The Government has said it is continuing to engage with Birmingham City Council amid reports that Michael Gove is set to announce plans to appoint commissioners to take over the day-to-day running of the authority.

Matthew Cooper www.independent.co.uk 

Reports have also suggested that the council, which issued a Section 114 notice on September 5, effectively declaring it was bankrupt, may be forced to sell off assets, including its stake in Birmingham Airport.

The issuing of the notice, because the council will not be able to balance its budget in the next financial year, bans all new spending with the exception of “protecting vulnerable people, statutory services and pre-existing commitments”.

It is believed an announcement could be made by the Government as soon as Tuesday.

In a statement, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) said: “We continue to engage regularly with Birmingham City Council, as we have done in recent months, over the pressures it faces, including around its equal pay liability, and have expressed serious concern over its governance arrangements.

“We have requested written assurances from the leader of the council that any decision regarding the council’s issues over equal pay represents the best value for taxpayers’ money.”

National and local newspaper reports have suggested the flagship Library of Birmingham, the city’s Council House, the nearby Museum and Art Gallery, Aston Hall, and the Sarehole Mill Museum are all at risk of being sold off.

Speaking at the weekend, the leader of the Labour-run council, John Cotton, said he had met Mr Gove to discuss support for the council.

Mr Cotton told the BBC’s Politics Midlands programme: “It is clear we are facing a number of challenges in Birmingham so I would like to start by offering an apology on behalf of Birmingham City Council to the people of the city.

“I am apologising for the impact we know this has on citizens.

“We are having to review all of our council activity and look at where we make our spend, but my priority is that we continue focus on frontline service delivery, the things that matter most to the people of this city.”

The council has been grappling with an equal pay liability which has grown over several years.

It is now estimated to stand at around £1 billion and is increasing by millions of pounds per month.

It is also facing an in-year financial gap in its budget which is currently in the region of £87 million, and is having to spend around £100 million on fixing errors in the implementation of a new IT system.

Birmingham City Council declined to comment on the reports.

Sick children’s health problems are getting worse as record numbers wait up to 18 months for NHS care, doctors treating them have warned.

Denis Campbell www.theguardian.com 

The number of under-18s on the waiting list for paediatric care in England has soared to 423,500, the highest on record. Of those, 23,396 have been forced to wait over a year for their appointment.

Delays facing children and young people are now so common that Dr Jeanette Dickson, the chair of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, the body representing all UK doctors professionally, warned that children are “the forgotten casualties of the NHS’s waiting list crisis”.

Fewer than three-fifths (57%) of children are now seen within 18 weeks, even though NHS treatment targets say that 92% should be. The number on the waiting list has jumped by 52% since 2021.

“As a paediatrician, I’ve seen first hand the damaging impact that long waiting times have on children, on their education and overall wellbeing, and of course on their families,” said Dr Camilla Kingdon, the president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH).

The figures came from the RCPCH’s analysis of official performance data recently published by NHS England.

The health of some children was deteriorating while they languished on the waiting list because their illness and age meant they needed to have their treatment fast, Kingdon added. “Many treatments and interventions must be administered within specific age or developmental stages. No one wants to wait for treatment, but children’s care is frequently time-critical.”

She cited the example of children with serious hearing problems being harmed as a result of being forced to wait to have surgery to receive cochlear implants. “It’s critical for language development to get them in around a year of age,” she said.

“Waiting lists for radiology – because you usually need a general anaesthetic for good-quality pictures – mean that the pre-op work up is often delayed for months, plus surgery can be delayed by 10 to 12 months. So instead of doing it at 10 months of age, it’s done at 18-20 months. That’s a massive difference developmentally in terms of speech and language development.”

Under-18s were also facing long delays for community-based services, not just hospital care, added Kingdon, a consultant paediatrician in London. “I had a baby with an evolving cerebral palsy who desperately needed a special occupational therapy chair. This was a bright little boy of eight months who had every potential of making very good progress.

“Because he [was in] a neighbouring borough with very long therapy waiting lists, there was a six-month delay for getting the chair. Six months’ delay when you’re eight months old and wanting to sit but needing the extra support is an absolute disaster.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Cutting waiting lists is one of the government’s top five priorities and despite disruption from strikes, we have virtually eliminated 18-month waits and are taking immediate action to bring down long waits.

“We are improving support for children, young people, and their families by providing around £300m to fund a three-year Family Hubs and Start for Life programme, in 75 local authorities in England, and they are already making a difference by bringing together services and support for families with babies and children of all ages.”

Dickson and Kingdon voiced their fears as the academy published a new report into children’s health that criticised the government for ignoring young people’s needs when devising key health policies.

“All medical Royal College leaders are genuinely horrified at the current lack of emphasis on the health of children and young people. It’s as if they don’t exist,” said Dickson.

The report highlights the government’s controversial decision to publish a strategy covering a large number of major conditions, instead of having specific plans for each one. Although the strategy will replace several key child health plans, it mainly focuses on adult health.

The academy also criticises ministers for abandoning plans to tackle obesity, despite the growing number of school-age children who are dangerously overweight, and also for delaying publication of a vaccination strategy, even though take-up has declined across 13 of the 14 routine childhood vaccinations.

The report urges Rishi Sunak to create a cabinet-level minister for children and young people, offer free school meals to all primary school pupils, ramp up vaccination efforts, and expand mental health services for under-18s as part of a renewed drive to improve child health and prevent illness.

Dozens of Devon beaches hit with pollution alerts

Around 83% of Devon’s beaches could potentially be dangerous to swim in after 28 of them triggered a “sewage pollution alert” and 11 others have been handed a “pollution risk forecast or incident alert”. This is according to Surfers Against Sewage (SAS), who monitor water quality across 47 beaches in the county.

Elliot Ball www.devonlive.com

According to SAS, a pollution alert means “storm sewage has been discharged from a sewer overflow in this location within the past 48 hours”. Meanwhile, a “pollution risk forecast or incident alert” means there is potential for sewage to be in the area.

Beaches on both the south and north side of Devon are affected, including tourist hot spots Torquay, Salcombe and Exmouth. The main contributing factor to polluted beaches is urban runoff, which sees fertilizers, pesticides, oil, and untreated human and animal waste all entering waterways, such as rivers.

These harmful contaminants then eventually end up at our beaches. The contaminated water largely remains on the surface. This can make it dangerous to enter the water. According to Surf Today, some experts even suggest waiting 72 hours before entering the sea again after it rains.

Swallowing water that could be contaminated with fecal matter could lead to gastroenteritis, hepatitis, giardiasis, skin rashes, amoebic dysentery, nose, ear, and throat problems, pink eye, and other respiratory illnesses. Symptoms to look out for include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, cramps, inflamed stomach and intestines.

Devon beaches with pollution alerts or pollution forecasts

1. Seaton
2. Beer
3. Sidmouth Town
4. Ladram Bay (pollution risk forecast)
5. Budleigh Salterton
6. Sandy Bay
7. Exmouth
8. Dawlish Town
9. Dawlish Coryton Cove
10. Teignmouth Holcombe
11. Teignmouth Town (pollution risk forecast)
12. Shaldon
13. Meadfoot
14. Beacon Cove
15. Torre Abbey
16. Hollicombe (pollution risk forecast)
17. Paignton Preston Sands
18. Paignton Sands
19. Goodrington
20. St Marys Bay
21. Dartmouth Castle and Sugary Cove
22. Slapton Sands Torcross
23. Salcombe North Sands (pollution risk forecast)
24. Salcombe South Sands
25. Hope Cove
26. Thurlestone South
27. Bantham (pollution risk forecast)
28. Bigbury-on-Sea South (pollution risk forecast)
29. Challaborough (pollution risk forecast)
30. Mothecombe
31. Wembury (pollution risk forecast)
32. Plymouth Hoe East
33. Plymouth Hoe West
34. Plymouth Firestone Bay
35. Westward Ho!
36. Croyde Bay (pollution risk forecast)
37. Ilfracombe Hele (pollution risk forecast)
38. Combe Martin (pollution risk forecast)
39. Lynmouth

Coastal towns dominate league table for centenarians – as numbers in England and Wales top 13,900…

The number of centenarians in England and Wales has reached a new record high of nearly 14,000, with a striking map showing how coastal areas dominate the long life hotspots.

James Tapsfield www.dailymail.co.uk (Extract)

Some 13,924 had reached the milestone by the time of the 2021 census, up a quarter on a decade ago and a staggering increase from just 110 when the survey was conducted in 1921.

The oldest person was aged 112, according to the analysis released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

And the figures suggested that those with longer lifespans tend to be by the sea, with East Devon, Arun, the New Forest and North Norfolk among the places with the most centenarians relative to their populations.

Nine of the top 10 on that metric were in coastal areas.  

Some 13,924 people in England and Wales had reached age 100 by the time of the 2021 census, a staggering increase from just 110 when the survey was conducted in 1921.

Birmingham had the highest number of centenarians overall at 193, but was a long way down the table relative to population.

Six of the eight local authorities with fewer than 10 centenarians per 100,000 population were London boroughs, while Knowsley and Crawley both had nine. 

The census details underline the huge increases in life expectancy during the 20th Century, with numbers making it to 100 increasing sharply from the 1960s.

The growth has been attributed to advances in healthcare for the elderly, as well as public health measures improving air quality and working conditions.

At the time of the latest survey in 2021 there were 11,288 women and 2,636 men aged at least 100, reflecting the long-standing position that women tend to live longer.

Their average age was 101 years, one month and 2 weeks. 

Around the time of birth of these centenarians in 1921, life expectancy stood at 67.9 years for females and 61.2 years for males.

That meant they had outlived their anticipated lifespans by three or four decades, and experienced momentous events including women getting the vote, the Second World War, the introduction of the NHS and advent of television.

Strikingly, a quarter of the centenarians reported having good or very good health, and almost a third did not have a disability.  ….