Shoppers will be able to stop-off in East Devon car parks all day for £2 in a bid to boost the district’s high streets.

East Devon Reporter eastdevonnews.co.uk

The winter deal, which began on Wednesday, November 1 and runs until the end of march 2024, wants to encourage people to buy locally and support businesses.

Tickets purchased will be valid until midnight.

East Devon District Council (EDDC) says that, with Christmas around the corner, residents and visitors can enjoy a full day out without having to rush back to their cars.

It is hoped that reduced will help to boost trade throughout the festive season and especially in the quieter months of January and February.

Councillor Paul Hayward, portfolio holder for finance and assets, said: “We recognise that our local high streets are always keen to see shoppers stay that little bit longer to keep their tills ringing, and so I am delighted to bring back our winter parking offer – £2 all day, in any car park across the district.”

A list of EDDC car parks can be found here.

Sideshore Car Park in Exmouth, Otter Estuary Nature Reserve in Budleigh Salterton, and Lyme Street in Axminster, are not included in the offer as they are managed by EDDC but are privately-owned.

Motorists can use the RingGo app to pay when they park and enter the dedicated ‘winter offer’ location code ‘42973’.

Alternatively, drivers can buy a paper ticket from one of EDDC’s machines using cash or card.

The council says that, although printed tickets may not display an expiry time of midnight, they will still be valid for the whole day.

Seaton top of TV news as Scrutiny backs us

Jack Rowland and I addressed a crowded Devon Health Scrutiny Committee meeting yesterday and were very well received. The Committee asked for a full report at their January meeting, and agreed to request the ICB and NHSPS to pause disposal and to negotiate seriously with us in the meanwhile. We got really great TV coverage, with Seaton leading the regional news on both channels for the first time I can remember!

Leafleting, Petition and Day of Action. 10,000 leaflets will be available from Seaton Print this Monday or Tuesday – please contact us to help deliver in your area, if you have not already done so. We will be leafleting and petitioning on Saturday 18th as planned, meeting outside the Tramway in Seaton and the Mariners in Beer.

Petition. Please sign and share online (https://www.change.org/p/save-seaton-hospital) but we also need to collect physical signatures wherever possible people, including where leafleting. The first sheets are already being returned.

• Please help get the petition forms into local shops, etc.
• Please note that completed forms should now be delivered to the League of Friends shops in Fore Street in envelopes addressed to Kirstine House.

OTHER NEWS. 

The Steering Committee will meet at the Hospital on Thursday 16th. 

Sarah Wollaston. Supporters have received emails saying that their letters will be ‘sent to the appropriate department’ – please insist that they are sent to her personally and copied to other members of the Board. 

Emails to some addresses have bounced back. Please check with friends who were at the meeting to see if they’re getting these emails, and if not ask them to contact me to make sure their correct addresses are on the list.

Report reveals growing crisis for renters in Devon and Cornwall 

A major new report by the University of Plymouth and local Citizens Advice services has shone a spotlight on the damaging effects of the government’s three-year freeze on Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates for local private sector renters.

The report, Sometimes I Sit on the Sofa and Cry, tells the stories of local people struggling to keep up with soaring rents and eviction notices.

It also contains suggestions to help ease the crisis, including an increase in LHA, an emergency cap on rents and provision of more affordable homes.

The research (which focused on the South Hams, Plymouth and SE Cornwall) found that average rents in the area have been outstripping the level of LHA support since 2015 but the gap has now grown to 12%.

The increase in people facing eviction has also led to big increases in bills for temporary accommodation for local authorities.

In Cornwall, the figure has risen from £9.5 million in 2020/21 to £18.4million in 2022/23 while for South Hams District Council, the figure has risen from £115k to £476k in the same period.

The report is the result of a collaboration between local Citizens Advice charities in the South Hams, Plymouth and Cornwall and the Plymouth Business School.

It was funded following a successful bid to the University’s Get Involved Awards 2023 programme.

Hospitals will reduce the number of operations they perform over the next few months after ministers rejected an NHS plea for £1bn to cover the cost of strikes by staff.

Denis Campbell www.theguardian.com 

The move makes it even more unlikely that Rishi Sunak will be able to deliver his promise to cut NHS waiting lists, one of the five key pledges he said voters should judge him by.

NHS England had been in discussion with the Department of Health and Social Care and the Treasury for months over what it hoped would be a bailout of at least £1bn of genuinely new money. It has instead been forced to recycle what is mostly funding from within its existing budget in order to hand £800m to local NHS bodies to help lessen deficits, expected to hit £160m in the case of some services.

Leaders in NHS England were left disappointed and concerned after ministers decided to largely disregard their £1bn request and give them only £100m.

Responding to the government’s snub, NHS England announced that it would now relax its drive to tackle the backlog of people waiting for hospital care, which stands at 7.75 million, the largest number on record.

It initially committed this financial year to undertaking 107% of the number of planned operations it did in 2019-20, before the Covid-19 pandemic hit. It cut that to 105% in July and has now lowered that target to 103% to help save money.

It could mean that the NHS will struggle to realise its ambition to ensure that by next spring no one will have been waiting for hospital care for more than 65 weeks. It also raises serious questions about how realistic Sunak’s hope is that the waiting list will have stopped growing by next year, when the UK will hold a general election.

Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, said: “The white flag has been waved on Sunak’s pledge to cut waiting lists – 700,000 fewer patients will now be treated than planned [in 2023-24], thanks to the Conservatives’ mismanagement of the NHS.”

Saffron Cordery, the deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, said leaders of health service trusts were feeling “a deep sense of frustration over the lack of extra funding from the Treasury to help the NHS tackle the fallout from nearly a year of industrial action”.

NHS England will also cut back planned spending on technology and improvements to hospitals’ facilities, again to free up the £800m; its budget is due to be £16.7bn this year.

Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said the £800m was “clearly insufficient” to cover the deficit that the 42 regional “integrated care systems” of the NHS were on track to incur.

The health service needed the level of emergency funding to be at least £1bn, Taylor said, because that was what the strikes by doctors, nurses and other staff since last December had cost it.

Julian Kelly, NHS England’s finance chief and deputy chief executive, told its board meeting last month that the walkouts had cost the service £1.1bn by the end of July.

NHS leaders had hoped that the understanding of the service by the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, gleaned from his six years as the health secretary, would lead him to provide a substantial sum. His failure to do so, bar the £100m, is also a setback for Steve Barclay, the current health secretary, who had been lobbying him to find the £1bn the NHS said it needed.

Sally Gainsbury, a senior policy analyst at the Nuffield Trust thinktank, said the NHS had been “forced to scale back ambitions to bring down record waiting lists to help get patients seen quicker”. She said: “This will ultimately mean some people will wait longer for their operations and treatment than the NHS had hoped and planned.”

Sally Warren, the director of policy at the King’s Fund, warned that the £800m would prove to be too little if consultants and junior doctors continued with strikes. There is cautious optimism in the NHS that a deal to end walkouts by consultants may come soon, before winter adds to the already intense strain felt by the NHS.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We are backing the NHS and social care with record funding and have made up to £14.1bn available to tackle the backlog caused by the pandemic and cut waiting lists, which is one of the government’s five key priorities.

Last night BBC Spotlight reported that campaigners had been successful in convincing Devon County Council’s health Scrutiny Committee to ask for a reconsideration of plans to demolish a wing of Seaton Hospital. This has been left empty for six years at a “cost” of  £1.8m years [transfer of funds from Devon to central NHS coffers – Owl], but could have been used for providing health services. 

The Scrutiny Committe has asked that the Integrated Care Board and NHS Property Services discuss how to use it for health services and provide a report for their next meeting in January. Meanwhile they have asked for the plan to “dispose” of the wing to be paused.

Teignmouth campaigners also convinced the committee to appeal to the Health Secretary against closing their hospital.

A fuller account will follow.

NAO finds NHS Property Services charging framework not working.

Almost £700 million either written off or still unpaid as too many NHS organisations and GPs seem to regard paying for their premises as “optional”. [Tenants were not always fully charged for rent and services before the Service took on ownership and Property Services doesn’t have the same powers as a commercial landlord – see NAO full report] 

Investigation into NHS Property Services Limited 2019 www.nao.org.uk

The Department created the Service in 2011 to manage NHS property. To a large extent the Service has, albeit slowly, succeeded in improving the professional support required, collecting data, streamlining contracts and identifying market rental rates. However, more than eight years later, it still does not have the powers it needs to work effectively, as the Department originally intended, and the accuracy of bills is still disputed. In our view, too many NHS organisations and GPs seem to regard paying for their premises as optional, with almost £700 million either written off or still unpaid. The framework for charging for NHS property is not working effectively and the Department urgently needs to address the fundamental causes of this unsatisfactory situation.

“The system for charging for NHS property is not working effectively and the Department urgently needs to address the fundamental causes of this unsatisfactory situation.”

Gareth Davies, the head of the NAO 2019

Devon is set to see its special needs deficit surge beyond £160 million – a new record – as pressure mounts on the service.

Guy Henderson, local democracy reporter www.radioexe.co.uk 

A report to the council’s cabinet meeting today (8 November) shows the deficit relating to special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) is forecast to be £37 million this financial year, up more than half-a-million pounds in just two months.

This pushes the cumulative total to a predicted £163 million by next April.

The council agreed in September to cut spending in a bid to create a £10 million reserve that it could use to contribute towards the deficit.

Progress has been made, with £7 million in savings identified as achievable, and with plans ongoing to secure the remaining £3 million.

The report for councillors notes that “unlike in previous years”, the council’s finance team and its counterpart at the Devon Integrated Care Board are supporting the delivery of services “on budget within a particularly challenging environment”.

But it warns of continued hurdles.

“There are, however, emerging risks within Children and Young People’s Futures with increasing numbers of complex placements and continued pressure associated with excessive agency costs,” the report said.

“In response additional intensive work and the establishment of a cross-council placement taskforce is seeking to address this issue at pace.”

It added there had been “significant progress” in stabilising management tiers within the SEND system, with the level of interim managers reducing by 70 per cent since February.

Guidance from central government means that local authorities can hold their SEND deficits off their balance sheet, meaning any shortfall is essentially ring-fenced away from the main budget.

Devon’s Lib Dem leader, Councillor Julian Brazil (South Hams), said that many authorities are struggling with funding SEND services, but that the county is “an outlier in a bad way” in terms of its service.

“We’re surrounded by good and excellent authorities while Ofsted has rated us inadequate,” he said.

“We are failing vulnerable children, and these are the people we need to support.

“The issue hasn’t been given the time and effort it has needed.”

A spokesperson for Devon County Council acknowledged the predicted £162 million figure “could be the highest the SEND overspend has been at the end of the financial year,” adding that this had been accumulated over a number of years.

“Devon – like a number of other councils – is negotiating for extra funds with government, and we hope to have good news after Christmas,” the spokesperson said.

“The government has told all top tier councils to hold the overspend in a separate account off the main budget.

“As for the overall budget predictions, we’ve made substantial progress since the summer of 2022 when an overall overspend for 22/23 of over £40 million was predicted.

“After a cross-council exercise to reduce spending and increase income, we actually finished the year in the black.”

Devon’s children’s services were rated inadequate in 2020, and a letter from Ofsted in January this year said its visit to the county showed its leaders had “not ensured that all children who come into their care know early enough what the permanent and secure arrangements are for their lives”.

“There has not been enough progress for children in this area of practice since the full inspection three years ago,” it added.

However, it did acknowledge the “energy and strong commitment” of middle and frontline managers who were trying to maintain a level of continuity and implement an improvement plan.

NHS Property Services was established in 2011 as part of the “disastrous” Andrew Lansley reforms. Its purpose is to manage, maintain and improve NHS properties in England and facilities previously owned by strategic health authorities and primary care trusts. 

It is intended to drive efficiency by charging hospitals a “market rent” for the land and buildings they use. But this transfer of funds from one public sector pocket to another comes with considerable administrative costs including £57m in staff costs alone, and consequences. 

Richard Foord MP reports that the NHS Property Services, locally, is seeking to charge local charities and community groups a “market rate” that has been pitched at the upper-end clinical rate.

It raises the question of how applicable the adoption of commercial accounting is to public sector activity and what rental NHS Property Services might reasonably charge.

Valuable publicly owned sites, accessible to communities, are a strategic asset, not some commodity that can be sold off to the highest bidder..

Community schools aren’t treated in this way.

Just how NHS  Property Services sets their rates is a mystery and certainly challengeable. This has been demonstrated in a recent High Court case, supported by the BMA, when a group of GPs agreed an out of court settlement in which their rental was significantly reduced.

The crazy thing is that this asset, the Seaton hospital wing funded by the local community, could be lost because NHS Devon is forecasting another budget deficit of more than £40m and wants to ”save” £300,000 a year by not paying rent to NHS Property Services, though it is short of beds.

According to the NAO  NHS Property Services is also struggling to meet its financial and performance objectives. In fact it posted over £1bn “losses” between 2012/13 and 2018/19 (some of this attributable to “asset revaluations”}.  

What NHS Devon might gain, NHS Property Services Ltd (sole shareholder, Health Secretary, Steve Barclay) will lose.

So there does seem a very real possibility that the hospital wing could be demolished and sold as a building site to “balance” the books.

Receipts from NHS Property Services sales are reinvested at a National, rather than local, level.

Is this another example of levelling up? – Owl

Local Democracy Reporter eastdevonnews.co.uk

Hundreds of residents packed a community hall in an impassioned bid to save a wing of Seaton Hospital it is feared could be demolished.

They say the wing’s construction was funded entirely by the community and that they should therefore have the say about its future – rather than just the NHS, writes Local Democracy Reporter Bradley Gerrard.

Devon’s Integrated Care Board (ICB), which because of its financial deficit is in special measures, pays a market rate of rent on the wing to governemnt-owned NHS Property Services (NHSPS), is considering handing it back to its landlord to save money.

However, campaigners fear that if that happens, the wing could be demolished.

Martin Shaw, a former county councillor, organised the meeting at Colyford Memorial Hall on Friday, November 3, attended by an estimated 250 people.

Mr Shaw said campaigners were ‘looking at all possible solutions to save the hospital [wing]’ and to find a way to provide other services to complement the hospital’s existing offering.

“We are now in a position where the NHS [in Devon]is looking to hand the building back, and there is the potential for the wing to be sold or demolished, which is why we are all here today,” said Mr Shaw.

Dr Mark Welland, chair of the Seaton and District Hospital League of Friends, said a major issue in his discussions with the Devon ICB and NHSPS related to the costs of rent.

“There have been several meetings between the League of Friends and the NHS in terms of securing some of the void space in Seaton Hospital, but in each discussion it seems to always come up against one seemingly unmoveable problem, which is the amount that NHSPS demands for renting the space,” he added.

Dr Welland said the NHS charges the Devon ICB roughly £200,000 per year for the space that is currently empty and where campaigners want additional services to go.

“We have a real opportunity with this void space to do good things,” he added. “While the hospital continues to house NHS clinics, physiotherapy and community rehab and nursing services, there is an opportunity for the likes of the League of Friends and [community interest company]Re:store to put further services in.”

He added that it had only been when the League of Friends recently approached NHS Property Services to secure space in the void area for the Seaton hospice-at-home service that the NHS disclosed there was a plan to lose it.

The meeting heard that a previous plan in 2019 created by Seaton Area Health Matters to buy the hospital outright and then rent space out at concessionary rates to local groups, had progressed well until a stumbling block prevented campaigners from securing funding. Shortly after, the pandemic started and the plans were shelved.

Paul Arnott, leader of East Devon District Council, said he couldn’t make any promises on his own, but assured campaigners that the authority was keen to help.

“This issue has already been discussed and we have the capacity to take on Public Works Loans Board loans, so it may be that East Devon has a role to play,” he said.

He said any potential financial help from the council would need to be agreed by councillors, but that it could form part of a financial package with other donors to save the hospital.

“We are a way from that yet, but East Devon District Council, as the closest body democratically that is able to do something financially about this situation, does stand ready to help, but any details have to be subject to confirmation.”

Tiverton and Honiton MP Richard Foord, who raised the plight of Seaton Hospital at Prime Minister’s questions last month, said the strength of feeling in the community showed how important the hospital is.

“The local community fundraised to pay for this hospital, with small donations from people, including those in this hall, contributing to it, and people don’t feel they should be asked to pay twice to save it,” he said.

“As such, we’re calling on NHS Property Services to charge a concessionary rate to use this facility as a health hub for people in Seaton and the surrounding villages.”

He added that Seaton Hospital was handed to NHS Property Services in 2016, and that that organisation’s one shareholder – Secretary of State for Health Steve Barclay – could intervene.

“If the secretary of state wanted to, he could change [the rental rate]tomorrow and ensure Seaton Hospital is available for use by the local community,” Mr Foord added.

Many residents hailed the care at Seaton Hospital, with community organisations such as hospital transport services suggesting that significant round-trips for many outpatients to the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital in Exeter could be avoided if services at Seaton’s expanded.

The meeting also heard that the average age in Seaton, and the prevalence of age-related diseases such as dementia, were higher than the national average, making the campaigners’ plans for a health hub that would house additional services even more important.

Representatives from the Devon ICB and NHS Property Services were invited to the meeting, but did not attend.

Mr Shaw asked for attendees to vote on creating a steering committee comprising the meeting’s speakers, which included Mr Foord, Dr Welland, Cllr Arnott and other stakeholders, to pursue the matter.

This was supported, and Mr Shaw now hopes to lobby Devon County Council’s health scrutiny committee later this month to support the Seaton Hospital campaign. Mr Foord is set to discuss the issue again in parliament later in the month, too.

NHS Devon has previously said the site’s high rent and other charges – which it said amounted to £300,000 a year – were a ‘poor use of taxpayers’ money at a time when we are forecasting another budget deficit of more than £40 million this year’.

“In recent months, we have been talking to local health, care and community partners to see if they are interested and financially able to take on the space, but no viable schemes have been received and we started the process of handing the ward space back to NHS Property Services (NHSPS) so we can save the money that is currently being wasted on it,” a spokesperson said.

“We have always been very happy to talk to prospective occupants of the space if they have a financially viable scheme to take it on – and we remain so.”

MP Mr Foord said after the meeting: “The future of Seaton Community Hospital is one which concerns everyone living in and around the Axe Valley. Today’s packed public meeting, attended by hundreds of people, clearly demonstrates the strength of feeling locally.

“The hospital belongs to the community.  Members of the community and volunteer groups raised millions to help fund construction and equipment – including the very ward that is now threatened with demolition. We cannot allow it to be taken away from those who worked so hard to build it.

“NHS Property Services needs to review the way they rent out facilities such as this. Seeking to charge local charities and community groups a market rate that has been pitched at the upper-end clinical rate is short-sighted and wrong.

“I have met recently with NHS Devon, NHS Property Services, and the Seaton Hospital League of Friends charity. There are potential solutions, but we need the political will from those in Government who have the power to make these decisions.

“NHS Property Services is a Government-owned company with just one shareholder, the Health Secretary Steve Barclay. He has the power to resolve this situation and secure the long-term future of our hospital, and other small rural hospitals across the country.

“I will continue to raise the threat posed by these damaging proposals and fight to save the whole of this local hospital for the community. Local people have made plain to me this afternoon that they feel that the Hospital is theirs – and in their eyes – not available for NHS Property Services to sell.”

“It is like taming wild animals. Nothing in my past experience has prepared me for this madness. The PM and the people he chooses to surround himself with are basically feral.”

[Sedwell] “had sought the dismissal of Hancock as health secretary to “save lives and protect the NHS”

“Hancock so far up BJ’s [Boris Johnson’s] arse his ankles are brown.”

Sedwill apologised for suggesting in a meeting in March 2020 that people could hold “chickenpox parties” to spread the virus.

Is this government going to stagger on for another? – Owl

Peter Walker www.theguardian.com 

Mark Sedwill, the UK’s most senior civil servant at the start of Covid, viewed Boris Johnson’s government as “brutal and useless” and did not trust Matt Hancock, then health secretary, to be truthful, the inquiry into the pandemic has been told.

In testimony that shines yet more unforgiving light on Johnson’s Downing Street, Sedwill agreed that the PM had veered wildly in his opinions and seemed unable to manage a team, saying it was his job as cabinet secretary to help “force a decision”.

Sedwill also said he concurred with earlier testimony about Hancock not being routinely honest, saying he would regularly double-check things with others “to make sure he wasn’t over-promising”.

Sedwill, who was Johnson’s cabinet secretary until September 2020 and is now a crossbench peer, did not dispute an August 2020 diary entry by Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser, quoting Sedwill as saying “this administration is brutal and useless”.

“I can’t actually recall what might have prompted it but … I don’t doubt Sir Patrick’s memory,” Sedwill said.

He also did not dispute earlier evidence from Dominic Cummings, Johnson’s former chief adviser, and Lee Cain, his former communications chief, which described the prime minister as poorly suited for the Covid crisis, liable to oscillate between different views, and unable to manage a cohesive team.

Asked by Hugo Keith KC, the inquiry chair, if he agreed, Sedwill said: “I recognise them but I wouldn’t express them that way myself.”

Sedwill said while it was not his job to judge the suitability for office of a democratically elected leader, he had sought to put in place a system to help “force a decision”, one in which cabinet ministers had a voice. He added: “It’s exhausting for the people in his [Johnson’s] inner circle.”

The hearing was shown extracts of messages between Sedwill and his eventual successor as permanent secretary, Simon Case, in which Case, at the time the head civil servant at No 10, wrote: “It is like taming wild animals. Nothing in my past experience has prepared me for this madness. The PM and the people he chooses to surround himself with are basically feral.”

Sedwill said in reply: “I have the bite marks.”

In another message to Case, Sedwill said he had sought the dismissal of Hancock as health secretary to “save lives and protect the NHS”, a play on a Covid-era health slogan which Sedwill called “gallows humour”.

Around the same time, Sedwill said, he spoke to Johnson about Hancock’s role. While his role meant he would not have explicitly told the PM to sack his health secretary, Johnson “would have been under no illusions about what would have been best”, Sedwill added.

In a further message to Case shown to the hearing, Sedwill wrote: “Hancock so far up BJ’s [Boris Johnson’s] arse his ankles are brown.”

Johnson needed reminding to involve cabinet in Covid decisions, says civil service ex-chief – video

Earlier in his evidence, Sedwill apologised for suggesting in a meeting in March 2020 that people could hold “chickenpox parties” to spread the virus so children and others could catch Covid and help the country reach herd immunity.

Sedwill said this was suggested in the context of the plan at the time to try to mitigate the peak of Covid, and that his idea was for people less susceptible to Covid to catch it and acquire immunity while those more vulnerable could quarantine.

He added: “These were private exchanges and I certainly had not expected for this to become public. I understand how, in particular, the interpretation that has been put on it, it must have come across as someone in my role was both heartless and thoughtless about this, and I genuinely am neither. But I do understand the distress that must have caused and I apologise for that.”

Earlier evidence has heard that both Johnson and Cummings viewed Sedwill as being “off the pace” over Covid, and too slow to respond to the scale of the threat.

Asked by Keith if this was true, Sedwill argued it was in part because of his role: “It is possible. It is also possible I might have created that impression. I felt I had to provide leadership for a system that was on the edge of panic then. I did not have the luxury of saying, even in private, ‘We are doomed.’”

In August 2021 John Humphreys was sentenced to 21 years for the historic rape of two underage boys. Under current legislation he might expect to be considered for release after 14 years (⅔ of his time).  

This week’s King’s speech, with its emphasis on crime and law and order (how ironic, Owl) puts this in doubt.

“Last year’s Police, Crime and Courts Act ended automatic early release for all sexual offences that carry a maximum life sentence, including rape and sexual assault of a child aged under 13.

It meant that those given a sentence of four years or more are now required to serve at least two-thirds of it before being considered for release.

But a Government source confirmed that ministers are now considering going further and ending any early release for the most serious sexual criminals.”

Source: Daily Mail

See also this explanatory paper:

King’s Speech 2023: Crime and justice – House of Lords Library 

“On 16 October 2023, Mr Chalk [Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice] announced that legislation would be introduced to ensure convicted rapists and other serious sexual offenders would spend their entire sentence in prison.[32] This would see offenders remaining in prison until the last day of their custodial term. The MoJ has not yet published further details about this proposal.”

Reverse Ventriloquism!

Somerset Council declares financial emergency as it votes through ‘urgent’ measures to close £100m budget gap amid fears it will go bust like Birmingham

Sukhmani Sethi www.dailymail.co.uk 

• The council cited soaring costs of services for the crisis in a meeting on Tuesday

Somerset Council have declared a financial emergency as it voted through ‘urgent’ measures to close a £100m budget gap amid fears that it could go bust like Birmingham. 

The local authority was forced to make the alarming declaration on Tuesday after pointing towards the soaring costs of services, particularly adult social care, which it said was rising faster than the council’s income.

This significant gap in its budget threatens the local authority going bust, with fears that it could mirror the financial disaster faced by Birmingham City Council, which declared it could not afford equal pay claims worth up to £760m. 

Councillor Liz Leyshon, lead member for resources, said that Somerset Council would ideally look to avoid filing a Section 114 notice – the equivalent of bankruptcy for a council –  because it would have to to fork out ‘£1,200 a day each plus expenses’ for government commissioners. 

Ms Leyshon told the meeting the ‘situation is now too serious for us to avoid the word emergency’.

The local authority was forced to make the alarming declaration on Tuesday after pointing towards the soaring costs of services, particularly adult social care (Pictured: Somerset County Hall)

She added: ‘The last thing we want to do is be paying people from outside the county to make decisions for Somerset’.

Following the meeting, which took place in Yeovil, Council leader Bill Revans stated he will  be writing to Michael Gove to make the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities aware of the crisis. 

Councillors agreed to form a financial focus group in order to figure how the local authority can cut costs and avoid a Birmingham-style catastrophe.

The rising cost of adult and children’s social services is at the forefront of the financial challenges that the local authority is looking to tackle with the aid of external consultants. 

Other possibilities that will be considered, with their costs scrutinised, will include a recruitment freeze, selling off the council’s commercial investment properties and pausing many building projects, such as the refurbishment of the Octagon Theatre – a venue used by the Salvation Army for the annual Christmas Carol services.

Councillor Liz Leyshon, lead member for resources, said that Somerset Council would ideally look to avoid filing a Section 114 notice – the equivalent of bankruptcy for a council

On Somerset council’s website, it informs residents: ‘In addition to inflation, which increases the costs of the goods and services the council buys, the council has seen an unprecedented rise in demand for care services for Somerset’s most vulnerable residents. 

‘We are seeing an increase in the number of residents, both adults and children, who need support from the council and with the support needed becoming increasingly complex.

 ‘Funding for these two services has had to increase by £28 million and £19 million respectively, just to support existing demand’. 

For the 2023/24 financial year, the total amount of the Somerset Council charge has increased by an overall five per cent from last year – three percent for general expenditure and two percent for adult social care, 

Further details are expected at the next executive meeting in December, revealing which services face cuts, which council buildings could be sold off and how much more local people can expect to pay in council tax from April. 

• Removal of a wooden storage shed and replacing with a new similar garden shed Little Myrtle Millford Road Sidmouth EX10 8DPRef. No: 23/2290/FUL | Validated: Fri 27 Oct 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• The use of Oakside View (Barn C) as an unencumbered dwelling in breach of a holiday let condition (condition 3) of application number 99/P1851 Oakside View Appledore Farm Farway Colyton EX24 6EHRef. No: 23/2281/CPE | Validated: Thu 26 Oct 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Hawthorn (x2) : reduce the weight at the top of both trees, to remove dead branches and to create a more stable and balanced shaped canopy. The overall reduction in height will be approx 0.5m. Garden House Doatshayne Lane Musbury Devon EX13 8BDRef. No: 23/2284/TRE | Validated: Thu 26 Oct 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• T1, Holm Oak : crown reduce to existing pollards points approximately 3.5-4m above ground level. Reduce all aspects of tree to leave a balanced shape to allow a new crown formation. Maximum diameter of cuts 50mm. Flat 1 24 West Hill Budleigh Salterton Devon EX9 6BSRef. No: 23/2283/TCA | Validated: Thu 26 Oct 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Loft conversion and construction of rear dormer 67 Bicton Street Exmouth EX8 2RURef. No: 23/2278/FUL | Validated: Wed 25 Oct 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Certificate of proposed lawful development for works including alterations to existing fenestration, reduction in size of the porch and internal alterations including the conversion of the existing garage to accommodationKingston Hill Ebford Lane Ebford Devon EX3 0QURef. No: 23/2268/CPL | Validated: Wed 25 Oct 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• T1, Horse Chestnut : fell. 102 Clyst Valley Road Clyst St Mary Devon EX5 1DERef. No: 23/2275/TRE | Validated: Wed 25 Oct 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Ash: minimum of four tree branches to be cut back by approximately 4m, to rear property boundary. 40 Old Show Field Way Honiton EX14 1EPRef. No: 23/2276/TRE | Validated: Thu 26 Oct 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• T1- Scots Pine: removal of 1 x heavily weighted, primary limb connected onto main tree stem. Churchside Clyst St George EX3 0RERef. No: 23/2274/TCA | Validated: Thu 26 Oct 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• T1-Pear – Fell tree. West Hayes Convent Road Sidmouth EX10 8RLRef. No: 23/2267/TCA | Validated: Wed 25 Oct 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Conversion of an existing agricultural building to a C3 dwelling. Halls Farm Metcombe Ottery St Mary EX11 1SSRef. No: 23/2265/PDQ | Validated: Tue 24 Oct 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Single storey extension and part demolition of existing garage. 5A Thorne Cottages Cadhay Lane Ottery St Mary Devon EX11 1QZRef. No: 23/2264/FUL | Validated: Tue 24 Oct 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Lime; removal of epicormic growth around trunk base. Drakes Gardens Drakes Avenue Exmouth EX8 4ADRef. No: 23/2249/TRE | Validated: Mon 23 Oct 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Second floor extension to the rear of the existing property. 6 Henrietta Place Exmouth EX8 1LDRef. No: 23/2253/FUL | Validated: Sun 29 Oct 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• T1, T2 & T3 Oaks – cyclical re-pollard, removing new growth to historic pollard points / knuckles. Pruning cuts up to a maximum of 60mm diameter. 5 Mathews Close Honiton EX14 2WDRef. No: 23/2251/TRE | Validated: Mon 23 Oct 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• x1 Pittosporum : Trim all round hard back to previous pruning points & shape. Escollonia Hedge (adjacent to garages) : Trim hard back to previous pruning points & shape. x1Elder : Prune hard back to previous pruning points & shape. x1 Katsura Tree : Pune back hard to previous pruning points & shape. x1 Bay Tree : Prune back to previous pruning points & shape to achieve an adequate clearance from BT wires. Trefusis House 6 Trefusis Terrace Exmouth EX8 2AXRef. No: 23/2260/TCA | Validated: Mon 23 Oct 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed single storey link from main house to conservatory Havencliffe House Axmouth Road Seaton Devon EX12 4ABRef. No: 23/2257/FUL | Validated: Wed 25 Oct 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Discharge of conditions for 23/1553/FUL – Condition 2 – amended elevation submitted. Condition 4 – Cladding and render colour. Roselea Dalwood Axminster EX13 7DZRef. No: 23/2261/DOC | Validated: Mon 23 Oct 2023 | Status: Unknown
• T1, Beech: reduce height by no more than 3m, to reduce the canopy spread to the north, south and west by no more than 2m. To reduce canopy spread to the east by no more than 3m. Leaving a tree height of 19m with a crown spread of no less than 6m, 6m, 5.5m and 6m to the north, east, south and west respectively. Maximum cut diameter of 50mm. Whilst the tree has a high amenity value, it has begun to impact the property both physically and in terms of shade cast. This work is applied for in the interest of managing the tree in relation to the space available, giving suitable clearance to the property and also improve light levels to both the property and the outside space, whilst retaining good form and sufficient foliar area.Grasmere West Hill Road West Hill EX11 1UZRef. No: 23/2250/TRE | Validated: Mon 23 Oct 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Construction of garden room. 7 Greenway Seaton EX12 2SERef. No: 23/2237/FUL | Validated: Wed 25 Oct 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposal to construct one single dwelling beside No 8. 8 Collins Park East Budleigh Budleigh Salterton EX9 7EGRef. No: 23/2238/PIP | Validated: Thu 26 Oct 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Change of use and conversion of agricultural buildings to form two dwellings and associated development including demolition of modern farm buildings, construction of bat roost and formation of parking, garden areas and landscaping. Bearfields Farm Rawridge Devon EX14 9PRRef. No: 23/2231/FUL | Validated: Thu 26 Oct 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Remove existing and replace with new side extension Penrith House Church Street Uplyme DT7 3TSRef. No: 23/2223/FUL | Validated: Mon 23 Oct 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed new dwelling and alteration to previously approved access Land At Rear Of Chestnut House Bunts Lane Seaton EX12 2HURef. No: 23/2222/FUL | Validated: Thu 26 Oct 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Extension to existing covered cattle feeding area (Retrospective) Crabhayes Farm Broadclyst Exeter EX5 3BNRef. No: 23/2221/FUL | Validated: Mon 23 Oct 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed single storey link from main house to conservatory, create doorway from existing house to conservatory, re-render conservatory external walls, replace single door on north/east elevation, replace 1no. bay window with double doors on south/east elevation. Havencliffe House Axmouth Road Seaton Devon EX12 4ABRef. No: 23/2202/LBC | Validated: Wed 25 Oct 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Construction of replacement Coach House outbuilding with decking to front and side. (Resubmission of 21/2475/FUL). Birchwood Brampford Speke Exeter EX5 5HNRef. No: 23/2195/FUL | Validated: Mon 23 Oct 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Change of use from office to dwelling, with associated works and landscaping Workforce Development Redwoods Devon And Somerset Fire And Rescue Servce Hq Clyst St George Exeter EX3 0NNRef. No: 23/2200/FUL | Validated: Tue 24 Oct 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Certificate of Lawfulness for the continued use of the building as a C3 dwelling. Cutton Barton BroadclystRef. No: 23/2194/CPE | Validated: Mon 23 Oct 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Revised proposals for the construction of a two storey dwelling with associated car parking and amenity space [Previously submitted under 22/1516/FUL] 1A Jarvis Close Exmouth Devon EX8 2PXRef. No: 23/2209/FUL | Validated: Thu 26 Oct 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed new Agricultural Building (cattle shed) Rosamondford Farm Perkins Village Exeter EX5 2JGRef. No: 23/2186/FUL | Validated: Mon 23 Oct 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Variation of Condition 2 (approved plans) of application 23/0260/FUL (proposed extension to the rear and side of semi-detached dwelling) to incorporate changes to extension roof and fenestration 51 Little Meadow Exmouth EX8 4LURef. No: 23/2191/VAR | Validated: Fri 27 Oct 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Construction of new garage and first floor annexe Shiles Farm Axminster Devon EX13 5SERef. No: 23/2136/FUL | Validated: Fri 27 Oct 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Construction of 1 no. dwelling and associated works 10 Woolbrook Mead Sidmouth EX10 9XFRef. No: 23/2134/FUL | Validated: Mon 23 Oct 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Erection of steps to give access from the Esplanade to the path surrounding the cricket field Wall Adjacent To The Arches Cafe The Esplanade Sidmouth EX10 8NSRef. No: 23/2119/FUL | Validated: Thu 26 Oct 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Conversion of roof space to habitable use with dormer extension on rear north/west elevation and two roof lights on front south/east elevation, new window at first floor level on front south/east elevation. 1 Lower Woodhayne Whitford Devon, EX13 7NPRef. No: 23/2074/FUL | Validated: Fri 27 Oct 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Change of use of agricultural building to self-build dwelling Land Adjacent To Oaklands Toby Lane Woodbury SaltertonRef. No: 23/2051/FUL | Validated: Thu 26 Oct 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Loft extension to include creation and alteration of side-facing dormers and small ground floor rear extension Seacot 20 Havenview Road Seaton Devon EX12 2PFRef. No: 23/1912/FUL | Validated: Fri 27 Oct 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed ground floor extension. 4 Bouchers Cottages Poltimore EX4 0AZRef. No: 23/1586/FUL | Validated: Thu 26 Oct 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Re-thatch whole roof replacing wheat reed with water reed. Lavender Cottage Longmeadow Road Lympstone EX8 5LERef. No: 23/0659/LBC | Validated: Thu 26 Oct 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision

As seen by Martin Rowson

Also: Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) staff were “not concerned” about infecting elderly people in care homes until months after the pandemic struck.

Boris Johnson wanted to be injected with Covid live on TV “to show it did not pose a threat”, his former chief of staff in Downing Street told the Covid inquiry.

Archie Mitchell www.independent.co.uk

Lord Edward Udny-Lister told the official probe into the handling of the pandemic that the ex-PM, who spent days in intensive care and almost died from the virus, that the then PM’s suggestion was “an unfortunate comment”. The comments were first reported in 2021 but confirmed by Lord Lister in Tuesday’s evidence.

His comments come as Britain’s top civil servant, Simon Case, said he had “never seen a bunch of people less well-equipped to run a country” when he joined Downing Street during the Covid pandemic.

In another day of explosive evidence, messages shown to the inquiry between the former No 10 permanent secretary and then cabinet secretary Lord Sedwill from July 2020 revealed Mr Case thought that his new colleagues were “mad”.

He went on: “Not poisonous towards me (yet), but they are just madly self-defeating,” adding that “top-drawer” staff were refusing to join No 10 because of “the toxic reputation of Boris Johnson’s operation”.

Previous messages shown to the official probe into the handling of the pandemic have revealed a culture of “nastiness, arrogance and misogyny” in Downing Street at the time.

Simon Case said he had ‘never seen a bunch of people less well-equipped to run a country’ than in No10  (Supplied)

At the end of Tuesday’s hearing, Mr Johnson’s former chief of staff Lord Lister told inquiry chair Baroness Hallett that WhatsApp messages shown as evidence so far were “appalling”.

On yet another shocking day of evidence, the Covid-19 Inquiry heard:

• Lord Lister confirmed previous reports the PM wanted to “let the bodies pile high” to avoid imposing a second Covid lockdown
• The former aide also confirmed Mr Johnson offered to be infected himself with Covid on TV to “demonstrate that it did not pose a threat” 
• Further diary entries from chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance show Mr Johnson was often overruled by then chancellor Rishi Sunak
• The government’s Covid-19 taskforce was “blindsided” by Mr Sunak’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme
• Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) staff were “not concerned” about infecting elderly people in care homes until months after the pandemic struck

Lord Lister also confirmed controversial comments by Mr Johnson that he would rather “let the bodies pile high” than impose another lockdown. Mr Johnson denied making the comment when the claim first emerged in 2021.

In his witness statement to inquiry, Lord Lister said he recalled Mr Johnson making the comment in September 2020. He said it was unfortunate but was made at a time when ministers were worried about “the already severe impact on the economy and education” from lockdowns.

Earlier on Tuesday, the head of the Cabinet Office’s Covid-19 taskforce revealed how he was “blindsided” by Mr Sunak’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme during the summer of 2020.

Asked by lead counsel Hugo Keith KC what the taskforce’s view was of the scheme, Simon Ridley said it was decided by the prime minister and chancellor and he had no input.

Asked whether he was concerned at not being asked about Eat Out to Help Out, Mr Ridley took a long pause, before saying: “Things happen that surprise.”

But asked whether he was “blindsided by the Treasury and there was nothing you could do”, he responded: “Correct.”

The inquiry also heard how DHSC staff were “not concerned” about discharging elderly people into care homes with Covid until months after the pandemic struck, the official pandemic probe has heard.

The inquiry was also shown an email thread between top No10 and Cabinet Office officials in April 2020, which revealed increasing fears about the spread of the pandemic in hospitals and care settings.

But, when asked by a member of the Covid-19 taskforce, a DHSC director said infections acquired in hospitals and spread into care homes were “not an issue of concern”.

It came as the probe laid bare the chaos surrounding government plans to discharge thousands of patients from hospitals into social care settings to free up capacity in the NHS.

Mr Keith KC pressed Mr Ridley over whether the testing capacity was in place to ensure those discharged were not infected with the virus.

Mr Ridley said there were “limitations” to testing capacity, but said “ultimately there needs to be a decision” and the government was striking a “balance”.

Data from the first wave of the pandemic showed care home residents in England were almost 20 times more likely to die than older people living in their own homes.

The discharge of Covid patients to care homes without testing was later ruled unlawful, with High Court judges finding the policy failed to take into account the risk to elderly and vulnerable residents from non-symptomatic transmission.

Mr Ridley told the inquiry on Tuesday: “We were, certainly in the Cabinet Office and in No 10 at the end of March and April, concerned to understand the position in care homes.

“I think it is true that those concerns were growing as we went into April.”

Mr Ridley was then asked by Mr Keith whether the Cabinet Office and No 10 had to “push” DHSC on the issue, saying: “Yes, that is broadly correct.”

The inquiry also saw more extracts from former chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick’s diaries, revealing his belief that Mr Johnson was often “undone” by his then chancellor.

Sir Patrick noted that Mr Johnson was seen as “owning the reality for a day” before being “buffeted by a discussion with Rishi Sunak”.

“The population increases from 3.5 million to an estimated 10 million in the region in the summer.”

“The company said 10% of households in the region have a hot tub.”

Consumers in Cornwall and Devon will be offered cheaper bills in return for cutting their water use as the region struggles to cope with a rise in the number of new residents who work from home.

Alex Lawson www.theguardian.com 

From next year, South West Water (SWW) – which was fined in April for dumping sewage illegally into rivers and the sea – will offer residents new tariffs designed to encourage reducing water use amid concerns about the strain caused by increased numbers of tourists and home workers.

The company, owned by Pennon Group, will trial several new offers, including an “environmental tariff” that will “reflect the higher cost of peak summer demand” but offer discounts over the winter when water is less scarce.

Residents in the south-west were subject to a hosepipe ban that lasted for more than a year and was lifted only in September as reservoirs were replenished. SWW data shows its customers’ household consumption has risen nearly 13%, from 312.4m litres a day in 2019-20 to 352m litres a day in 2022-23.

SWW said the population had swelled by 300,000 over the past 10 years and was expected to grow by a further 530,000 by 2050. “The assumption is this has been driven by retirees or, following the pandemic, those able to work from home all or some of the time,” it said.

The boom in working from home kickstarted by Covid lockdowns brought fresh impetus to a trend for Britons leaving cities in favour of working remotely in the countryside or coastal locations, notably in Devon and Cornwall.

The counties were also popular holiday destinations when UK-based trips dominated the travel industry during the pandemic. However, both trends exacerbated tensions between second homeowners and day trippers, and permanent residents of the south-west.

SWW estimates that the number of second homes is as high as 40% in tourist hotspots, and typically 10% in other coastal areas. It says the population increases from 3.5 million to an estimated 10 million in the region in the summer.

In a recent submission to the regulator Ofwat, Pennon said: “Customers have told us they feel they are paying a premium for the high peak summer demand we experience when visitors come into the area.

Most SWW customers use water meters, rather than paying on fixed tariffs. SWW’s planned “eco tariffs” would reward low consumption levels with discounted tariffs. Those on social tariffs, which offer lower rates for vulnerable customers, will not be included in the trials.

The company said 10% of households in the region have a hot tub, which was another post-pandemic trend. But a spokesperson said it was not currently planning to trial specific tariffs for hot tub owners, although “customers who use more water because they have a hot tub will see higher bills as a result”.

SWW has been one of a number of water companies criticised over its record in polluting England’s waterways and the accurate reporting of leaks. Susan Davy, the chief executive of Pennon Group, gave up her bonus in May in the face of public opprobrium.

Pennon – which also owns Bournemouth Water and Bristol Water – has proposed raising bills from £504 a year in 2025 to £620 in 2030 for SWW customers. The group plans to invest £2.8bn on improvements, including cleaning beaches for swimming and resurrecting plans for the Cheddar Two reservoir.

A new group will try to identify lessons that could be learned following the controversy surrounding a council-owned housing company.

Four Mid Devon councillors will form the group to delve into losses from 3 Rivers Developments to ensure the authority gains knowledge from its foray into the residential property market.

Bradley Gerrard, local democracy reporter www.radioexe.co.uk 

The council set up and wholly owned 3 Rivers to build houses for sale  in 2017, but decided earlie this year to ‘soft close’ it, preventing it from embarking on new projects but allowing it to complete ongoing schemes in Tiverton ansd Bampton.

Challenging trading conditions in the construction and housing sectors proved problematic for the company, with the firm shutting down projects amid rocketing prices for materials, facing struggles with restricted site availability, and being affected by rising interest rates and their subsequent impact on the housing market.

The company’s latest published accounts at Companies House show that pre-tax losses ballooned to more than £1.9 million in the year to 31 March 2022 compared to a loss of nearly £96,000 the prior year.

It has to published new accounts by 31 December.

Mid Devon District Council’s scrutiny committee tackled the divisive issue this week, with an at-times fractious debate on how to progress.

Councillor Nikki Woollatt (Ind, Cullompton St Andrews) questioned the committee’s chair, Councillor Rachel Gilmour (Lib Dem, Clare & Shuttern), about why some letters had already been sent to people with knowledge of 3 Rivers, seemingly before the entire scrutiny committee had considered them.

“I consider this overstepping your role,” she said.

“When did the committee decide that these letters should be sent? These things are supposed to be decided by the committee.

“I have an issue with the whole agenda item as I don’t think it is clear what is required of us in scrutiny. The wording is a statement with no instruction, and I would have expected us to have to agree and adopt a terms of reference.”

Cllr Woollatt, who is stepping down from the scrutiny committee, added that she was “dismayed” at how possible terms of reference for a ‘lessons-learned’ exercise had been drafted without the committee’s knowledge and that “activities have taken place behind the scenes.”

The council’s chief executive, Stephen Walford, said the draft terms of reference were intended to enable discussion by the scrutiny committee, and were not intended as being set in stone.

“Trying to set the terms of reference with a blank sheet of paper at a scrutiny committee meeting would have been quite challenging, and would have had less structure than now,” he said.

“The draft is a reflection back to you of all the areas of concern that have been discussed previously.”

Mr Walford added that the committee could amend the terms of reference, or the working group could add to it.

Cllr Woollatt proposed that a small working group be set up that could meet more informally and work in a more focused manner before bringing their findings back to the scrutiny committee.

Cllr Gilmour emphasised her preference for a “quick and thorough” process given how long the 3 Rivers issue had dragged on.

“3 Rivers has been hanging around for years and has caused anxiety and there’s been what has been described as a toxic atmosphere,” she said.

“At one point, the Local Government Association had to be brought in to mediate, as councillors couldn’t speak to each other, that’s how bad it was.”

Councillors highlighted the importance of a transparent process to ensure that the council’s integrity was maintained, with some wanting the working group to be made up of members with no formal links to 3 Rivers or previous administrations involved in its creation.

A vote to set up a working group passed by six votes to four, with councillors Andy Cuddy (Lib Dem, Tiverton Lowman), Gordon Czapiewski (Lib Dem, Tiverton Lowman) Rhys Roberts (Cons, Cadbury), and Gill Westcott (Green, Canonsleigh) against.

The working group will report back to the scrutiny committee in December.

A Mid Devon District Council spokesperson said: “The ‘soft close’ process will enable 3 Rivers to finish its two ongoing projects in Tiverton and Bampton and will ensure that all contractors, suppliers and tradesmen are paid in full, and all associated company property warranties will be honoured.”
 

Incumbent PM made joke about Rishi Sunak’s department because of its focus on lifting restrictions, according to diary entries

Peter Walker www.theguardian.com 

Boris Johnson referred to Rishi Sunak’s Treasury as “the pro-death squad” as he sought to gain support for a gradual end to Covid restrictions, the official inquiry into the pandemic has been told.

The inquiry also saw messages between two senior Downing Street officials complaining that Johnson was too slow to tackle a second wave of the virus, with one saying: “We are so fucked.”

Johnson and others inside No 10 used language that “pejoratively termed as pro-death” the Treasury, then led by Sunak, because of its focus on lifting Covid measures, according to diary entries by Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser at the time.

Stuart Glassborow, Johnson’s deputy principal private secretary at the time, a role that involved liaising between No 10 and the Treasury, was questioned about a meeting in January 2021, where Johnson set out his ambitions for the gradual easing of Covid restrictions.

“The PM is on record as saying that he wants tier 3, 1 March; tier 2, 1 April; tier 1, 1 May; and nothing by September, and he ends up by saying the team must bring in ‘the pro-death squad from HMT’,” said the entry, read out by Dermot Keating, a counsel to the inquiry.

Glassborow said of Vallance’s words: “I wouldn’t dispute what he’s recorded, but I don’t recall the phrase at all.”

Glassborow, who spent more than a decade as a civil servant in the Treasury and returned there after leaving No 10, also professed no knowledge of Johnson’s reported view that Covid was “just nature’s way of dealing with old people”, another detail from Vallance’s diary that was revealed last week.

Subsequent evidence on Monday heard that advisers inside No 10 were increasingly worried during early 2020 that ministers were too slow to consider a lockdown, and then became alarmed that autumn that a second wave was not being treated seriously.

Ben Warner, a data scientist brought into No 10 by Dominic Cummings, Johnson’s then-chief adviser, told the inquiry he was worried about “a lack of scientific capability within the different teams and groups that I was working with”.

The inquiry was shown WhatsApp messages during September and October 2020 between Warner and Lee Cain, Johnson’s head of communications, in which they bemoaned Johnson’s decision to not impose a so-called circuit-breaker lockdown, to slow the pace of infections, saying this repeated the errors of spring.

“I feel like we have accidentally invented a time machine,” Warner wrote to Cain. In an earlier message, Cain said: “We are so fucked. Why are we not acting in London and urban areas now? Same errors as March.”

Warner replied: “Agreed. Feel like we are where we knew we would be three/four weeks ago.”

In evidence about decision-making at the start of the pandemic, the inquiry was shown pages from a report on Exercise Nimbus, a February 2020 theoretical planning operation about Covid, which was told that leaving the virus unchecked was “effectively rendering it a ‘survival of the fittest’ situation”.

It also saw a page from a notebook entry Warner made at the same time, in which he wrote: “NHS fucked in any scenario”, something Warner said may either have been his own personal view or a reflection of the wider sentiment among officials.

Another piece of evidence described Johnson and Cummings castigating Mark Sedwill, at the time the cabinet secretary, in mid-March 2020 for being “miles off the pace”, as Johnson termed it, in terms of realising the threat from Covid.

“YOU need to tell Sedwill this,” Cummings told the prime minister in a WhatsApp message on 14 March, a Saturday. “The fucker shd be in the office now.”

Asked about the messages, Warner said: “I agree with that entire message.” Sedwill is scheduled to give evidence on Wednesday.

That display of contempt for the public will not be forgotten easily

Professor Stephen Reicher (professor of psychology at the University of St Andrews. He was an adviser to the UK and Scottish Governments concerning the behavioural science of Covid, and a member of Independent Sage)  inews.co.uk

I thought I was now incapable of being surprised by the UK’s response to the pandemic. I was wrong.

Over the last few weeks at the Covid inquiry, and especially this week, we have been exposed to revelation after revelation pointing to the dystopian dysfunctionality at the top of government. We have learned of absence, complacency, denialism, dishonesty, disinterest, division, ignorance, incompetence, lack of preparation and, according to former deputy cabinet secretary Helen MacNamara on Wednesday, “an absence of humanity”. But what underlies and unites all this, and more, is a pervasive and persistent culture of contempt. Contempt for each other.

Perhaps the most lurid stories, both in terms of the language and the content, have concerned the views that those in the inner circle had of one another. Boris Johnson was an egotistical fantasist who was out of his depth, a “trolley” who constantly changed direction; Matt Hancock was a vain and competent liar, Carrie Johnson was a spoilt princess, Cabinet ministers were called “useless f***ing pigs” by Johnson’s advisor, Dominic Cummings and Cummings himself was called a “f***ing piece of shit” by a ministerial adviser. To call this government a nest of vipers is unfair to vipers.

There was also contempt for women. Cummings denied that his attacks on Helen MacNamara were misogynistic on the grounds that he was even more foul about men. But this misses the point that his slurs against her were unacceptable and that they articulate a broader culture in which women – irrespective of their performance – were talked over or plain ignored.

If there is one revelation that stands out from all the others, it is that Johnson considered the lives of the elderly as worthless. If there is one sentence to serve as his epitaph it should be the allegation that he said: “Covid is nature’s way of dealing with the elderly”. In recent elections, older cohorts have been more likely to vote Conservative. Perhaps, if they recall Johnson’s words on entering the polling booth, this is less likely to endure into 2024.

From before the first lockdown, it was clear that the government believed the public were incapable of responding appropriately to the pandemic because they were too stupid or too weak – or both. You couldn’t reason with them because they couldn’t cope with too much information; you couldn’t support them because too much support would be misappropriated.

It was a viewpoint articulated in 2021 when Jeremy Hunt (then chairing a parliamentary inquiry) asked Matt Hancock why more support was not given to people to self-isolate when testing Covid positive. Because of the government’s fears that the system would be “gamed”, replied the then health secretary.

The problem here is not only that all these views are deeply distasteful in themselves, but also that they both led to policies (such as blame and punishment) that undermined public confidence and co-operation and also stymied policies (such as dialogue, engagement and support) that would have generated such confidence and co-operation. Contempt, like trust, is reciprocal. If you distrust the public, they will distrust you. By showing such contempt for people, this government has earned our contempt (as consecutive polls and by-election results seem to be showing).

If these views help explain the underlying rationale for a failed Covid response, they also explain a dilemma which scientists, especially those of us involved in the advisory process, have been dealing with for a long time. Why – despite all the rhetoric, did the government repeatedly fail to follow the science?

We considered a complex web of potential factors. Was it that they distrusted and had contempt for us too – especially those of us who spoke out at their more egregious errors? Was it that they failed to understand scientific principles and concepts and that we failed to communicate them clearly?

Was it that we failed to appreciate the detailed constraints on what governments are able to do? Was it that, especially in the case of behavioural science, others interjected their advice and believed that they knew better than a mere bunch of academics? After all, they surely were more versed in effective communication and influence having come out on top in several elections on the trot.

All these factors and more may perhaps be of relevance. But however well they understand, and however highly they rate their scientists, a government will not listen to advice about how to save people’s lives if it does not value those lives in the first place. Sometimes, as we have learnt from the last few days at the Covid inquiry, it really is that simple.

Devon and Cornwall’s Crime Commissioner has called for clarity after it emerged that the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland which is leading an inquiry into Chief Constable Will Kerr was itself mired in controversy after a lead investigator quit and police were called to the home of the Ombusdman herself.

Carl Eve www.plymouthherald.co.uk

In July it was revealed that a criminal investigation had been launched on June 16 regarding sexual assault allegations against the former Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Assistant Chief Constable. Mr Kerr strenuously denies the allegations and at the time said: “I recognise and respect the fact that accountability and due process are vital to any investigation, regardless of rank or position. I will continue to co-operate with any investigation. I hope that all matters will be expedited so that they will be concluded without delay.”

The inquiry was launched by the Police Ombudsman of Northern Ireland (PONI) using her ‘own motion’ powers. At the time a PONI spokesperson said “The Ombudsman will also consider the circumstances under which the allegations were investigated by PSNI. The Office has been engaging with the IOPC on cross-jurisdictional issues in recent weeks, as well as with the office of the Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner. Details concerning the precise nature of the allegations and any early investigative actions remain confidential at this time.”

The spokesperson said it was “not possible to confirm a likely timeframe for its conclusion.”

As a result, on July 26 this year Alison Hernandez, Devon and Cornwall’s Police and Crime Commissioner suspended Chief Constable Kerr over misconduct allegations. She, in turn, referred the matter to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) which confirmed it was starting its own investigation.

Last month sister website BelfastLive reported that officers in Northern Ireland had been called to the home of the Police Ombudsman Marie Anderson on September 23, following what was described as a “two-day incident” at the property. Officers who responded reported a woman who presented at the door of the property as appearing to have sustained an injury.

Unable to gain entry through the gates, the officers sought to reassure the woman of their presence but reported that she became “obstructive” and “refused to co-operate” with the uniformed officers.

Another person present at the property was spoken to by officers and they later presented themselves at a nearby police station accompanied by a solicitor. Police later confirmed a man was arrested and later released pending a report to prosecutors. The matter is now being investigated by West Midlands Police.

Earlier this week Belfast papers revealed that Susie Harper, PONI’s director of current investigations, had stood down.

On September 1, 2022 Ms Hernandez announced Mr Kerr as her preferred candidate “following a rigorous selection process” for the post of Devon and Cornwall Police Chief Constable. He was, at that time, the Deputy Chief Constable of Police Scotland. He was formally appointed on September 21 last year following a meeting of the Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Panel and officially sworn in on December 29. He is the first chief constable appointed by Ms Hernandez.

In light of the ongoing issues with the PONI, questions arose as to how it might affect the ongoing investigation into Mr Kerr OBE and how it may impose upon the length of time he has been suspended – on full pay – from his duties. The Government noted that in 2020 the annual salary for a Devon and Cornwall Police Chief Constable was £170,316.

A spokesperson for PONI told PlymouthLive: “We do not anticipate that there will be any delay in our investigation.”

Alison Hernandez, Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, told PlymouthLive: “I am awaiting further updates from the Office of the Police Ombudsman of Northern Ireland following recent changes in their organisation and am seeking reassurance that their enquiry remains on track.

“As the Chief Constable remains suspended on full pay any delay or inefficiency in the investigation negatively impacts upon the individuals concerned, Devon & Cornwall Police and the taxpaying public.”