The NHS has a shortage of hospital beds, with occupancy rates consistently exceeding safe levels. As the health system faces unprecedented pressures due to rising demand and the burden of COVID-19, bed capacity will remain a critical limiting factor in the ability of the NHS to recover.

www.bma.org.uk

This page provides analysis on the availability and occupancy of beds in the English NHS and is updated regularly with new data. [Online article contains more graphics.]

Last updated: 20 December 2022

COVID-19 has had a significant impact on service delivery. A number of factors impact the usage and availability of beds:

•  infection control measures placing limits on ward space
• reduced elective capacity
• staffing redeployment.

This is why data shows a sharp fall in the number of available hospital beds in 2020/21.

To fairly illustrate long-term trends this analysis therefore uses the pre-pandemic year of 2019/20 as the comparator.

The UK has fewer hospital beds than comparable nations

Compared to other nations, the UK has a very low total number of hospital beds relative to its population. The average number of beds per 1,000 people in OECD EU nations is 5, but the UK has just 2.4. Germany, by contrast, has 7.8.

Combined with staffing shortages, an insufficient core bed stock means that hospitals are less able to cope with large influxes of patients, for example during winter or periods of high demand.

This has ultimately impacted hospitals’ ability to provide safe and timely care and remains a major factor in growing backlogs.

NHS hospital bed stocks have changed over time

Overall bed stock has declined

Prior to the pandemic, the total English NHS hospital bed stock reduced by 8.3% between 2010/11 and 2019/20 as the average daily total of available beds fell from 153,725 to 140,978.

The ratio of beds that are overnight versus day-only has also undergone change. Between 2010/11 and 2019/20 the overnight bed stock shrunk by 10% while the number of day-only beds increased by 13.4%.

Different settings

The extent to which overnight bed numbers have fallen varies across different settings. Learning disability and mental illness beds have seen the largest reduction of 56% and 22.5% respectively since 2010/11. This reflects policies to move care for these patient groups out of hospitals and into the community.

A  reduction has also occurred in the available number of general and acute overnight beds which have decreased by 6.9%, from 108,958 average daily beds in 2010/11 to 101,432 in 2019/20.

The rise in general and acute day-only beds reflects an increase in day-case surgeries reducing the need for overnight stays, following clinical innovations that have lowered the time patients generally need to spend in hospital.

COVID-19 has impacted bed availability

As NHS England has noted, capacity has had to be organised differently during the pandemic. This is to comply with enhanced infection control measures and to treat COVID and non-COVID patients separately.

As a result of this reorganisation, the number of general and acute beds available for use dropped to a low of 92,559 in the first quarter of 2020/21.

Latest data for the second quarter of 2021 showed this has now increased to 98,000, but remains well below pre-pandemic levels.

Safe limits are routinely breached

Rising occupancy

While overall bed numbers have declined, occupancy rates have been rising.

Since 2010, average bed occupancy has consistently surpassed 85%, the level generally considered to be the point beyond which safety and efficiency are at risk.

Coming into the pandemic, England had an average occupancy of 90.2% in 2019/20. However, local variation in supply and demand have seen many trusts regularly exceeding 95% capacity in the winter months.

Bed shortages alongside high occupancy rates are unsafe for patients and staff. It can:

• increase delays in emergency departments
• delay patients transfer from intensive care units and between wards
• add stress to staff and patients.

Impact of COVID-19 on occupancy levels

The pandemic has seen a drastic fall in bed occupancy rates as a result of infection control procedures and rapid discharge arrangements. However, occupancy levels go hand in hand with the availability of beds.

Low occupancy with a low bed stock and low throughput is neither good for patients nor staff, who are facing long waits for treatment, a mounting backlog and capacity pressures.

Data for the second quarter of 2022/23 indicates that bed occupancy levels in England have risen substantially and have passed the recommended safe threshold again.

Pressures in social care are causing delayed discharges from hospital

Issues surrounding bed capacity are compounded further by discharge delays caused by pressures in social care. Up to one in three English hospital beds are occupied by patients who are medically fit to be discharged, but remain in hospital as there is no space for them in social care. This issue highlights the importance of properly funding both health and social care systems so that they can effectively work together.

Critical care capacity remains low despite increases in beds

National data on critical care beds is collected via monthly situation reports. Until February 2020 this consisted of a snapshot taken at midnight on the last Thursday of the month.

In March 2020 reporting adjustments due to COVID-19 changed this to an average across the month.

NHS England paused the regular publication of complete critical care bed capacity in February 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The UK entered the pandemic with a low number of critical care beds relative to its population, with just 7.3 critical care beds per 100,000 people, more than half the average in OECD EU nations (15.9).

This is despite the total number of adult acute critical care beds actually having risen over the years. 

In placing new demands on critical care services, COVID-19 laid bare that England does not have enough critical care beds.

When the NHS was asked in early 2020 to free up critical care capacity to prepare for a surge in patients, it achieved this through reorganising existing resources to:

• reduce demand by postponing non-urgent planned operations
• increase the amount of beds and physical spaces dedicated to critical care by reducing capacity elsewhere, including repurposing recovery rooms
• redeploy staff from elsewhere in the NHS.

As a result of these measures the number of available critical care beds saw a sharp increase between March and April 2020.

However, the need for rapid expansion of critical care capacity has come at a large cost to the NHS, which now faces extensive backlogs in other parts of the system. See our secondary care capacity analysis.

What the BMA is calling for

With bed capacity pressures mounting, the BMA is calling for action to be taken to ensure that the core bed stock grows to reach a level that will cope with year-round demand.

Increasing the total number of available beds is a sensible and achievable step towards addressing bed shortages in the NHS.

Expanding bed numbers will only be meaningful if there is sufficient workforce to staff them safely.

Funding for the adequate staffing of these beds – alongside long-term investment in increasing the NHS workforce – must therefore be provided by the Government.

This must be accompanied by a workforce strategy to ensure that the appropriate number of future staff are being recruited and trained. This is likely to save costs in the long run – through, for example, a reduction in locum costs.

The richest 1% of people in the UK are now wealthier than 70% of the population combined, according to analysis by Oxfam.

“Survival of the Richest” – Proves that there is no such thing as trickle-down economics. – Owl

Laura Parnaby www.independent.co.uk

A report by the charity highlights how the 685,500 richest people in Britain are worth a total of £2.8 trillion, compared with 48 million people in the UK whose combined wealth totals £2.4 trillion.

Oxfam’s report, called Survival of the Richest, builds a picture of widening worldwide inequality, after extreme poverty and extreme wealth increased simultaneously over the past two years for the first time in quarter of a century.

Throughout 2021 and 2022, the richest 1% accrued nearly twice as much “new wealth” – revenue created in the global economy – as the rest of the world combined, Oxfam has said.

According to the report, this elite group pocketed £21 trillion in new wealth over the last two years, which equates to almost two-thirds of all new revenue.

This comes after both the number and wealth of billionaires doubled over the last decade.

At the same time, at least 1.7 billion workers now live in countries where inflation is outpacing wages, and more than 820 million people – roughly one in 10 people on Earth – do not have enough food.

Oxfam is calling for a wealth tax of up to 5% on the super-rich to raise £1.4 trillion each year, which the charity argues is enough to lift two billion people out of poverty.

Danny Sriskandarajah, Oxfam GB chief executive, criticised governments for failing to tackle the issue of financial inequality, describing the current economic situation as “an affront to basic human values”.

He said: “Multiple crises have pushed millions to the brink while our leaders fail to grasp the nettle – governments must stop acting for the vested interests of the few.

“How can we accept a system where the poorest people in many countries pay much higher tax rates than the super-rich?

“A flour seller Oxfam works with in Uganda pays 40% tax each month, while some billionaires’ true tax rates have been as low as 3%.

“Governments must introduce higher taxes on the super-rich now.”

Along with Patriotic Millionaires and Tax Justice UK, Oxfam is pushing for one-off “solidarity wealth taxes”, and a permanent increase on tax for the richest 1% to at least 60% of their income from labour and capital, with higher rates for billionaires.

Their campaign is supported by Ian Gregg, former managing director of Greggs and the son of its founder, who believes he should be paying more tax.

Mr Gregg said: “I can never be happy with an economy that fosters such division in society for our children and grandchildren.

“Now, more than ever, the wealthiest must contribute more.

“For me, paying more tax would be a small price to pay to start the process of making society fairer, and reducing inequalities in both wealth and opportunity.”

Oxfam also found that 95 food and energy corporations more than doubled their profits in 2022, making £251 billion in windfall profits, and paying out 84% of this sum to rich shareholders.

The charity said that excess corporation profits have driven at least half of inflation in Australia, the US and the UK.

Some progressive governments have taken steps to increase taxation, including Costa Rica which increased its top rate of income tax from 15% to 25%, while Bolivia and Argentina have also introduced wealth taxes.

You’ll be lucky

First the strikes. Then engineering works. Now a landslip.

www.radioexe.co.uk

The chances of getting smoothly between Exeter and London Waterloo are often somewhat fraught. But now rail operator South Western Railway (SWR) is warning passengers there’s little hope of going the distance, at least on Tuesday and possibly for the best part of a week.

Ar landslip in the Hook area of Hampshire is severely reducing the number of trains that can safely run on the line. Trains aren’t going between Basingstoke and Waterlooo and only a limited shuttle service is in place connecting with trains at Woking.

People should check the situation before travelling for the next few days.

Sunday’s landslip was one of 11 incidents affecting infrastructure on SWR’s routes overnight on Sunday into Monday.

Claire Mann, managing director of South Western Railway, said: “We are deeply sorry for the significant disruption felt by customers across our network on Monday. What began as a major landslip at Hook was then compounded by 10 separate weather-related infrastructure failures, which have made planning and delivering a reliable train service across our network very difficult.

“We are working hard to provide a service that our customers can rely upon and unfortunately, we will be unable to run through services from Exeter, Weymouth, or Portsmouth (via Eastleigh) to London Waterloo from Tuesday. 

“With the repairs at Hook set to take at least a week to complete it is likely that further service alternations will need to be made. We are sorry for the ongoing disruption caused by the landslip and will communicate any changes to our customers as soon as possible.”

Going nowhere for a while (image courtesy: SWR)

No, it’s not any of the Devon Tory MPs. – Owl

The MP for Tiverton and Honiton, Richard Foord, is calling for the Government to safeguard people’s right to use Dartmoor for wild camping. 

Philippa Davies www.midweekherald.co.uk 

A recent High Court judgement ruled that individual Dartmoor landowners have the right to remove people from land they own within the National Park. There has been growing concern about how this will be enforced and the implications it would have.  

Mr Foord says many local residents have contacted him to express their anger and concern. Many fear that this will undermine the South West’s tourist trade and affect events that rely on Dartmoor for training, such as the Ten Tors Challenge and the Duke of Edinburgh award – both of which are undertaken by schools in East Devon.  

He has tabled a motion in Parliament celebrating the success of the Ten Tors challenge and calling on the Government to bring forward new legislation that would guarantee the continued right to camp on Dartmoor. He is asking other MPs across the area to back his motion. 

Mr Foord said: “Dartmoor is an amazing place. It is one of the few areas in England where you can cut away from the noise of 21st century life and get lost in nature. Spending the night on Dartmoor allows you to properly switch off from the sound and fury of modern life.   

“The recent ruling means that our right to pitch a tent is now at risk of being brought to an end by wealthy landowners. It should not be the case that vast tracts of our National Park are effectively fenced off to the public.  

 “So many people have been in touch with me to express their anger at the ruling and concern about how our green spaces are to be used. Dartmoor is a place for rest, recuperation and healing, and it should stay that way.  

“The Conservative Government must act on this. So far, they have failed to respond to the ruling or even bring forward a statement on the issue. This indifference is damning, and it is angering communities across the South West.”  

Politico Newsletter:

A total of 600 CEOs, 56 finance ministers, 19 central bank governors, 30 trade ministers and 35 foreign ministers are attending Davos this year. But while the WEF’s operating model requires it to provide a place for the world’s most influential people to talk (119 billionaires joined in 2020), all that power is a stark reminder that billionaires and CEOs don’t look like the rest of us.

This is the obvious solution but the Tories don’t want to admit how cruel their policy of closing cottage hospitals was. None more hawkish than local District and County Councillors. – Owl

www.thetimes.co.uk

The NHS needs a “rethink” to deal with Britain’s increasing sick population, the former head of Britain’s family doctors has said.

Dame Clare Gerada, former chairwoman of the Royal College of GPs, called for a new generation of cottage hospitals to offer better treatment to elderly people increasingly living longer with multiple illnesses.

“The problem with the NHS at the moment isn’t obesity, not really, and it isn’t really because we’re getting older, it’s actually because we’re getting older with chronic disease,” she told Times Radio.

CHRIS HARRIS FOR THE TIMES

“So for the last 20 years of our life, most of us are suffering from three, four, five, even ten long-term conditions and we’re living with those until our late 80s and early 90s. And the NHS was designed for a time when the average life expectancy was 67, when you tended to become unwell not long before that, and the NHS was geared up to provide acute care for those acute illnesses.”

Gerada, who will sit on The Times Health Commission, which launches today, led an ultimately unsuccessful campaign against David Cameron’s NHS reforms a decade ago and warned against another structural upheaval.

“Clearly what we need now is a rethink — not a top-down reorganisation, but a rethink about where the staff are, where staff are trained, where the resources are.”

She said ministers should consider “how we develop what I would call cottage hospitals — we used to have them and they all got closed down.”

She said beefing up care closer to home would help “deliver the two extremes of what patients need, which is one of acute necessary care, you break your leg, you’ve got an acute infection… but for the vast majority of patients today it’s the long-term chronic disease which isn’t really treated in a way that it should be.”

With waiting times for both emergency and routine care at record highs, The Times commission will take evidence from across the health service and draw up a radical blueprint for far-reaching reform of the NHS and social care.

The chief constable of Devon and Cornwall Police has said the force is battling inexperience among its ranks due to the number of new recruits.

Well, there’s a surprise. What does Alison Hernandez, police commissioner since May 2016, have to say?   – Owl

BBC News www.bbc.co.uk

Devon and Cornwall Police chief constable Will Kerr said he wants to prioritise tackling basic crime

Will Kerr, who was sworn into the role in December, said the force had the highest number of officers it has ever had.

But he admitted this had brought “challenges”.

He also outlined a back to basics approach to policing to improve public confidence in the force.

It comes as a Freedom of Information request by the BBC found 54% of officers in Devon and Cornwall Police had three years of service or less.

Only 55% of response officers were qualified to drive with blue lights.

‘Time and effort’

Mr Kerr said: “It is a challenge and there’s no point trying to pretend it is otherwise.

“But, of course, when you’re significantly increasing the number of new recruits and new police officers coming in through the door… that takes a lot of time and effort and detailed training programmes.”

He said addressing the issue will become slightly easier “in a couple of years”.

Andy Berry, from the Police Federation, said inexperience was an important issue for Mr Kerr to tackle.

“For response officers, it’s absolutely essential that they can drive with blue lights – frankly, 54% isn’t enough,” he said.

Mr Kerr said he would be prioritising basic issues such as anti-social behaviour, drug-dealing and unsafe driving.

He said public confidence in the police “begins and ends” at a community level.

“What I’m keen to do is make sure we give those young cops and new police staff members the skills that they need to get out as quickly as possible in local communities,” he added.

So things are back to “normal” for the long suffering residents of Cranbrook, many of whom had to take an involuntary “ice bucket challenge” to shower. What a way to start the week. – Owl

Mary Stenson www.devonlive.com

Residents of Cranbrook woke up to no hot water this morning [Monday] after the town’s communal heating supply was cut off. It comes after previous outages in the town, including one last month which left households without heating for up to five days during a sub-zero cold snap. The town’s heating provider E.ON says this morning’s issue was “an isolated incident”.

As temperatures plummet today, a large number of Cranbrook residents say they have had to take cold showers this morning as their homes are without hot water. The town is supplied by utility company E.ON via a communal district heating centre on London Road.

Locals took to Cranbrook’s community Facebook page, Belonging to Cranbrook, to say they had been without heating this morning, including one post which said “No hot water. Just had [an] ice cold shower. Anyone else?”

The post was met with at least 70 comments which reported no hot water in homes throughout the area. E.ON has said that the issue has now been resolved and that it was caused by a fire alarm which cut off the energy centre.

It is not the first time that Cranbrook has had difficulties with their heating system. Just last month, a large number of homes were without heating, including one mum who said that she and her children were having to stay with relatives as it was too cold to sleep at home. E.ON attributed last month’s heating problems to “an issue with valves in the heat interface units in some customer homes” rather than the network itself.

Local MP for East Devon Simon Jupp has since been rallying for an improved service for Cranbrook, most recently calling on E.ON to ensure compensation is “as simple as possible, be calculated fairly, and cover every single day customers were affected.”

Nicola Quick moved to phase 4 of Cranbrook five years ago and claims that every winter her home suffers heating outages. She explains she was drawn to the idea of a new-build property as she believed it would require less work and have fewer problems.

She said: “With a new house, you think there’s not going to be any problems, you don’t have to do anything to it. Where I live is the quieter end of the whole development and I quite like that there’s no through traffic.

“I didn’t know what [communal district heating] was when I first moved in. When you go around and have a look, you see the radiators and kind of think that it’s central heating which is ok.

“The Christmas before last, on Christmas Day I had to phone up because I had no hot water. It’s just ridiculous, it’s sporadic throughout the year. Every year we have this every winter. This is not something new.”

She explained that her home, which she lives in by herself, has been impacted both today and during the December outage, as well as numerous other times over the year. Nicola claims she has found herself waiting up all night and taking days off work to ensure she is there when an E.ON engineer comes to resolve the problem.

She said: “You get up in the morning to go to work and no hot water for a shower. Not a great a start to a Monday. When they know there’s going to be an issue at the E.ON centre, why is it then an issue for all of us?

“It’s really difficult because you’ve got to take the whole day off work. You’ve got to really kick off before they’ll actually do anything about anything and it just causes you stress when you don’t need it.

“One of the engineers was supposed to turn up when I called at 9pm one night, he was supposed to turn up within five hours and just nobody contacted me or said anything. They did give me £5 for that but I was up all night waiting.”

Nicola claims that it wasn’t until Simon Jupp got involved that she received compensation, which was £30 for everyday without heating. However, she adds that she had to “fight” to get compensation for all three days she was without hot water as she was initially only going to be reimbursed for two.

She went on to say that despite enjoying being an active member of the Cranbrook community, the lack of consistent heating, as well as problems with parking in the town, has left her wishing she’d “never moved [there].”

Nicola said: “Traffic is appalling. Even the bus drivers can’t get the buses down the new development which is on the fourth roundabout which is phase 7. You can only have one car through there because of parking on the other side of the road.

“The council said they weren’t going to designate yellow lines in the town at all which is a total joke. I’ve got a garage with my property and the amount of people that park in front of my garage when I’ve got signs on there saying ‘please do not park, I need access 24/7’, I still have to phone the police and they have to phone the owner to move.

“If I could move tomorrow I would, definitely. I run and I’m a member of the community with the park runs and use the country park a lot. That’s great and it’s great for work but the other issues with E.ON is just a shocker.”

DevonLive contacted E.ON to ask how many households have been affected this morning, the cause of the outage, whether it has been resolved, why heating issues appear to occur when the temperature drops and whether households would be compensated for this morning’s incident.

An spokesperson for E.ON responded, saying: “We had an issue this morning where the fire alarm cut off the energy centre. This was an isolated incident but supply was lost for a few hours from 6am. All is restored now but we’re sorry for the disruption.”

• Erection of an oak-framed open sided lean-to shelter, with slate roof, on an existing platform within the garden. George Park Awliscombe EX14 3PJRef. No: 23/0032/FUL | Validated: Fri 06 Jan 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Loft conversion, construction of dormer and internal alterations Alston Lodge Alston Devon EX13 7LGRef. No: 23/0038/FUL | Validated: Fri 06 Jan 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed rear extension and a glazed garden room. Sunnyside Wilmington Honiton EX14 9SFRef. No: 23/0036/FUL | Validated: Fri 06 Jan 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Erection of an oak-framed open sided lean-to shelter, with slate roof, on an existing platform within the garden. George Park Awliscombe EX14 3PJRef. No: 23/0033/LBC | Validated: Fri 06 Jan 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed Lawful Development for the use of land for the siting of static caravans.Salcombe Regis Camping And Caravan Park Salcombe Regis Devon EX10 0JHRef. No: 23/0027/CPL | Validated: Thu 05 Jan 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Use of The Granary as an independent dwelling (application for a lawful development certificate for existing use). Knights Farm The Granary Knights Lane All Saints EX13 7LSRef. No: 23/0026/CPE | Validated: Thu 05 Jan 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed single storey extension. Coombe Bank Tipton St John Sidmouth EX10 0AXRef. No: 23/0016/FUL | Validated: Wed 04 Jan 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Garage conversion to include the whole double garage and a garden room.Beeches Talaton Exeter EX5 2RQRef. No: 23/0020/CPL | Validated: Wed 04 Jan 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Construction of porch, installation of flue, demolition of garage and construction of replacement garage with roofspace store and photovoltaic panels. The Old Cider Barn Broadclyst Road Whimple Devon EX5 2TTRef. No: 23/0024/FUL | Validated: Wed 04 Jan 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• T1: Silver Birch: 1 – lift the crown , laterally and vertically on the south side by 3m; 2 – lift the crown over the car parking nare by at least 2.5m; 3 – lift the crown on the north side, over the public highway, to at least the regulatory height; 4 – to root prune on the south side to prevent further damage; 5 – to insert root barrier on south and east side to prevent further damage . 1 Drakes Cottages Woodbury Devon EX5 1NARef. No: 23/0023/TRE | Validated: Thu 05 Jan 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Construction of porch, installation of flue, installation of rooflight and internal alterations. The Old Cider Barn Broadclyst Road Whimple Devon EX5 2TTRef. No: 23/0025/LBC | Validated: Wed 04 Jan 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• 2x Apple: Fell. Garden Cottage Cross Stockland Devon EX14 9BSRef. No: 23/0001/TCA | Validated: Tue 03 Jan 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed single storey rear extension and garden office/outbuilding 77 Willow Walk Honiton Devon EX14 2FYRef. No: 23/0002/FUL | Validated: Tue 03 Jan 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed rear extension and balcony 67 Halsdon Avenue Exmouth Devon EX8 3DHRef. No: 23/0003/FUL | Validated: Tue 03 Jan 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed temporary agricultural worker’s dwelling Land North Of Grange Farm Newton PopplefordRef. No: 23/0010/FUL | Validated: Fri 06 Jan 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Variation of condition no.2 (approved plans) of planning permission 21/1155/FUL (Replacement of existing extension with two storey front/side/rear extension and porch, reroofing cottage, balcony, replacement doors and windows and addition of rooflights) to be replaced with revised floor plans which reduce alterations to the property and overall floor area Horners Shorebottom Stockland Devon EX14 9DQRef. No: 22/2839/VAR | Validated: Tue 03 Jan 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• T6: Ash Crown reduce in overall height to around 17-19m (25-30% live crown). Retain all adventitious shoots and secondary branching proximal to reduction cuts. Target cuts approx. 200mm in diameter. 26 Bradham Court Exmouth Devon EX8 4ANRef. No: 22/2840/TRE | Validated: Wed 04 Jan 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Conversion of The Dairy to holiday accommodation and conversion of aviary to bat house Trafalgar Barton Branscombe Seaton EX12 3DBRef. No: 22/2832/FUL | Validated: Thu 05 Jan 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Single storey rear extension and external alterations Bramblings Brampford Speke EX5 5DWRef. No: 22/2831/FUL | Validated: Tue 03 Jan 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• 1x Ash – fell. Land At The Summerhouse Undercliffe Rousdon DT7 3XURef. No: 22/2841/TCA | Validated: Tue 03 Jan 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed new garage and additional off street parking. Brackenside Shepherds Lane Colaton Raleigh Sidmouth EX10 0LPRef. No: 22/2847/FUL | Validated: Tue 03 Jan 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• T1, Ash : fell. 1 Vine Cottages The Square Whimple Devon EX5 2SRRef. No: 23/0014/TCA | Validated: Tue 03 Jan 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• T1, Monterey pine : shorten lowest limb on southern side of tree back to significant secondary side branch. 59 Chichester Close Exmouth Devon EX8 2LRRef. No: 23/0013/TRE | Validated: Tue 03 Jan 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• T1, Mature Lime : To crown lift to achieve a clearance above public highway of 6 metres, pruning cuts up to 60mm diameter. T2, Yew : To remove low limbs interfering with overhead cables, pruning cuts of up to 75mm. T3, Beech : To dismantle to ground level. T4, Beech : To crown lift to give 6 metre clearance from driveway. T5, Young Lime : To dismantle to ground level. T6, Lime : To crown lift eastern aspect to achieve a 3 metre clearance from the adjacent property. T7, T8, Mature Lime : To crown lift on western aspect to achieve a 3 metre clearance from the storage units below. Little Manor Upottery Devon EX14 9PNRef. No: 23/0012/TRE | Validated: Tue 03 Jan 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Installation of array of photovoltaic panels on south facing roof. 2 Charles Court Lympstone Exmouth Devon EX8 5ELRef. No: 22/2833/FUL | Validated: Tue 03 Jan 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Installation of rooflights Flat 24 The Dog And Donkey Knowle Village Knowle Budleigh Salterton EX9 6ALRef. No: 23/0009/FUL | Validated: Tue 03 Jan 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• G1 – 5x Lawson Cypress Conifer – dismantle to ground level. 2 Mitchell Cottages Gittisham Devon EX14 3AFRef. No: 22/2845/TCA | Validated: Tue 03 Jan 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• T1, Willow : prune and re-pollard to past historic points, removing branch lengths of up to 4 metres, making natural target pruning cuts up to 100 mm. T2, Cherry : prune by reducing branch lengths of the whole crown by 1 metre in length and leaving the trees total height to approximately 5 metres above ground level. 12-14 Dowell Street Honiton Devon EX14 1LTRef. No: 22/2842/TCA | Validated: Tue 03 Jan 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Demolition of existing side porch and garage; construction of a single storey side extension incorporating an integral garage 4 Brook Close Two Bridges Road Sidford Sidmouth EX10 9PNRef. No: 23/0005/FUL | Validated: Fri 06 Jan 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Installation of agricultural building with solar panels, 2 polytunnels, access track and compost toilet. Land North Of Grange Farm Newton PopplefordRef. No: 23/0004/FUL | Validated: Tue 03 Jan 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed third floor balcony 7 Merrion Avenue Exmouth Devon EX8 2HXRef. No: 23/0008/FUL | Validated: Thu 05 Jan 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• G1, Sycamore, Hazel, Willow and Holly along the NW boundary : coppice various stems on the SE aspect and reduce the remaining crowns to a height varying between 3 and 5 metres. 4 Royal Oak Close Dunkeswell Devon EX14 4AERef. No: 23/0011/TRE | Validated: Thu 05 Jan 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Erection of new building for ambulance service (SWASFT) with ambulance re-fuelling station and associated car parking and landscaping Skypark Dakota Way Exeter Airport Clyst Honiton Exeter EX5 2BDRef. No: 22/2825/MFUL | Validated: Fri 06 Jan 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed building extension to existing business unit (known as Unit 1 Politmore Barton). Poltimore Barton Unit 1 Poltimore Devon EX4 0BQRef. No: 22/2812/FUL | Validated: Tue 03 Jan 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Variation of condition no. 2 (approved drawing of minor alteration to window positions and material changes 20/0997/FUL) to be replaced with submitted drawing 8599-02A. 349 Exeter Road Exmouth Devon EX8 3NSRef. No: 22/2814/VAR | Validated: Tue 03 Jan 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Certificate of lawfulness to erect a 1.8m high wooden feather edge board fence along rear boundary of garden94 Woolbrook Road Sidmouth Devon EX10 9XDRef. No: 22/2804/CPL | Validated: Tue 03 Jan 2023 | Status: Decided
• Demolition of an existing house and construction of a proposed replacement dwelling with 4 bedrooms 191 Beer Road Seaton Devon EX12 2QBRef. No: 22/2799/FUL | Validated: Tue 03 Jan 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Loft conversion with dormer windows, Coach house rear extension, over garage works (previously consented). York House New Road Beer Seaton EX12 3HSRef. No: 22/2762/FUL | Validated: Wed 04 Jan 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Creation of 2 no. earth bank irrigation reservoirs and associated infrastructure for water harvesting Courtlands Dulford Devon EX15 2EQRef. No: 22/2749/AGR | Validated: Fri 06 Jan 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Permission in principle for the keeping of 3 horses rehomed from a national welfare/rescue organisation; construction of a 20m x 20m dry area for training and exerciseLand At Parricks Lane Hawkchurch EX13 5XBRef. No: 22/2739/PIP | Validated: Tue 03 Jan 2023 | Status: Withdrawn
• Proposed refurbishment and reconfiguration of depot including new parking area, new palisade security fencing, demolition of existing store and construction of new storage building. Hamblys Ltd Ottery Moor Lane Honiton EX14 1BWRef. No: 22/2712/FUL | Validated: Sun 08 Jan 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• T1, Oak : remove T2, T3 Beech : crown liftRosehill 30 West Hill Budleigh Salterton EX9 6BURef. No: 22/2408/TCA | Validated: Thu 05 Jan 2023 | Status: Withdrawn

Former Conservative chancellor Nadhim Zahawi is said to have agreed to pay HMRC several million pounds in tax following an investigation into his financial affairs that was first revealed by The Independent last year.

Adam Forrestwww.independent.co.uk

The Tory chair has agreed to pay a seven-figure sum to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to settle a tax dispute, according to reports. Labour says there are now “serious questions to answer” for Mr Zahawi and the prime minister.

The Independent Reported in July that HMRC officials were examining the tax affairs of the senior Tory figure after an inquiry was launched by the National Crime Agency (NCA) in 2020.

This is how The Independent reported the investigation at the time (The Independent)

In summer last year, when Mr Zahawi was chancellor and while he was running for the Tory leadership, a senior Whitehall source confirmed that the tax matter being investigated by HMRC was “unresolved”.

The initial NCA inquiry was codenamed Operation Catalufa and is understood to have involved the agency’s International Corruption Unit.

There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by Mr Zahawi, who said he had known nothing about the NCA investigation before being contacted by The Independent.

The Tory chair gave HMRC a “seven-figure” sum to settle a tax row related to Gibraltar-registered Balshore Investments – used to hold shares in the YouGov polling company he co-founded – according to The Sun on Sunday.

A spokesperson for Mr Zahawi did not deny that the tax bill amounted to several million, and told The Independent: “As he has previously stated, Mr Zahawi’s taxes are properly declared and paid in the UK. He is proud to have built a British business that has become successful around the world.”

The senior Tory claimed to be the victim of a “smear” campaign after details of the tax investigation were revealed, but vowed to “answer any questions that HMRC has of me”.

Labour chair Anneliese Dodds said there are “serious questions to answer” for both Mr Zahawi and Rishi Sunak.

“Why did Nadhim Zahawi claim last summer that he had paid his taxes in full, and that he wasn’t aware of an investigation?” she asked. “When was he made aware of an investigation? Was the prime minister aware of an investigation when he appointed Nadhim Zahawi to the cabinet?

“Finally, why did Nadhim Zahawi claim he was not a beneficiary of his family trust – Balshore Investments – when records show that the money he owed YouGov was paid from the trust?

“Not for the first time, Rishi Sunak’s judgement has been called into serious question. The question remains: is he strong enough to sack Nadhim Zahawi?”

Mr Zahawi vowed to publish his tax returns if he won the Tory leadership contest and became prime minister, before being eliminated in the first round of voting and throwing his weight behind Liz Truss.

The Tory chair initially backed Boris Johnson for the leadership when Ms Truss resigned in October, but later switched his support to Mr Sunak.

The 55-year-old was born in Iraq and came to the UK as a child when his Kurdish family fled Saddam Hussein’s regime, before becoming the MP for Stratford-upon-Avon in 2010.

Mr Zahawi made his fortune with online polling company YouGov and was also chief executive of Gulf Keystone Petroleum until 2018.

A spokesperson for HMRC said: “We cannot comment on identifiable taxpayers.”

Boris Johnson has been urged to come clean about his financial affairs and end his Conservative leadership ambitions, as the former prime minister became embroiled in a fresh row over money.

Adam Forrest www.independent.co.uk

The prime minister is thought to have secured an £800,000 line of credit while he was at No 10, backed by a millionaire relative who was suggested for a top role at a quango.

Canadian businessman Sam Blyth agreed to guarantee the huge credit facility for his distant cousin in December 2020 before it was taken out in February 2021, a newspaper report claimed.

Labour condemned the lack of transparency around the “alleged murky financial arrangements”, calling on No 10 to come clean about who exactly Mr Johnson had received money and other benefits from when he was PM.

Tory MPs said the latest questions about Mr Johnson’s finances, coming soon after damning new Partygate claims, showed exactly why he was not a “suitable character” to be prime minister.

Asked about the huge £800,000 line of credit, former Tory minister Caroline Nokes said there was no way he could return. “Boris was a particular politician for a particular time … but now is not his time. We need sensible, grown-up politicians,” she told BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.

“It should help kill off any chance he has of coming back,” one backbencher told The Independent. “He wasn’t a suitable character to be PM. The stories about Partygate and his finances would keep on coming if he tried to come back.”

Another Sunak-backing Tory MP said the huge line of credit Mr Johnson was given at No 10 “reminds us why so many people had concerns about him as leader”.

They added: “But some MPs just don’t care because he’s such a unique character. You still can’t rule out a comeback push, because there are a hardcore group who think we did the wrong thing getting rid of him.”

Natwest bank chairman Sir Howard Davies also criticised Mr Johnson, suggesting that the markets would react very badly to any attempted comeback. “Running the country is not the same as running his own finances, where it seems there are mysterious people prepared to fill in any budget gap,” he told the BBC.

The Cabinet Office’s propriety and ethics team were said to have approved the £800,000 credit arrangement in December 2020 after Mr Johnson asked for the advice of cabinet secretary Simon Case, the Sunday Times reported.

Mr Johnson’s Canadian cousin, the guarantor of the credit line, was considered for a position as chief executive of the British Council, a non-departmental public body when the guarantor arrangements were being put into place, according to the newspaper.

But Mr Case and Cabinet Office officials are said to have been unaware of Mr Blyth’s application for the quango, having been assured that there were no conflicts of interest. And Mr Johnson insisted he was not aware of Mr Blyth’s appearance on a recommended list for the British Council job.

A spokesman for the former PM said: “Boris Johnson did not in any way assist with, and was unaware of, any application by Sam Blyth, formal or informal, to serve in any position whatever with the British Council, and neither was anybody in No 10 who was acting on his behalf.”

There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by Mr Blyth, said to be a friend of Mr Johnson’s father, Stanley Johnson. The Canadian told the Sunday Times: “I am aware of the statement Boris Johnson is making and can confirm the accuracy of his account.”

The former PM’s wife Carrie Johnson is believed to have made free use of Mr Blyth’s villa in the Dominican Republic in early 2022, before Mr Johnson and the whole family holidayed there in October.

Mr Johnson has argued that the use of the Dominican Republic villa did not need to be registered because its free use came from a family member providing a personal benefit. “All Boris Johnson’s financial interests are and were properly declared,” said a spokesperson.

Labour party chair Anneliese Dodds said: “Boris Johnson was never fit for office. These alleged murky financial arrangements only further confirm this fact. This raises the question of why this arrangement was not publicly declared.”

She added: “The public have a right to know when sizeable gifts and loans are made to leaders to avoid any suggestion of inappropriate influence. Will No10 or the Conservative Party confirm just who Johnson received money from when he was in No10, why this was not properly declared, and what these wealthy individuals were offered in return?”

The latest revelations come after The Independent revealed a bitter split between warring Tories over whether Mr Johnson should be restored as leader given his history of scandal.

Liberal Democrat chief whip Wendy Chamberlain MP said: “It’s clear as day he’s filling up his coffers and plotting a comeback. This disgraced prime minister should not be granted one. Johnson must publicly rule out a comeback.”

Analysis by The Independent shows that Mr Johnson has raked in than £2.6m in earnings, donations and benefits in kind in the past year alone.

The total includes outside earnings of just over £1.3m in the past 12 months, as the former PM entered the speaking circuit after leaving No 10 in September.

Mr Johnson has also received just £1.2m in donations and hospitality, gifts and benefits in kind – including a £1m donation from Brexiteer businessman Christopher Harbourne and accommodation worth just over £60,000 from Lord Bamford and Lady Bamford.

It also emerged that Mr Johnson put a dinner costing more than £4,000 on a government credit card while with staff in New York for a UN General Assembly meeting in September 2021.

The bill for £4,445.07 for the meal at Smith & Wollensky’s enjoyed by Mr Johnson and his entourage emerged in a question posed by Labour. “While families are sick with worry struggling to make ends meet, this waste of public money is obscene,” said deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner.

Foreign Office minister David Rutley said: “Expenditure was subject to normal FCDO controls and an appropriate use of public money.”

A former Tory MP [Neil Parish] who quit after watching porn in the House of Commons has said he wants to stand again at the next general election.

(Neil has been floating this idea, even toying with standing as an independent at the by-election for his own seat, but so far hasn’t “made a commitment”.)

Owl’s message: Go ahead Neil and split the Tory vote but remember that by the next general election you will be very much “yesterday’s man”!

Richard Foord is setting an example of how an MP should care for his constituency, something few of us have ever experienced in Toryland.

Alexandra Rogers www.huffingtonpost.co.uk 

Neil Parish, who resigned his Devonshire seat last summer, said there was still “so much unfinished business” following his departure from parliament.

Parish, who represented Honiton and Tiverton, said that the first time he watched porn online had been accidental as he searched for tractors online.

But he admitted that on another occasion he had deliberately watched the material while waiting to vote in the Chamber.

His actions cost him his political career and triggered a by-election in the seat, which the Lib Dems won with a 30% swing.

Parish said after the result: “It’s a shame that I had to make such a terrible mistake and go in the way I had to go.”

Speaking to Times Radio, Parish said today that despite the nature of his exit, he was hoping to make a political comeback.

He told presenters Kate McCann and Adam Boulton: “At the moment I just don’t want to quite leave it.

“When you leave so suddenly like I had to, there is so much unfinished business. Therefore at the moment I don’t really want to leave it there… the seat that comes very close to my farm is the Tiverton and West Somerset seat.

“I would very much consider standing there at the next general election.”

And asked whether he would considering running as an independent and not the the Conservative Party, Parish said: “I shall offer my services to the [Conservative] Party … whether the party will have me or not is another matter.

“Then I have the option of also standing as an independent…there’s a certain draw for me actually to have a shot as an independent.”

Parish was just one of a number of Tory MPs to lose the party whip over their conduct.

Andrew Bridgen, the MP for North West Leicestershire, was suspended from the Conservative Party on Wednesday after he referred to the Holocaust in a debate about Covid vaccines.

The following day, Bridgen, who now sits as an independent MP in the Commons, apologised for causing offence and released a video denying he was racist.

There are currently 15 independent MPs sitting in parliament.

Nice “win win” for somebody – Owl

A company founded by a top Conservative Party donor that was paid £11m to deliver PPE kits during the pandemic will now be paid millions more to destroy them, it has been reported.

Maroosha Muzaffar www.independent.co.uk

Clipper Logistics, founded by Steve Parkin, will receive £4.5m to burn PPE including gowns, and surgical gloves that did not meet NHS standards, sparking criticism from opposition parties over alleged contract cronyism in the country.

Two years ago, Clipper Logistics, one of the UK’s leading storage and delivery groups, received £11m of taxpayer money to deliver PPE kits, among £3.5bn-worth of emergency Covid contracts that went to Tory-linked firms, according to Labour.

The manner in which the government fast-tracked applications for Covid contracts from suppliers with connections to ministers and officials has since been ruled unlawful by the High Court.

Clipper Logistics has been handed a contract to incinerate gowns, goggles and gloves that are among an estimated £4bn worth of PPE gear deemed ineffective, according to the Mirror.

Mr Parkin, 62, is no longer involved in the running of Clipper Logistics after it was acquired by US logistics giant GXO in a deal worth almost £1bn, but he remains a shareholder. He has reportedly donated £730,000 to the Conservatives since 2017.

This arrangement has sparked outrage among opposition parties. Labour’s Angela Rayner demanded: “Ministers must explain this.”

Ms Rayner said: “The Tories’ conveyor belt of sleaze and incompetence has come full circle. They handed millions to a donor’s firm with no experience of delivering PPE, then forked out millions more for the exact same firm to incinerate it.

“Taxpayers’ cash is going up in flames as the government’s bonfire of useless PPE grows. Ministers must come clean about these grubby deals and explain how a Tory donor’s company came to be awarded millions on millions for this fiasco.”

Liberal Democrat MP Christine Jardine said: “The public deserves to know the full details of how this Conservative-affiliated company landed these contracts. We need clarity, not more cronyism and cover-ups.

“Conservative ministers wasted billions on dodgy PPE contracts and now are spending millions more destroying it. Another demonstration of how out of touch this government really is.”

As the affordable housing crisis deepens, our 2022 state of brownfield report has found – yet again – that the number of new homes that could be built on brownfield land remains high. In fact, it has reached record levels, with more than half a million homes with planning permission waiting to be built.

www.cpre.org.uk

Our report looked at local councils’ registers of brownfield land and found that over 1.2 million homes could be built on 23,000 sites covering more than 27,000 hectares of previously developed land. Just 45% of available housing units have been granted planning permission and 550,000 homes with planning permission are still awaiting development. Read the report

Brownfield still underused

The data also shows clear differences between regions. On the whole, the former industrial heartlands, which are most in need of levelling up, are least likely to have planning permission to redevelop brownfield land. Compared with the national average of 45%, the proportion of available housing units with planning permission is: 33% in the north west, 36% in the West Midlands and 40% in Yorkshire and the Humber.

There is still a huge amount of land that can be recycled in our major cities. London boroughs have two of the top three totals of highest brownfield land with housing capacity and Birmingham is in second place. Using that land would take the pressure off the Green Belt around those cities.

CPRE’s latest state of brownfield report calls for a range of measures to protect green fields, farmland and countryside, while boosting the development of social and truly affordable homes in areas where it is most needed. Previous research has shown that development of the highest quality farmland has soared 1,000-fold in 10 years – while brownfield sites wait for regeneration. Meanwhile, the demand for social housing is growing six times faster than the rate of supply in rural areas. At current rates, the backlog of low-income families needing accommodation would take over 120 years to clear.

A broken system

Tom Fyans, interim chief executive of CPRE said:

‘You know the system is broken when hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people and families are on social housing waiting lists, many in rural areas. Meanwhile, across the country tens of thousands of hectares of prime brownfield sites are sitting there waiting to be redeveloped.

‘There have been promising commitments by the government to incentivise brownfield development, tackle land banking and clamp down on short term lets distorting the rental market. But the scale of the challenge requires so much more. There’s no way to fix an overheated, undersupplied housing market without a new generation of social or truly affordable housing.

‘The only solution is a commitment to building hundreds of thousands of new homes available at social rents or sold at affordable prices linked to local wages. Investing in brownfield regeneration would have a transformative effect. Done with consideration, such developments breathe new life into communities while also building the homes local people actually need alongside existing infrastructure such as public transport, schools and shops.’

A ‘clear prioritisation’ of brownfield

Recent changes to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, including emphasising brownfield over greenfield, are welcome but vague. CPRE is calling for broad amendments to the National Planning Policy Framework, which is due for review in 2023, to include a clear prioritisation of brownfield development over greenfield sites. Among the recommendations are:

• Only allowing greenfield developments when they are primarily affordable housing for local needs, or when as much use as possible is already being made of brownfield land.
• The New Homes Bonus should be reformed so it is only paid out to support either development of brownfield land and/or additional affordable homes.
• The Infrastructure Levy should be set at a much higher rate on greenfield land to reflect the high costs of greenfield development to local communities.
• Provide local communities with stronger mechanisms to bring brownfield land forward as a source of land supply, such as increased compulsory purchase powers.

Read the report

A new school set up to boost the number of doctors in England has been told it will not receive any funding for domestic students – meaning that in future it may only be able to give places to those coming in from overseas.

Anna Fazackerley www.theguardian.com

The government is refusing to fund a single place at Three Counties Medical School, University of Worcester, despite health bosses in the area saying they are spending £70m a year on agency staff to plug a chronic shortage of doctors.

The school was set up to boost doctor numbers across Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire – rural areas that struggle to compete with big city training centres such as Birmingham when recruiting medical staff. The centre is expected to be completed in about six weeks, and it has the agreement of the General Medical Council to start training doctors from September.

However, the Department for Health and Social Care, which maintains a strict cap on the number of university medical degree places it funds, is ignoring pleas from local health trusts, hospitals and Tory MPs to pay for students to come and train at the school.

Professor David Green, vice chancellor of Worcester University, told the Observer: “The chronic shortage of staff in the NHS means that doctors are constantly rushed, so delays and mistakes happen and that is leading to a crisis of excess deaths. The question is how bad do things have to get before the government will act?”

He said that there was “a desperate need” for more doctors to work in the three counties, adding: “All the local health services say the school is crucial. But we still have not been allocated a single funded place by the government.”

Simon Trickett, chief executive of the NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire integrated care board, said they were spending just over £70m this year on locum and agency staff because they don’t have enough doctors. He added: “That’s a massive premium to pay to get your shifts covered.”

He said: “It is really frustrating. The local system is 100% behind this medical school. The GP surgeries, the hospitals, the community services and the local councils all really want it. But it is being blocked from entering the market.”

Trickett said that as well as doctors working in hospitals the region urgently needed a “production pipeline” of new trainee GPs to fill the gaps as existing doctors retired, adding that this was particularly important as they had a high proportion of elderly residents.

It comes as the head of NHS England, Amanda Pritchard, called on the government to increase the number of homegrown nurses and doctors trained at medical schools. “We are seeing universities having to turn away excellent people,” she told the Times.

In the absence of any government funding, the university has managed to raise the money for 20 UK medical students to start its fast-track four-year graduate medical training this September, with support from a local charity and a one-off contribution from local NHS trusts, which do not want to see the school fail. The school received 1,000 applications from students in the UK and across the world, with international students paying £45,100 a year to support all their own training costs.

The medical school has offered places to 48 students in total, but Green said that the university could “easily” have secured training placements locally for more than 100 students if the government would agree to pay for them.

Robin Walker, Conservative MP for Worcester and chair of the Commons education select committee, said: “I’ve been telling health ministers that it is irrational to have medical schools that can’t recruit domestic medical students when we know we need them.”

He added: “At the moment we are dependent on training centres like Birmingham and Bristol to recruit doctors but they have their own demands to meet. We urgently need a local supply of doctors.”

The Royal College of Physicians has been lobbying for an expansion in medical training places for years. Its president, Dr Sarah Clarke, said: “Training more doctors is crucial to creating a sustainable and efficient health service. There are thousands of UK students ready to take up places in medical school, we just need the government to fund them.”

Next year Worcester says it will have to recruit only international students, who are less likely to stay and work locally.

The government has also denied funding to two other new medical schools in England, at Brunel University and the University of Chester.

The Department of Health and Social Care said: “Since 2017, the government has provided funding for an extra 1,500 medical school places per year. We created five new medical schools as part of this process.

“We have commissioned NHS England to develop a long-term plan for the NHS workforce for the next 15 years. This will look at the mix and number of staff required across all parts of the country, including doctors.”

Isn’t he part of the problem? – Owl

Jeremy Hunt has been “captured” by the Treasury, according to a Westminster insider.

Caroline Wheeler www.thetimes.co.uk

The chancellor is seen as the stumbling block in talks with the unions over disputes that have brought Britain grinding to a halt.

The insider points to Hunt’s determination to boost growth by getting economically inactive people back into work while blocking pay rises for public sector workers.

It is understood that the Treasury has told Steve Barclay to find savings in his health department if he wants to give nurses a pay rise. He has resisted the idea after having to find £250 million to plough into social care to free up hospital beds and ease the A&E crisis.

Barclay believes nurses should be an exceptional case, but the Treasury has rebuffed his approach for more money. In talks with the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) last week Barclay asked for this week’s strikes, on Wednesday and Thursday, to be called off while discussions continue. The union wants a 19 per cent pay rise.

Rishi Sunak had promised unions a fresh approach, and ministers were told to begin negotiations on pay deals for 2023-24. The RCN talks are still open but this week’s action — involving up to 100,000 nurses — is expected to go ahead after the government refused to talk about this year’s pay deal.

With no sign of a breakthrough, the RCN is set to announce further strike dates for the start of February.

In more bad news for the government, the National Education Union and the National Association of Head Teachers are expected to announce that their members have voted in favour of a strike.

One Westminster insider suggested the blockage was Hunt: “Last year he argued for more funding for the NHS in his book Zero. Now he has become the iron chancellor, saying no to everything.”

The prime minister is likely to come under more pressure to resolve pay disputes as May’s local elections loom. One former cabinet minister said a way to put more money into health could be to tap the Treasury’s £4 billion windfall from the Bank of England’s sale of the long-term gilts it bought to quell panic after Liz Truss’s mini-budget.

A settlement on the railways is said to be “within touching distance” as ministers scaled back their demand for driver-only trains. The deal on the table is a 9 per cent pay increase over two years.

The chance of a breakthrough brings a glimmer of hope after a gloomy start to the year, with public services on strike on a scale not seen since 1926. The disputes have added to the bleak economic landscape. The UK narrowly avoided a 2022 recession after a “surprise” 0.1 per cent rise in growth in November. The risk of recession still looms large, however, with the Bank of England and the Office for Budget Responsibility both forecasting a contraction in the first half of 2023.

Sunak and Hunt have told business leaders that tackling Britain’s shrinking workforce is a priority that will be at the heart of the budget in March. Mel Stride, the work and pensions secretary, has drawn up proposals to tempt Britain’s nine million economically inactive people back to work.

He aims to lure over-50s who have taken early retirement back into the office and has prioritised efforts to keep younger people in employment.

Stride is expected to meet Hunt this week to discuss his proposals, which are understood to include putting a duty on pension providers to offer “midlife financial MoTs”. It is believed many over-50s took early retirement using assumptions made before the cost of living crisis.

Stride is also looking at the childcare element of universal credit and is considering plans to increase the benefit.

“Mel wants there to be as radical a target as possible to help those with treatable conditions, including those with mental health and skeletal conditions, back into work,” a Whitehall source said.

‘Community’ is alive and well in fast emerging Cranbrook as locals share what it’s really like to live in the young town, according to this article. www.devonlive.com

However, the string of comments posted online still seems to paint a different picture:

Comments

1. Crimebrook, where the council took the back handers from councils with problem tenants from areas such as Birmingham and Liverpool and voila you’ve just spent a fortune on a house that will just about survive a windy day to find roaming neighbours whose hands are in everyone’s pockets bar their own
2. The houses there will no longer be fit for purpose in another 20 years, no real substance to them and shoddily built. People pay a small fortune for what they call a family home which is hardly big enough to swing a cat in.
   The only people who will make any money on these houses are the developers. Anyone else will be lucky if the house is still standing in a few years. Don’t even think about trying any DIY, it’s basically wood & paper keeping the place together.
3. Heating homes a major problem
   You must use natter boiler which you have no control
4. I love the place can buy all my gear there and no police
5. Looks awful. Another Luton.
6. Oh no social housing! So many snobs here.
7. You sure! Someone told me the local council received payments to take problem families from other areas and there are plenty of problems there!
8. We rented in Cranbrook when we sold our last house and whilst looking for new. Although there for 9 months none of the neighbours introduced themselves, smiled or wanted any conversation. As soon as we brought a house in the city we meet all our lovely polite neighbours within a week, . There certainly wasn’t any community spirit in the road I was in. Horrid place to live – luckily I never have to go back.
9. Cranbrook was ruined by the requirement to have a social housing allocation in new build estates. Imagine paying your life savings for your dream home and then find out that they have shipped all of the “problem families” out there out of sight, out of mind
10. The “journalist” appears to have only spoken to a couple people, all of which are working here. Of course they’re going to say they love it. You want to speak to the residents. Plenty aren’t happy at all.
11. No mention of the bus shelters getting constantly smashed up. No mention of the rats that are still prevalent. No mention of the cars and vans parking on the dropped kerbs restricting people getting in and out of their parking spaces. No mention of grass verges getting driven on as short cuts and also because people are being forced to because of the crazy parking. No mention of pets being run over and killed because people can’t seem to stick to the speed limits. No mention of the constant road blocks with traffic being diverted through the centre because EON can’t seem to do their job properly. Talking of EON, no mention of the heating constantly breaking down because they can’t do their job properly. No mention of the post office that’s rarely open. There’s a lot more I could mention.
    Yes, it’s a wonderful place to live if you can ignore all this…
12. Cranbrook is “convenient” with its close proximity to Exeter and excellent transport links, sadly the present facilities are poor – there are times when the staff at the pub cannot be bothered with serving its customers and overpriced food and staff in the co-op and post office are occasionally downright rude – pist office especially, that is when it is open! Speed of the traffic passing through is another problem!
13. Soulless, dull, depressing. But great if you want to live in jerry built, characterless, identikit rabbit hutches.

Boris Johnson’s Partygate testimony to be shown in full on live TV

Can he navigate (bluster) his way out? Is your blood pressure up for this? – Owl

Michael Savage www.theguardian.com

Boris Johnson’s loyal band of supporters continue to believe he is the only politician with the box-office appeal to turn around the Tory party’s ailing fortunes. Before he has any chance of plotting a comeback, however, he will have to endure another box-office encounter that represents his biggest obstacle.

In what will be a high-stakes spectacle, major broadcasters are planning to air the entirety of the former prime minister’s testimony to parliament’s privileges committee, which is examining whether he misled MPs about law-breaking parties during the Covid pandemic.

So much sensitive evidence has been submitted to the inquiry that the Observer has been told it is being kept in a “strong room”. Only those with proper passes and reasons for access are allowed in and out. One source said some of the claims about parties were “decidedly weird”, and that new information would come to light.

Meanwhile, Johnson’s eagerly anticipated appearance – which could be one of only a small number of public hearings – will happen later than originally planned as a result of the quantity of documents the committee has been given. He is now expected to appear before the cameras next month. This will be broadcast live on parliament’s televised feed, and Sky News is already understood to have decided to show his whole evidence session.

The stakes have been raised in recent weeks as Johnson has broken cover with a series of speeches and appearances, some designed to keep his supporters onside and others to cash in since leaving office – a process he has described to friends as putting “hay in the loft” before he can embark on a comeback.

Last week, he recorded a £1m donation to his office from Christopher Harborne, a Thai-based British businessman who had previously given millions of pounds to Nigel Farage’s Brexit party. He and his family are also being supported by the billionaire Bamford family, who have provided Johnson with two homes declared as costing £10,000 each for the month.

The events that took place in Whitehall during the pandemic are already being raised ahead of the privileges committee examination. Last week, Johnson was accused of joking at one leaving party during lockdown that “this is the most unsocially distanced party in the UK right now”. He repeatedly told MPs that he did not know gatherings broke Covid laws in place at the time.

A spokesperson for Johnson did not deny the comment but said the then prime minister had “worked constantly” to ensure the government did all it could to save lives and protect livelihoods during the pandemic.

Whatever happens during the live questioning of Johnson during the inquiry, some MPs believe there is also a serious problem ahead for Rishi Sunak over the parties inquiry. MPs will have to vote on any sanction on Johnson recommended by the cross-party committee. While it is likely to be a “free” unwhipped vote, some MPs said that, in reality, Tories would seek advice over how they should vote.

One Labour MP predicted the event would end up being a “win-win” for Keir Starmer. “Let’s say that the committee decides the House was misled and Johnson is either forced to apologise to the House or suspended,” they said. “The government has to table a motion on that. Will they be whipping people to support it, or to vote down a Labour amendment designed to increase the sanction against him? They will be terrified about what to do. If he doesn’t defend Johnson, Johnson could try to take Sunak down. If he does defend him, the voters will take a dim view.”

Should Johnson navigate the privileges inquiry and retain support within the Tory party, some MPs are speculating that he may attempt to switch seats as his current Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency is a winnable target for Labour.

One of his options is to secure a seat from one of the supporters he has placed in the House of Lords. They include Nadine Dorries and Nigel Adams, both of whom have safe Tory seats. Their elevation to the Lords is understood to have been delayed until closer to the election, to avoid hard byelections for the government.

Current rules allowing government ministers to enjoy less scrutiny of their financial interests than backbench MPs “can’t be right”, parliament’s outgoing standards chief has said.

Andy Gregory www.independent.co.uk

Appointed commissioner for standards in 2017, Kathryn Stone’s term came to an end in December, after a bruising series of high-profile investigations into ex-Commons speaker John Bercow and former Tory MP Owen Paterson, whose case triggered the collapse of Boris Johnson’s premiership.

In her first interview about the role, Kathryn Stone said that one of her “real frustrations” has been failing to persuade the government to ensure that those in both MP and ministerial roles are held equally accountable.

But the retiring watchdog hailed the “hugely important” move to hand the members of the public who sit on the Commons standards committee, known as “lay members”, the power to vote on investigations, enacted after its MPs blocked her attempt to probe bullying claims against Mr Bercow in 2018.

And speaking after revelations that Tory MPs have pocketed a total of £15.2m on top of their salaries since 2019, Ms Stone hit out at parliamentarians for whom being an MP is their “second, third or fourth job”.

While ordinary MPs have to register their financial interests with the standards commissioner within 28 days, with a new list published every fortnight, ministers can choose to declare some gifts and hospitality under their department’s name instead, in less detailed lists published quarterly.

This “ministerial exemption” saw Mr Johnson opt not to declare a free holiday at Zac Goldsmith’s luxury Spanish villa in 2021, enabling him to keep the gift’s value private.

Meanwhile, his home secretary Priti Patel took five months to declare attending the No Time To Die premiere as a guest of the Jamaican tourist board, resulting in an ally suggesting she used the “exemption” because the nature of the fictional film related to her ministerial role.

“One of my real frustrations has been not being able to persuade government, parliament about the need to have a kind of equality of arms, if you like, between ministers’ financial interests, and backbench MPs’ financial interests,” Ms Stone told The Times.

“For me, it can’t be right that ministers are held to a different level of accountability. In fact, a lower level of accountability than backbench MPs. That can’t be right because ministers are in an elevated position and much more, it seems to me, at risk of there being a perception of influence.

“And I really do believe that ministers should be held to the same level of accountability as backbench members of parliament.”

MPs on the standards committee are in agreement, having repeatedly called on the government to close the accountability gap, most recently last May, as part of a series of recommendations aimed at cracking down on “sleaze” in the wake of the scandals involving Tory MPs Geoffrey Cox and Mr Paterson.

The committee also called for a ban on MPs acting as consultants, providing “paid parliamentary advice or strategy services”, a move backed in September by Liz Truss’s short-lived government.

Ms Stone was supportive of MPs having other paid roles, however, saying that their “outside interests can bring a very rich seam of knowledge, skill and experience” to Westminster.

“When it tips over to the point where being a member of parliament is your second, third or fourth job, then that’s problematic for me,” said Ms Stone.

“And it’s also problematic for members of the public who elect a representative and expect their interests to be the priority of the member of parliament and not somewhere down the pecking order.

“So I think when MPs are thinking about outside interests, there needs to be a consideration of what that means for their ability to carry out their democratically elected mandate here, which brings enormous responsibility and is an enormous privilege.”

On Sunday it will be five years since the outsourcing giant Carillion collapsed under the weight of £1.5bn debt.

by Rachel Wearmouth go.pardot.com 

The mega-firm held around 450 separate public-sector contracts, spanning schools, prisons, transport and hospitals. 

Its bosses were paid huge six-figure salaries and bonuses before the companycollapsed; 3,000 jobs were lost and 7,000 suppliers and contractors were affected.

Carillion’s collapse was particularly catastrophic because the firm was so deeply embedded in public life. Vital infrastructure projects were delayed; schools suddenly found themselves with no cleaning or catering services.

The accounting firm KPMG was later fined £14.4m for misleading the accounting regulator, the Financial Reporting Council, during inspections of its audits of Carillion and another company. A new watchdog to shake up the audit market and rebuild trust in corporate governance was promised, but after a number of reviews the draft legislation is still buried in a lengthy consultation.

To examine what lessons the government has failed to learn about outsourcing more generally, it is worth looking at children’s social care.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched a review of the sector in 2021 amid concern the high cost of private sector children’s care homes was draining council budgets while demand was steadily rising.

In England 79 per cent of places for children are provided by the private sector. The Scottish and Welsh governments are aiming to end for-profit care for looked-after children, but there is no such plan for England. This is despite the landmark Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, published last May, which criticised rampant profiteering and warned that “without a dramatic whole-system reset” of family services there could be 100,000 children in care (up from 80,000) by 2032.

If that unhappy prediction comes to pass, the companies involved in care provision stand to make a lot of money. The service providers considered by the CMA averaged profit margins of 22.6 per cent between 2016 and 2020. Most councils in England have at least one looked-after child whose private placement costs at least £10,000 a week, and in some extreme cases that number can run to £60,000 a week.

It recommended bringing some aspects, such as fostering agencies (many of which rely on agency workers, who can demand higher rates), back in-house, as councils were paying high prices for a service they could provide and save money on long-term, given extra investment. More worryingly, the CMA warned some large providers were “carrying high levels of debt”, especially those run by private equity firms, increasing the “risk of disorderly firm failure, with children’s homes shutting their doors abruptly”. Sound familiar?

There are broader questions as to why asset-strippers continue to prowl the public sector while investment in the wider economy is weak, but Carillion’s ruinous failure should have pushed the government to act half a decade ago. There is scant evidence it has.