and Asia are behind the UK with their vaccine programmes and are only now seeing Delta take hold.

The World Health Organization believes Delta will become dominant. The variant accounts for a fifth of new cases in the US and but expected to dominate within weeks. After a 10-week decline, cases are rising in Europe. In France, the government’s lead science adviser, Prof Jean-François Delfraissy, has warned of a fourth wave driven by the variant.

“The UK is in an absolutely unique position,” says Mark Woolhouse, professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh. “We have the biggest Delta outbreak in a well-vaccinated country. We are a petri dish for the world.”

There is plenty other countries can learn from what happens in the UK in the coming months. Most obvious is how the variant spreads in the population and what impact different vaccines, and different levels of vaccination, have on cases, hospitalisations and deaths.

Analysis by Public Health England has already shown the variant to be about 60% more transmissible than the Alpha, or Kent, variant and perhaps twice as likely to hospitalise people. Countries looking on will want to know who are the people needing hospital care, who needs mechanical ventilation, who dies, and in what numbers.

There is already some good news. While the Pfizer/BioNTech and Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines aren’t quite as effective against Delta as they are against the Alpha variant, particularly after one dose, two shots reduce the risk of hospitalisation from Delta infections by 96% and 92% respectively. This is hugely welcome and gives countries a handle on what’s to come.

“People will undoubtedly look at the UK and learn as much as they can from our experience,” says Prof David Salisbury, former director of immunisation at the Department of Health and assistant fellow on the Global Health Programme at Chatham House.

“If the UK has a certain percentage of people double vaccinated and France has a third less, they might extrapolate to what that could mean for them. I’m sure that’s what public health people will be doing in many countries when they look at the UK data.”

Perhaps the most crucial question is this: can vaccination break the link between Delta variant infection and hospitalisation, or between infection and death?

The concept of breaking the link entirely makes more sense in epidemiology textbooks than in the real world.

While vaccines massively reduce the risk of death, they do not reduce it to zero, and they do far less to prevent infection. When a highly transmissible variant such as Delta is in circulation, it will still have a good chance of spreading widely and finding those people who are unvaccinated, or not-well protected from their shots.

How well it does this in the UK will alert other countries to how threatened their own vaccination programmes may be.

“The link cannot be entirely broken unless you have eradicated the virus,” says Salisbury. “If the virus is still in circulation, there have to be some consequences from it.”

All of which leads to the related question of what proportion of the population needs to be vaccinated to crush a national epidemic – and is this even achievable?

Israel originally pushed down on cases with aggressive vaccination, but cases have risen again with the arrival of the Delta variant.

For now, Israel is keen to watch and wait, to see if cases rise, but not severe illness. But while Israel relies largely on the Pfizer vaccine, the UK has bet on Oxford/AstraZeneca.

For that reason, other countries that are banking on the cheaper, more easily stored Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine will be watching the UK . “If the UK avoids serious damage it will be important for those countries that have been relying on Oxford/AstraZeneca,” says William Hanage, a professor of the evolution and epidemiology of infectious disease at Harvard.

To crush an epidemic of Delta variant, scientists believe 85% of the population need to be protected by a vaccine that prevents all onward transmission.

But that assumes the virus is allowed to let rip with no other measures to control it. “At the moment we clearly haven’t vaccinated enough people to stop the virus circulating,” says Woolhouse.

“What that tells you is we are not at the herd immunity threshold yet. The delta variant, being more transmissible, has raised the bar.”

Countries looking on will want to see how the UK handles this dilemma. Vaccination and the immunity people have from past infection will get us a long way, but more measures are likely to be needed to eventually control the epidemic.

Siân Griffiths, emeritus professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the co-chair of the Hong Kong government’s inquiry into Sars, says south-east Asian countries are watching the UK, along with Israel, to see how they cope with Delta.

Many of these countries went for a zero-Covid approach and have extremely low vaccination rates. They are now seeing cases of Delta variant spring up and will need to throw more into vaccination. “What you’re seeing is a gradual realisation that it isn’t going to be a world without Covid,” she says.

As the UK goes into the autumn, a combined Covid and flu vaccination programme may swing into action, giving time for Australia, New Zealand and other countries in the southern hemisphere to see the impact before their winter arrives.

But there are behavioural lessons to be had too. While the UK has worrying inequalities around who takes up the vaccine, coverage across the population is the envy of the world.

“Many countries are trying out different ways to get people to come forward,” says Griffiths. “They might want to look at why the UK has come forward for vaccination in the numbers it has.”

Devon has 121 Covid cluster areas in the latest data released.

Lili Stebbings www.devonlive.com

This has risen from 94 clusters in previous figures, meaning that 27 more areas have been found to have a rise in the number of positive Covid cases.

Exeter has seen the most positive cases in the week ending June 26 – the latest figures – with 297 in total, followed by Plymouth with 223, East Devon with 127, and Mid Devon not far behind with 125.

Torbay and Torridge have a total of 119 and 80, respectively, and Teignbridge saw 76 new positive cases. South Hams ended on 51 and West Devon with just nine.

Locations are split into Middle Layer Super Output Areas (MSOA) which consist of around 7,500 people each. Any MSOA which has at least three new positive Covid-19 tests during the most recent seven-day period that statistics are available for is deemed to have a cluster.

Below are the latest statistics between June 20 and June 26. [Owl has only included details for East Devon and Exeter – go to online article for the full list]

The figure on the left is how many new positive Covid cases there have been and the figure on the right is the case rate per 100,000.

If your area is not on the list it means it has fewer than three positive cases and is therefore not seen as a cluster.

East Devon

Axminster 4 – 42.9

Budleigh Salterton 6 – 96.5

Clyst, Exton & Lympstone 9 – 131.7

Cranbrook, Broadclyst & Stoke Canon 15 – 111.4

Exmouth Brixington 6 – 92.6

Exmouth Halsdon 5 – 72.1

Exmouth Littleham 8 – 106.5

Exmouth Town 15 – 203.1

Exmouth Withycombe Raleigh 6 – 80.9

Feniton & Whimple 6 – 68.5

Honiton South & West 3 – 54.5

Kilmington, Colyton & Uplyme 6 – 71.9

Ottery St Mary & West Hill 10 – 112.3

Poppleford, Otterton & Woodbury 3 – 48.8

Seaton 12 – 159.3

Sidbury, Offwell & Beer 9 – 166.8

Sidmouth Sidford 4 – 56.9

Exeter

Alphington & Marsh Barton 11 – 149.8

Central Exeter 30 – 248.2

Countess Wear & Topsham 5 – 64.8

Exwick & Foxhayes 8 – 105.8

Heavitree West & Polsloe 17 – 199.1

Middlemoor & Sowton 10 – 79.7

Mincinglake & Beacon Heath 17 – 242.2

Pennsylvania & University 103 – 885.6

Pinhoe & Whipton North 4 – 42.7

St James’s Park & Hoopern 37 – 386

St Leonard’s 9 – 133.9

St Thomas East 17 – 207.7

St Thomas West 12 – 164.9

Wonford & St Loye’s 17 – 205.1

On Monday we published a short post, pointing out that the so-called “transparency” data – which is supposed to list all of the external meetings Ministers have – failed to mention a meeting on 1 April 2020 that Lord Bethell had with Abingdon shortly before his department awarded it the first of two contracts worth up to £87.5m in total.

us15.campaign-archive.com /

The contracts – which Good Law Project is challenging in the High Court – are highly controversial not least because Government’s own lawyers advised they were unlawful.

Government blamed the missing meeting on an “admin error” and responded on Tuesday by publishing an updated list of the external meetings Lord Bethell had, including the 1 April meeting with Abingdon:

The problem is that the updated list is also wrong.

First, the updated list doesn’t make any mention of a meeting Matt Hancock had on 1 April 2020 with a group of would-be test suppliers.

We know that it took place because we have the emails.

Here is an invitation to a conference call at 5pm issued to “Excalibur Health” – no mention of this meeting appears in the so-called transparency data. We also know that other providers including Abingdon received the same invitation.

Indeed, it looks very much as though Matt Hancock had two meetings with Abingdon.

Here is a further email setting out that Matt Hancock wanted to join a second, follow-up, private call with Abingdon later that evening at 19.10.

The so-called transparency data, even in its revised form, fails to mention his attendance at either.

Government will, no doubt, say they made a second “admin error” in correcting the first “admin error”. And perhaps you are inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume it is merely gross, and repeated, incompetence.

But even the most sweetly trusting of us must wonder whether the real explanation is that this is a deliberate attempt to mislead the public as to the former Secretary of State’s involvement in the ill-fated and unlawful Abingdon deal.

Thank you, 

Jo Maugham

Director of Good Law Project

Sidmouth is set to benefit from gigabit broadband connectivity as provider Jurassic Fibre announced it is to extend its network to the coastal town and surrounding villages.

Alex Walton www.sidmouthherald.co.uk

Construction is due to commence shortly. Once complete, the network will deliver ultrafast internet speeds of up to 950Mbps for residents and 10Gbps for businesses.

In addition to Sidmouth, the surrounding villages of Sidbury, Weston, Salcombe Regis and Branscombe are also set to benefit.

Sidmouth resident Michael Maltby, founder and CEO of Jurassic Fibre, set up the company in 2018 after working on broadband networks around the world from Russia to the Caribbean. Since then, the company has been building a cutting-edge full fibre network, connecting communities across the region.

Michael said: “As a local resident of Sidmouth, announcing the start of our build in Sidmouth is a milestone for Jurassic Fibre. I set up Jurassic in 2018 after years of frustration over the quality of the local internet, which was doubly frustrating having worked on building fibre networks around the world. The aim was simple: to provide the digital plumbing the region needs to thrive in the 21st century and secure Sidmouth and the South West’s position as the best place to live, work and relax in the United Kingdom.”

Simon Jupp, MP for East Devon, said: “I know just how important it is for everyone to have access to reliable and high speed internet. It is something I am committed to championing across East Devon and I am delighted that Jurassic Fibre are extending their network to Sidmouth and the immediate area.

“As a local resident of the town, I am particularly pleased with this important step forward for Sidmouth and hope that very soon thousands of local homes and businesses will have the opportunity to access better broadband.”

Matthew Galley, Head of Partnerships at Jurassic Fibre, commented: “We’re delighted to be able to extend our network, not just in the centre of Sidmouth, but to all of the surrounding villages which are so often forgotten. We aim to work with communities to bring decent broadband to some of the most remote and hard to reach areas wherever possible.”

Exeter-based Jurassic Fibre is armed with a £250m investment from Fern Trading, advised by Octopus Investments, to deliver a fibre network for the South West, passing over 350,000 premises.

So far, the company has connected towns and villages across Devon and Somerset, including Exmouth, Sowton, Honiton, Barnstaple and Bridgwater. Further locations are expected to go live in the coming months.

Full fibre means the line is fibre optic cable directly from an exchange to the property. Currently, the majority of the infrastructure in place relies on copper cables which slows the internet speed down considerably.

Jurassic Fibre has a goal to future-proof the broadband infrastructure across Devon, Somerset and Dorset for years to come, providing best-in-class connectivity to communities which have historically been overlooked by other providers.

Jurassic Fibre has a range of flexible plans for both business and home. Residential customers benefit from Jurassic Fibre’s innovative 30-day rolling contracts.

Villages with high demand for full fibre are urged to register their interest with Jurassic Fibre via the company’s website.

Good Law Project can reveal the existence of a VIP lane for Test and Trace spend – and that ‘VIP stakeholder engagement’ was run from a private gmail address.

us15.campaign-archive.com /

We are today publishing emails showing the existence of a “fast-track” for contacts of Ministers. One of those emails states: “If [offers] come from a minister/private office then please put FASTTRACK at the beginning of the subject line.”

This evidence is corroborated by the LinkedIn account for the individual who advertised himself as the lead for “VIP stakeholder engagement with Life Science Minister James Bethell”.

Good Law Project can also reveal that the “industry secondee” – a Mr Simon Greaves – used a private gmail address for his “VIP stakeholder engagement.”

The National Audit Office has previously expressed concern over the lack of transparency in relation to procurement decisions made in the PPE VIP lane. The revelation that key elements of VIP Test and Trace procurement were conducted using a private gmail address piles fuel on that fire.

How could civil servants monitor discussions between Ministerial contacts and an industry secondee when they were taking place via private gmail addresses?

Back in October, Good Law Project revealed the red carpet-to-riches VIP lane that benefited so many associates of Ministers by helping them to win vast PPE contracts. This new evidence corroborates reports in November from unnamed insiders that there was a VIP channel for testing supplies. The total spend on Test and Trace is £37bn, dwarfing that for PPE.

Responding to Good Law Project, Simon Greaves said: ‘I used a DHSC email account and computer for the majority of my time…’’ but also confirmed he used his personal gmail account from his start date in April through to May.

Good Law Project has also approached the DHSC for comment.

Further questions need to be asked about how Government came to spend over £3bn – without any competition – with Innova, whose testing kits have been described by the US Food and Drug Administration as “presenting a risk to health” and subject to “the most serious type of recall.” Good Law Project understands extraordinary new revelations about Innova will emerge in the coming days.

Thank you,

Jo Maugham

Director of Good Law Project

BoJo “big fan” of Devon police commissioner

Paul Nero www.radioexe.co.uk

WATCH: PM gives thumbs up to Alison Hernandez

It’s often the kiss of death for beleaguered politicians…the prime minister has thrown his weight behind Devon and Cornwall police and crime commissioner.

Boris Johnson has used his appearance at prime minister’s questions on Wednesday to say he is a “big fan” of Alison Hernandez.

Mr Johnson made was responding to a soft underarm question from Anthony Mangnall, Conservative MP for Totnes, who asked if the prime minister would support  ‘counsel advocate’ schemes, such as those introduced by Ms Hernandez in the south west.

Councillor advocates are volunteers from each council in Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly who provide a communication conduit between the police, the commissioner and the public.

Not surprisingly, the PM said he would support the scheme launched by Ms Hernandez, the Conservative commissioner who was re-elected for a second-term in May. He said she’d done “absolutely the right thing” by introducing the scheme and that he was a “big fan” of hers.

Every three months, the councillor advocates for each policing area meet with a representative from Devon and Cornwall Police, a Community Safety Partnership (CSP) representative and a police and crime commissioner community engagement officer.

These meetings allow them to raise issues on behalf of their council’s communities while also giving the police and opportunity to update councillors on relevant information or to request support with a specific issue. 

Members are also invited to attend regular exclusive events to gain a greater understanding of policing and how to help keep their communities safe.  Previous talks have been given by firearms officers and operators from the police’s drone team.

Nearly 10 years after redevelopment plans for Exmouth seafront were first proposed, a longer term vision for the site that will “delight visitors” will come forward soon.

Daniel Clark, local democracy reporter www.radioexe.co.uk

Ten years on, more plans expected

In 2012 plans were introduced to redevelop the area between the old lifeboat station – now a rowing club –  and the Maer. Since then, several iterations of plans have failed, with the scheme being referred to as ‘Exmouth’s Brexit’.

While phase one – the relocation of the Queen’s Drive road – and phase two – the watersports centre – have been completed and are open, phase three remains in doubt.

Planning permission for the redevelopment of a 3.6-hectare swathe of Queen’s Drive has been granted, and has been implemented, the council says, with the realignment of the road, but the attractions currently on the Queen’s Drive space – the replacement for the former Fun Park – only have planning permission until March 2022, with no further extension allowed under planning law. 

Plans for the longer term future will be presented to the Queen’s Drive Delivery Group in September and they will consider uses next season.

Cllr Nick Hookway, chair of the group said: “The Queens Drive Delivery Group considers that the Phase three site offers great potential for a range of attractions that will delight visitors. Plans will be shortly considered on what attractions can be put in place to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in June 2022.”

Cllr Paul Arnott, leader of the council, added: “Since taking over the administration a year ago we have placed Exmouth seafront and town at the centre of our efforts. We have tried hard to maximise councillor and public engagement and having sorted out summer 2021 our focus will turn to the long-term.

“The seafront has been a divisive issue for the community, and we are determined to proceed with consensus and with respect for local views.”

Additional funding for a staffing resource to support the phase the project and other projects in Exmouth over the next two years has been agreed with recruitment for these posts to follow shortly.

“Once these staff are in place they will be building on the initial work that has been undertaken in recent months on the Levelling-Up bid working with key stakeholders in Exmouth,” a council spokesman said.

“They added: “The Queen’s Drive Delivery Group which for the past nine months has met in public is next meeting in September and will consider uses for the area next season and in particular the planning implications of this.”

THE HISTORY OF QUEEN’S DRIVE

In 2012, plans to redevelop the area between the old lifeboat station and the Maer, known as the Splash Zone, formed part of the Exmouth Masterplan which sets out future regeneration.

The controversial plans divided opinion in 2013 when more than 500 people completed questionnaires. More than half (52 per cent) of respondents  were in favour of the overall proposals, with 41 per cent against.

In December 2013, East Devon District Council’s Development Management Committee gave the go-ahead for the development of Queen’s Drive.The outline permission includes the realignment of the road and a proposed new watersports hub, cafe and public open space.

East Devon District Council were then working with Moirai Capital Investments of Bournemouth. Plans included luxury flats, shops, eateries, a multi-screen cinema and a new Harbour View Café and coastwatch tower.

At the same time, a new action group was launched to ‘save’ Exmouth seafront from developers, with Save Exmouth Seafront concerned that the £18 million redevelopment would mean some of the town’s oldest most popular businesses closing.

In October 2015, the Carriage Café on the seafront left the town. It had been open for nearly 50 years. Around the same time, more than 1,000 residents and visitors took part in the Exmouth Seafront Survey, initiated by Cllr Megan Armstrong. Led by author and analyst Louise MacAllister, the survey aimed to discover if plans for a multi-screen cinema, outdoor water splash zone and adventure golf park were wanted.

Organisers said the survey showed 95 per cent were against the redevelopment, it showed widespread support for the businesses occupying the seafront and that many Exmouth residents felt their concerns regarding the plans had been ignored.

In April 2016, Exmouth residents went to the polls in a referendum. Called by concerned residents, the parish poll saw 4,754 people – 18 per cent of the electorate – take part. Around 95 per cent of participants wanted more consultation.

The summer of 2016 saw Moirai Capital Investments sacked because of the time it had taken for them to develop more plans. September 2016 saw Jungle Fun and Arnold Palmer Putting Course close. Hours earlier, locals and tourists flocked to the attractions for one last round. 

In November 2016, campaigners in Exmouth staged a protest march calling for further consultation. Save Exmouth Seafront protesters marched through Imperial Road, The Strand and Alexandra Terrace before finishing on the seafront.

April 2017 saw an application for the seafront redevelopment approved. It meant the council could now go ahead and redevelop a 3.6-hectare swathe of Queen’s Drive, but had no plans to do so. Had the application been rejected, it would have meant the outline permission for redevelopment would have lapsed and sent the project back to the drawing board.

A bid to reprieve the Fun Park from closure failed two weeks later, when East Devon councillors voted 26 to 21 against extending its lease. The contents of the Fun Park were auctioned the following day. The Harbour View café was also due to close at the same time, but its lease was extended.

October 2017 saw an Exeter company, Grenadier, reveal plans for the Watersports Centre, before submitting the formal planning application in February 2018, which was then approved in June 2018.

The temporary attractions for the seafront at the Queen’s Drive Space, which include the food and drink area and the dinosaur-themed play park opened in May 2018. Permission was initially granted for one year, followed by a second permission for a further three years. That expires in March 2022, and the council will not be able to apply for any further temporary use.

Work began at the end of 2018 to realign the Queen’s Drive road, which was completed in June 2019, although questions have been raised about where the funding for the road, which East Devon District Council paid for, actually came from.

At the end of 2019, HemingwayDesign and Lambert Smith Hampton submitted their vision for Phase Three for Exmouth Seafront to East Devon District Council. Suggested uses for the site include a new two storey café/restaurant on the existing Harbour View café site, a mix of playspace (including free play) and open public space on the remainder of the site, and an 60–80 bed, three-to-four star hotel.

In February 2020, East Devon District Council’s cabinet agreed to launch a marketing exercise to identify developer or operator partners. But the council’s scrutiny committee then unanimously agreed that the panel for the purpose of agreeing the selection criteria for the commercial development was not properly balanced, and expressed anger at how they felt Exmouth residents were not being listened to.

That process was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic and a change of administration.

At a meeting of the Queen’s Drive Delivery Group last October, Tim Child, senior property & estates manager, said that it was not usual for a temporary permission to be renewed for a third time unless there are exceptional circumstances regarding why a permanent planning solution cannot be brought forward for the site with a detailed planning application, adding: “If it is not permissible to pursue a further temporary planning application, the council needs to consider what it will do with the site from March 2022 when the site has to close.”

That meeting saw councillors agree and express a desire to ‘Get Seafront Done’, as Cllr Joe Whibley put it, but that as Exmouth is the biggest town in East Devon, it was critically important to the economy and the reputation of the council that they do the right thing and get a scheme that is both popular with the residents and viable in the long term.

While subsequent meetings of the Queen’s Drive Delivery Group have taken place, none have seen the longer term future of Queen’s Drive and Phase 3 discussed in any detail. Their next meeting is scheduled for July 13, with the following meeting on September 7, with the council saying the latter is likely to be when future plans will be discussed.

The ultimate decision over what happens with Phase three will lie with the council’s cabinet.

Cameras are set to be installed to prohibit motorists from driving through a ‘bus gate’ to access a new housing development in Barnstaple in order to better manage traffic in the area.

Daniel Clark www.devonlive.com

The North Devon Highways and Traffic Orders Committee, when they meet next Wednesday, are being recommended to revise the access arrangements for a large housing development at Larkbear being constructed between Old Torrington Road and the A361.

Planning permission has been granted for over 200 new homes, with the potential for more to be constructed in the future, with the existing arrangements which require traffic to access the estate via Bickington Road and Old Torrington Road to north leading to congestion.

This is because a ‘bus gate’ is currently in place, preventing access from Gratton Way, which mean most vehicles are banned from driving through the ‘gate’, which despite the name, does not feature a physical barrier.

But the proposals, which have been backed by residents and officers, would revoke that traffic regulation and introduce a new bus gate on Old Torrington Road, to the north of the junction with Gratton Way, which would be enforced by cameras.

This would mean that traffic would be directed through Gratton Way to the new development, the crematorium and properties at the southern end of Old Torrington Road instead of from Bickington Road (A3125), in order to better manage traffic in the area and reduce congestion due to the new housing development.

The proposed changes to the Restrictions in Old Torrington Road in Barnstaple

The proposals and associated works are being funded by the housing developer for the Larkbear development, Persimmon Homes and the camera enforcement equipment for the bus gate would also be funded by the developer, councillors on the HATOC will be told.

Only buses, emergency vehicles and bicycles would allowed to pass along the section of road, which would be monitored by cameras which recognise number plates, and those breaching the restrictions would be liable for penalty charge notices.

Meg Booth, chief officer for highways, infrastructure development and waste, in her report, said these proposals would reduce congestion and traffic queuing on Old Torrington Road at the A3125 and the alternative of not implementing the proposed bus gate would cause too much congestion.

Consultation with residents throughout May and June had seen 224 responses received, of which 174 were in favour and 47 objected, and Mrs Booth added: “After considering the comments, it is recommended that the new bus gate and associated waiting restrictions on Old Torrington Road are introduced as advertised. It is also recommended that existing bus gate on Gratton Way is revoked as advertised.”

The North Devon HATOC, when they meet on Wednesday, July 7, are recommended that the proposed bus gate and waiting restrictions on Old Torrington Road be implemented as advertised and the traffic regulation orders be made and sealed, and the existing prohibition on Gratton Way be revoked as advertised and the traffic regulation order be made and sealed.

Under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, councils are allowed to carry out a number of measures under the banner of civil parking enforcement (CPE), including fining people for misusing bus gates.

However, measures like this cannot be implemented purely to generate revenue – they must be put in place to make the surrounding area safer or to improve traffic flow.

New figures have revealed that Exeter is now the 10th least affordable location in England for first-time buyers.

Howard Lloyd www.devonlive.com

The first Homes scheme affordability index – compiled by online mortgage broker Mojo Mortgages – looked at various factors affecting home affordability in June 2021 including house prices, average annual salary and monthly take-home pay to work out where in England was most and least affordable.

Based on the average monthly mortgage payment as a percentage of income, Exeter was the 10th least affordable location in England for first-time buyers with the average monthly mortgage repayment taking up 35.03 per cent of a couple’s take home pay.

This is based on an average property price in the city of £327,165 and an average annual salary of £25,881, with a 10 per cent deposit and a mortgage term of 30 years at 3 per cent interest.

Oxford was the least affordable location for first-time buyers (49.37 per cent) with Bath (47.65 per cent) and London (47.12 per cent) making up the top three highlighting the difficulty of getting onto the property ladder in these areas.

In contrast, it was Bradford that was most affordable for first-time buyers.

With an average property price of £145,981 and an average annual salary of £28,790, this equated to 14.30 per cent in terms of monthly mortgage payments as a percentage of income – the lowest in England.

The figures have been released following the launch of the Government’s First Homes scheme this month, which is designed to help first-time buyers and key workers onto the property ladder in their local areas that might otherwise have had to move to another city to afford their first home.

First Home properties will be priced at a discount of at least 30 per cent of the original market value to allow more affordable deposits and mortgages with prices being capped at a maximum of £250,000 (£420,000 in Greater London).

For example, for those in London that purchase a property under the scheme, they can expect to pay on average around £766 less a month on their mortgage repayments, taking their percentage spend of income from 42.17 per cent to 32.97 per cent – a significant saving.

This discount will apply to the lifetime of the property, meaning that same percentage discount will apply when the home is resold in the future.

“While of course it’s important to remember the 30 per cent plus discount will apply throughout the lifetime of the property, and will apply when you eventually sell for the first time, a First Homes scheme property is still very much worth considering regardless of location as an option for first-time buyers looking to get onto the property ladder,” said Cassie Stephenson, director of mortgages at Mojo Mortgages.

“The savings available – particularly allowing first-time buyers access to higher LTV (loan to value) mortgages through reduced deposits – could also mean better access to lower interest rates and improved overall savings across the lifetime of a mortgage. Plus of course, purchasing a home is a significant long term investment towards your financial future as opposed to lining a landlord’s pocket.

“We’re excited to see how this new scheme develops over the coming months as new properties and developments continue to crop up across England.”

The 10 least affordable areas in England based on mortgage as a percentage of income were as follows:

• Oxford (49.37 per cent)
  
• Bath (47.65 per cent)
  
• London (47.12 per cent)
  
• Reading (38.98 per cent)
  
• Poole (38.72 per cent)
  
• Cambridge (38.49 per cent)
  
• Brighton (37.19 per cent)
  
• Slough (36.68 per cent)
  
• Cheltenham (36.38 per cent)
  
• Exeter (35.03 per cent)

The top 10 most affordable areas for first-time buyers as follows:

• Bradford (14.30 per cent)
  
• Blackpool (15.94 per cent)
  
• Stoke-on-Trent (17.35 per cent)
  
• Sunderland (17.56 per cent)
  
• Middlesbrough (17.70 per cent)
  
• Hull (17.72 per cent)
  
• Carlisle (17.82 per cent)
  
• Durham (18.10 per cent)
  
• Liverpool (18.56 per cent)
  
• Bolton (19.19 per cent)

A health minister is facing fresh calls to lose his job after it emerged that he apparently failed to declare a week’s worth of meetings with companies who went on to be granted £1bn contracts.

Nicola Slawson www.theguardian.com

Labour, who had already been demanding that Lord Bethell be fired for using his private email account for ministerial business, are again demanding his removal. The deputy leader, Angela Rayner, accused the Tory donor of “treating the public purse like his personal cashpoint”.

Bethell, who oversaw the award of Covid contracts, has been under pressure for a number of days now. As well as the use of private emails, he has also come under fire for sponsoring a parliamentary pass for Hancock’s aide Gina Coladangelo, with whom the former health secretary had an affair.

At least nine of the undeclared meetings were with firms who later obtained millions of pounds worth of Covid contracts, according to Byline Times.

The list includes meetings with Abingdon Health, SureScreen Diagnostics Ltd, Novacyt, the BBI Group, Oxford Nanopore Technologies, Cambridge Clinical Laboratories, OptiGene, Una Health and CIGA healthcare, which all went on to secure contracts valued at more than £1bn, it was reported.

The commission has been blamed on an “administrative error” and the official records have now been updated for the missing week at the beginning of April last year.

On Tuesday, Downing Street admitted that Bethell had used private emails for government business despite denying it 24 hours earlier. But it defended him, saying he had abided by the guidance.

Bethell, a close ally of Hancock’s, defended his use of email on Tuesday. “In terms of the use of private email, can I just reassure members that I have read the ministerial code, I have signed the ministerial code, and I seek to uphold it in everything I do,” he told the House of Lords.

On Monday, the Guardian revealed that a number of emails were copied into Bethell’s private email account. His address was copied into at least four official exchanges relating to a businessman who was attempting to win government contracts during the pandemic.

Rayner launched a blistering attack on the health minister on Twitter on Wednesday evening. She said: “Matt Hancock’s mate and donor [Bethell] – the minister who handed out taxpayers’ money on his private email – had 27 meetings with companies and didn’t declare them. The companies were given over £1bn in contracts. Lord Bethell must be sacked and this racket must end now.”

She said Johnson had already showed that he “lacks the leadership qualities required” of a prime minister by failing to sack Hancock.

“Lord Bethell has been treating the public purse like his personal cashpoint, using his private email to hand out contracts & not declaring meetings,” she said. “Lord Bethell must be sacked immediately, and we need a full and independent inquiry into the private emails and undeclared meetings across government that have seen taxpayers’ money handed out to Conservative cronies.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “One week’s worth of meetings from Lord Bethell’s returns were not included in the previous transparency returns, due to an administrative error.

“This has now been corrected with the full list of meetings, including those from 1-5 April, available to review in the usual way.”

Charity Commission:  ‘currently assessing concerns relating to the charity’s governance’.

Many may not realise the key part this charity plays in the economic life of East Devon.

It is a very large employer. Owl recalls reading a few years ago that it was the largest private employer in the District and it may still be. In 2019 the charity employed an average of 780 staff, though not all will have been employed in East Devon. For comparison EDDC full time equivalent staff numbers are around 460, and, taking a few companies from the 150 top businesses in Devon and Cornwall: MIDAS group of Exeter employs around 540; F. W S. Carter and Sons around 170; M.J.Baker Foodservices 120.

The Donkey Sanctuary has, over the years, bought five small farms in the district. By doing so the charity helps to maintain the traditional landscape pattern of small fields which might otherwise be uneconomic to maintain. – Owl

Philippa Davies sidmouth.nub.news

A new Acting Chief Executive Officer has been appointed at The Donkey Sanctuary, following the resignation of Mike Baker as CEO.

Meanwhile, the Charity Commission has confirmed that it is ‘currently assessing concerns relating to the charity’s governance’.

A spokesperson for the Commission said they ‘could not comment further at this time’, but explained that the concerns are being assessed as part of a compliance case, which means the Commission is seeking to establish facts. It is not a statutory inquiry, or a finding of wrongdoing.

This afternoon, Tuesday, June 29, a spokesperson for the charity confirmed that Mr Baker had stepped down.

They said: “Following the resignation of Mike Baker as Chief Executive of The Donkey Sanctuary, the Trustees are pleased to confirm the appointment of Marianne Steele as Acting CEO of the charity.

“Marianne is currently Deputy Chief Executive and her interim appointment will ensure a smooth transition of responsibilities.”

Chair of Trustees Stuart Reid said: “I thank Mike for his service and wish him well in his future, secure in the knowledge that in Marianne we have a very able and experienced leader with a long-standing commitment to The Donkey Sanctuary.”

“As expected from a charity of The Donkey Sanctuary’s size, we are in contact with the Charity Commission to keep them updated regarding Mike Baker’s resignation.”

Press release – Rally and public petition stall will take place this Saturday, 3^rd July – the NHS’s 73^rd birthday – in Exeter’s Bedford Square from 12 – 2pm, with the theme “For Patients – Pay Justice – End Privatisation.”

Exeter NHS campaigners say that former Secretary of State for Health & Social Care has now gone, but his Bill is still on the table, and it’s one we should all refuse to accept.

Keep Our NHS Public (KONP), along with other campaigning groups like We Own It, and NHS Staff Voices, are calling on the public this Saturday, 3^rd July – the NHS’s 73^rd birthday – to show their opposition to the Government’s Health and Care Bill, laid before Parliament in May. A rally and public petition stall will take place in Exeter’s Bedford Square from 12 – 2pm, with the theme “For Patients – Pay Justice – End Privatisation.”

Local KONP member Dave Chappell said: “The 2021 Health and Care Bill’s plan for ‘Integrated Care Systems’ (ICS) may sound innocent enough, but in practice we believe these will further undermine the NHS we all want to see. For example, the proposals would give private companies seats on NHS boards, NHS contracts agreed without competition (as we’ve already seen during the pandemic), and more access to confidential patient information, with no clear protection for patient privacy.

“What we need is a national high quality, well-funded, and public NHS for everyone, not the increasing marketisation that successive Governments have pursued for decades. A poll last year showed 3 out of 4 of us want our NHS properly reinstated as a fully public service after the pandemic (the NHS Reinstatement Bill campaign is at http://www.nhsbillnow.org/)”

Contacts:

Dave Chappell (07790727965); davejchappell@gmail.com

Gordon Read (01392 278452); gordon.read.55@gmail.com

Background information and more notes:

Matt Hancock’s disingenuous White Paper ‘Integration and Innovation: working together to improve health and social care for all’ (Feb 2021) sets out proposals for a future management of the NHS and Social Care, merging NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups with other care providers – including Local Councils – into 42 ‘Integrated Care Systems’. The Government has chosen to drive these changes through during the worst pandemic for 100 years, when health and care professionals are exhausted, and local representatives distracted, and when people want to know the reason for excessive deaths from Covid-19. The Bill will not “improve health and social care for all”. It is bad news for patients by making it harder to get treatment, requiring more cuts to NHS services, while there will be more profit for private companies. Added to that is the sneaky attempt to force GPs to give NHS Digital all patients’ personal information, likely to be sold to private companies. This complex legislation needs careful analysis to identify Key Concerns:

·         NHS services will continue to be lost at a local level – community and district hospitals, surgeries, walk-in centres, community clinics and minor injury units (and North, East & West Devon is already over £400 million short).

·         The NHS will no longer be accountable to Local Authority Councils’ scrutiny.

·         Council representatives will be in a permanent minority on the joint decision-making ICS boards.

·         Impoverished Councils will remain responsible for delivering all community health and care but without control over how budgets are allocated within the ICS local health and care system.

·         Rationing of hospital-based care will place greater demands on social and community services (as well as on GPs who provide primary care).

·         Digital – online – Health will be prioritised for development and in time will become the first line of access to the NHS, with online advice and diagnostics replacing face to face consultations with GPs & specialists. 

·         Patients’ voices and concerns will be lost in merged provider networks and bureaucratic systems.

·         Private interests are being embedded into the NHS – not just providing care but running organisations, sitting on boards, deciding budget allocations and models of care, and providing major parts of NHS infrastructure (especially digital and logistics).

·         Corruption and cronyism will become rife, as contracts are awarded with no transparency or competitive tendering.

·         Personal health care records will be available to private corporations.