Neil Parish feels “cut in half”.

Simon Jupp voted to stop parliament blocking the change but holds his thoughts on the proposals close to his chest.

Sidmouth Town Council Chairman, Ian Barlow, would be disappointed to lose “young and modern” Simon Jupp but thinks Sidmouth would no longer be overshadowed by Exmouth as it would become the largest town (by a short head) in the restructured “Honiton” constituency”.

Of course Neil Parish could be the candidate for “Tiverton and Bridgewater” which presumably includes his family farm and Simon Jupp could avoid a relocation by becoming the candidate for “Honiton”.

Does Budleigh now become a suburb of Exmouth? – Owl

Philippa Davies sidmouth.nub.news 

Reactions have been coming in following the boundary review announcement his morning, which would see Sidmouth becoming part of the Honiton parliamentary constituency.

A public consultation’s under way on the re-drawing of the boundary lines, which will create a new constituency for Exmouth, including Budleigh Salterton and Topsham, and another for the Tiverton area.

The Honiton constituency would have Sidmouth and Ottery on its western border, with Axminster on its eastern edge: read more and view the map here.

Constituency boundaries are changed regularly in response to population growth in some areas, to make sure that each MP has a similar number of people eligible to vote in their patch.

The chairman of Sidmouth Town Council, Ian Barlow, told Sidmouth Nub News there would probably be ‘pros and cons’ to the changes, but he would be disappointed if they result in Sidmouth losing Simon Jupp, the current East Devon MP, as the town’s parliamentary representative.

He said: “Simon Jupp is young and modern, and he seems to be working really hard for Sidmouth, engaging with us at town council level which I think is unusual, and it’ll be a shame if he’s not our MP any more.

“The only bonus to Sidmouth is that we would be the largest town in that constituency – in East Devon we’re the second largest town and maybe we’re missing out because of that.”

Mr Jupp told us: “The constituency I’m proud to represent contains the largest population in Devon and has to change under the rules of the boundary review. I will put forward my views as part of the consultation process as the East Devon constituency will change to reflect a growing population across the area. I voted to ensure Parliament can’t block the final recommendations which are designed to make Parliamentary representation fairer across the United Kingdom.”

Neil Parish, the MP for the current Honiton and Tiverton constituency which looks set to be split in two, expressed shock at being ‘cut in half’.

Talking to Nub News, he said: “I was not expecting Tiverton and Honiton to be sliced apart. It was certainly a surprise, and this clearly affects my position as the constituency’s MP.

“My current electorate will be split and so I will no longer be able to represent each of my current constituents.

“I will have to await the final proposals in full, to ensure I have all the details, before I can make any decisions on whom I will seek to represent within the new boundaries.”

In terms of Devon as a whole, the planned changes would mean an additional MP.

The public consultation runs until August 2. To view the proposed changes in full, and submit a response, click here.

MAPS reveal how quickly the super infectious Delta (Indian) variant spread to all corners of the country. 

In just two weeks, the strain went from a proportion of 38 per cent to 75 per cent, making it dominant in England.

Vanessa Chalmers www.thesun.co.uk  (extract)

May 15: Where the Delta (Indian) variant had become dominant

May 29: Where the Delta (Indian) variant is now dominant

The data from the Welcome Sanger Institute shows how fast the variant has managed to grip the UK, having only been detected for the first time on April 10.

It’s reminiscent of the Alpha (Kent) strain which caused havoc at the end of 2020 when it soared to dominance in a matter of weeks, throwing England into the third lockdown.

The data comes amid growing pressure to delay the June 21 unlocking in England. 

The Delta variant is driving the rise in Covid cases, alongside lifting of restrictions.

Experts have said it is now evident the UK is at the start of a third wave and things would only escalate if June 12 went ahead. 

Not only is the Delta variant (B.1.617.2) faster spreading by around 40 per cent, but there is now evidence that it causes more severe disease.

But rising cases is yet to be mirrored by increasing hospital cases, however, with the latest data showing patient numbers have climbed slightly.

The NHS is in a race to double jab the vulnerable as fast as possible given that one jab is not considered protective enough. 

But some Tory MPs are fighting against “moving goalposts” for the opening of society due to the damage it will have on businesses. 

There are reports the PM is considering holding back by just two weeks to allow more time for vaccinations, with a decision imminent.

Data from the Sanger Insitute – which tracks Covid variants – shows that in the fortnight to May 15, the Delta variant had already become dominant in no more than 50 areas.

Fast-forward to May 29 – the most recent date available – the Indian variant has become dominant in at least 150 areas.

The Delta variant (B.1.617.2) now makes up 75 per cent of cases, according to Sanger data which does not take into account travel related or surge testing cases. The Alpha (Kent, B.1.1.7 ) strain is the cause of only 23 per cent of cases

Dominance means that of all Covid cases sequenced, B.1.617.2 is making up at least half.

On May 15 the “hotspots” were visible and centred in the North West. Parts of the South West and South East, including London, were also more affected. 

But now there is a sea of dominance in the Midlands, with hotspots including Derby and Leicester.

Delta has spread throughout the South East, now dominant in the majority of London boroughs, through to Kent and some parts of Essex.

Only parts of the South coast spared, such as Brighton.

The North West region has become completely overthrown by the variant, having had hotspots of Bolton and Blackburn with Darwen for a few weeks. 

The maps also show the Delta variant spread quite rapidly to the East of England in one fortnight.

And parts of the South West are also facing a growing epidemic, including Cornwall and North Somerset.

Case numbers are not always high in areas where the Delta variant is dominant. 

The article goes on to list hotspots by case numbers and by dominance.

Fears have been raised that patients are being discharged from Cornwall’s main hospital to clear space in case it is needed for VIPs, delegates, police or protesters during the G7 summit.

Steven Morris www.theguardian.com 

The Liberal Democrats in Cornwall claimed two wards had been emptied at the Royal Cornwall hospital in Truro in readiness for the three-day meeting of world leaders.

Health officials refused to discuss details of their plans but confirmed that “capacity” was being created to prepare for the event, which begins on Friday.

Andrew George, the health spokesperson for the Lib Dems in Cornwall, accused the UK government of not planning adequately for the event, during which tens of thousands of delegates, police, protesters and media representatives will descend on the far south-west of Britain.

George said: “The early discharge of sick patients to clear hospital wards is among the inevitable consequences of the government failing to put proper plans in place before the G7 comes to town.”

One woman, from Newquay, claimed she had been asked to find a care home bed for her 97-year-old father who is in the hospital, which is known locally as Treliske.

The woman, who spoke to Radio Cornwall and gave her name as Lindsey, said: “I was absolutely incensed at the thought that patients needing treatment are being shipped out of hospital, and local people including my father are not able to find a space. I am absolutely disgusted with the situation.

“A care home owner told me that Treliske hospital has to provide 78 empty beds for the G7 and that patients were being sent out of the hospital into care homes and so she said you were very unlikely to find anywhere.”

NHS Kernow said: “As at any time when we expect increased demand for our services, we work together with our health and care partners to create additional capacity in our hospitals. We have done this to ensure we are prepared for G7, as we would with any major event in the county.

“Patients being discharged are, as always, medically fit and with an adult social care package in place when required. This is business as usual for health and social care.

“It is not good for people to remain in hospital longer than they need to and places additional pressure on our hospitals. We work closely with Cornwall council to ensure it has put in place a social care package to support anyone who is fit and well enough to leave hospital. Especially when our hospitals are so busy.”

On Tuesday, NHS Kernow tweeted a request for people to help the health service during the summit by only calling 999 if they faced a life-threatening emergency and believed they needed the care of a paramedic on the way to hospital.

NHS Kernow also urged people not to turn up at a minor injury unit without contacting NHS 111 first and not to visit an emergency department “unless you have an urgent, life-threatening condition such as a suspected heart attack, stroke, severe loss of blood, difficulty breathing, or are unconscious”.

It also advised people who are booked for a Covid vaccination to allow extra time for journeys if they live in an area where there will be travel disruptions.

A UK government spokesperson said: “The government has not requested that any patients be removed from local hospitals to prepare for the G7 summit. Decisions on patient care are matter for the local NHS, and Cornwall council is responsible for adult social care provision.”

openDemocracy has won a significant legal victory against the UK government. The judgement forces transparency on a secretive unit accused of ‘blacklisting’ Freedom of Information requests from journalists, campaigners and others.

Peter Geoghegan www.opendemocracy.net 

After a three-year battle, judge Chris Hughes found that the documents the Cabinet Office presented in court about the controversial Clearing House unit were ‘misleading’. He added that there is a “profound lack of transparency about the operation”, which might “extend to ministers”.

Finding in openDemocracy’s favour, Hughes also criticised the Cabinet Office for a “lacuna in public information” about how the Clearing House coordinates Freedom of Information (FOI) requests referred to it by government departments and agencies.

The Cabinet Office had offered an out-of-date Wikipedia entry as evidence that information about the Clearing House, which circulates lists of journalists across Whitehall, was available to the public.

The ruling came in an information tribunal case taken by openDemocracy, with public interest law firm Leigh Day, in a bid to bring transparency to the Cabinet Office Clearing House. The case was heard in April but the judgement was published only late last month.

openDemocracy had previously revealed that the Clearing House has blocked the release of politically sensitive information, in one instance comparing the handling of an FOI request to the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq war.

Cabinet minister Michael Gove had previously called openDemocracy’s journalism “ridiculous and tendentious” but his department has now been ordered to release further details of how the Clearing House blocked FOI requests.

Tory MP David Davis called for change, saying the ruling ‘demonstrates what we have known all along’

The judge said that “given all the circumstances” including “a lack of accurate publicly available information about the constitutionally significant role in coordinating FOI responses there is real weight in the public interest in disclosure”. The Cabinet Office has yet to release the documents to openDemocracy.

The tribunal judgment has been hailed as a major victory by politicians and transparency campaigners.

Shadow cabinet office secretary Angela Rayner urged Gove to “intervene and set out how he will be ensuring that this government abides by the law and upholds the right of citizens, journalists and campaigners to access information under Freedom of Information”.

Conservative MP David Davis called for immediate change, claiming the ruling “demonstrates what we have known all along”.

He said the Cabinet Office had “failed to meet its obligation either to the letter or the principle of the Freedom of Information Act and has withheld important information about government activity from the public domain”.

Michelle Stanistreet, general secretary of the National Union of Journalists, said: “This is an important win in an FOI battle to get the Cabinet Office to come clean about the tracking of FOI requests made by journalists and NGOs.”

The judge also noted that the Cabinet Office had “minimised the significance of” the Clearing House FOI list, which is circulated daily across Whitehall and which has contained the names and details of journalists from openDemocracy, The Guardian, The Times, the BBC, and many others, as well as researchers and campaigners. These lists also contain the Cabinet Office’s advice to departments on how to handle FOI requests.

Freedom of Information requests are supposed to be ‘applicant-blind’, meaning who makes the request should not matter. Data protection experts have warned that the Clearing House could be breaking the law.

‘High political sensitivity’

The Clearing House has existed since FOI legislation was introduced. The Cabinet Office took responsibility for the unit in 2015, which started to receive significant attention only after openDemocracy revealed extensive details about its operation late last year. In February, more than a dozen former and serving Fleet Street editors signed an open letter calling for an inquiry into its operation.

The tribunal ruling comes almost three years after openDemocracy first asked for a sample of the Clearing House lists, in August 2018. When the Cabinet Office appealed against an order from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) to disclose details of the Clearing House, openDemocracy took a case to the information tribunal.

The Cabinet Office had previously insisted that the FOI unit was fully compliant with all legislation. Ahead of the tribunal in April, Michael Gove wrote to The Guardian and the Society of Editors criticising openDemocracy’s reporting on the Clearing House.

But behind the scenes, the Cabinet Office backtracked. Gove’s department published information about the Clearing House, including criteria by which FOI requests – such as those regarding “cases involving high political sensitivity” – were referred for review.

The unit also released some of its lists, which showed that the Clearing House had encouraged departments to dismiss information requests.

In one case, the unit said that an FOI for details of government records systems from Times journalist George Greenwood “appears to have no discernible purpose”.

At the hearing, the Cabinet Office said the Clearing House handled round robin requests sent to multiple government departments but stated that these lists did not include requests deemed ‘sensitive’.

Noting that the Cabinet Office had “changed its position radically”, the judge found that Gove’s department had “misled” the tribunal by originally stating that the Clearing House lists included ‘sensitive’ data, which would have justified withholding the information.

However, questions have been raised about the Cabinet Office’s argument at the tribunal. Analysis conducted by openDemocracy has found that a third of requests on a sample Clearing House list released under FOI were individual requests that had not been sent to multiple departments. Often these requests were of high public interest.

Documents obtained by openDemocracy also show that Whitehall departments have routinely flagged ‘sensitive’ requests to the Clearing House. In one instance, the Cabinet Office unit instructed the Treasury to withhold information from infected blood campaigner Jason Evans, whose father died after being given blood contaminated with HIV.

Katherine Gundersen, deputy director of the Campaign for Freedom of Information, said: “The Cabinet Office’s handling of this request raises questions about its fitness to advise other departments on FOI.

“It inaccurately described the contents of its ‘round robin’ lists, misleading its own minister, the Information Commissioner and the tribunal by suggesting the information was more sensitive than it actually was.”

Noting that the Cabinet Office had ‘changed its position radically’, the judge found that it had ‘misled’ the tribunal

An openDemocracy report, ‘Art of Darkness’, which was published last year, found that the Cabinet Office is the worst performing Whitehall department on key FOI metrics.

Since the report was written, the Cabinet Office has stonewalled a number of requests from openDemocracy about the Clearing House operation.

A Cabinet Office spokesperson told openDemocracy: “A Clearing House function has existed since 2004 to help ensure there is a consistent approach across government to requests for information which go to a number of different departments or where requests are made for particularly sensitive information.

“We remain committed to transparency and always balance the need to make information available with our legal duty to protect sensitive information.

“In order to be as transparent as possible we have released the vast majority of information that was requested in this case and have already published a considerable amount of information on Clearing House, including a gov.uk page explaining its purpose and remit.”

An ICO spokesperson said: “We welcome the decision of the tribunal”.

---

The round robin lists released to openDemocracy can be viewed here, which are being hosted at a new research project at the University of Westminster, UK Unredacted.

Devon is set to gain an extra MP under proposals for a shake-up of England’s electoral map in 2023 – with major changes planned for other constituencies.

[So will another Blue MP mean the Government will take any more notice of Devon? And what about the cross border proposal for a “Tiverton” and “Minehead” constuency – could this be mirrored in the “unitary authority” carve -up of Devon that Phill Twiss, new memebr of DCC cabinet, is rumoured to be cooking up?]

Daniel Clark www.devonlive.com 

Across the South West, the region has been allocated 58 constituencies – an increase of three from the current number – which includes an extra seat in Devon, albeit a cross-boundary division including parts of Somerset.

A seat straddling Devon and Cornwall – the infamous ‘Devonwall’ proposal – has been avoided but the Commission said it had “not always been possible to allocate whole numbers of constituencies to individual counties”, with a proposed Tiverton and Minehead constituency which will cross the county boundary between Somerset and Devon.

Across Devon, main changes include the splitting of the existing Tiverton and Honiton seat held by Neil Parish into a Tiverton and Minehead and a new Honiton constituency.

Changes to the electoral boundaries proposed for the East Devon area – existing boundaries in blue and proposed changes in red

The Tiverton and Minehead constituency would cover Tiverton, Uffculme, Willand, and Bampton, as well as the ‘West Somerset’ section of the existing Bridgwater and West Somerset seat.

The Honiton constituency would comprise of Cullompton, the existing areas of East Devon it serves, as well as areas around Sidmouth and Ottery St Mary, currently in the East Devon seat.

A new Exmouth constituency would be created, comprising the remainder of the existing East Devon seat, but also see part of the Priory ward in Exeter, covering the area around Wonford and Burnthouse Lane move from the Exeter constituency into the Exmouth constituency.

Changes to the electoral boundaries proposed for the Exeter area – existing boundaries in blue and proposed changes in red

The seats of Newton Abbot, North Devon, Torbay and Central Devon are proposed to be broadly unchanged, although Poltimore would move into the latter from East Devon.

Torridge and West Devon would be renamed Torridge and Tavistock, and see the area around Crapstone, Buckland Monachorum and Meavy moved into the South West Devon constituency, which would in turn lose the area around Modbury, Kingston and Bigbury into the Totnes constituency.

In Plymouth, the proposal divides the Peverell ward between the Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, and Plymouth Moor View constituencies in order to keep change elsewhere to a minimum and to allow for the Devonport ward to remain in a maritime constituency.

Changes to the electoral boundaries proposed for the Plymouth area – existing boundaries in blue and proposed changes in red

The proposed changes would leave Devon with 13 MPs – up one on the existing 12 – although one would be split across Devon and Somerset.

The proposals from the Boundary Commission for England says the aim is to make Parliament fairer by giving each MP a roughly similar number of voters, which involves redrawing and renaming some seats.

The total number of seats in the House of Commons will stay at 650 but population changes mean England is set to have 543 MPs, Wales 32 and Scotland 57 – that is an extra 10 for England, with Wales losing eight and Scotland’s count cut by two

The review is designed to end the discrepancies in the current system with some MPs having only 50,000 constituents and others having double that, and seats will be redrawn so they have, by law, between 69,724 and 77,062 registered voters each, although some island constituencies, such as the Isle of Wight and Anglesey, being given special dispensation to be outside these requirements.

The Boundary Commission is consulting on the initial proposals for an eight-week period, from June 8 to August 2.

In Blue, Existing Constituencies, And In Red, Proposed Changes to electoral boundaries across Devon

A spokesman said: “We encourage everyone to use this opportunity to help us shape the new constituencies – the more responses we receive, the more informed our decisions will be when considering whether to revise our proposals. Our consultation portal at www.bcereviews.org.uk has more information about our proposals and how to give us your views on them.”

A second consultation with public hearings will then get under way in spring 2022, followed by a final four-week consultation on revised plans in autumn 2022.

Final recommendations are due by July 1, 2023, after which the government has four months to implement the plans.

The changes will only come into effect in late 2023, but if a General Election is called before the new boundaries are in place, the election would be fought on the old boundaries.

Is June 21 “on” or “off”, “green” or “red”, “go” or “irreversibly stopped”?

Which has priority: business at all costs or people’s health?

Neil Shaw www.devonlive.com

England’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty and chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance are reported to have given a ‘downbeat’ update on the state of coronavirus in the UK to ministers.

The briefing yesterday could mean lockdown lifting on June 21 being delayed.

That would mean easing of measures – such as permission for large events and the reopening of nightclubs – would not go ahead as planned.

Reports have suggested the final step in the Government’s road map could be delayed by two weeks, with The Times saying ministers were given a “downbeat” briefing on the latest data on Monday by chief medical officer Chris Whitty and chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance.

The Times reports that they emphasised concerns over the rate of transmission of new strains of Covid, including the Delta variant (first identified in India), and that vaccinations did not provide 100 per cent protection.

A cabinet source was reported to have said that they expected a delay of “between two weeks and a month” and that Chris Whitty and Sir Vallance had expressed reservations about the timetable.

“They emphasised again that the vaccine did not provide 100 per cent protection and there were real concerns about the transmissibility of the new variants,” the source said.

“I think you’re looking at a delay of between two weeks and a month. As long as we have fully opened things up by the school holidays then I don’t think the political damage will be too great.”

Another cabinet source described the mood in Whitehall as “downbeat” and one said the delay would make sense to avoid any “confusion” in the messaging.

Ministers are said to believe that the easing of restrictions may need to be delayed to ensure all over-50s are protected.

Mr Hancock said a decision on moving to Step 4 would be delayed as long as possible, with a final announcement to be made next Monday – a week before any changes could come into effect.

Downing Street said there was “nothing in the data” to suggest a delay would be needed.

Despite the uncertainty surrounding June 21, the Health Secretary said he was confident that “one day soon freedom will return”, with the latest data suggesting vaccines were protecting people against the Delta variant first identified in India.

And as the vaccination programme moved into its final stage – with under-30s the final cohort on the vaccine priority list – the NHS described the six-month anniversary as a “watershed moment”.

NHS England national medical director Stephen Powis said: “It is remarkable to think that just six months after that first jab back in Coventry in December – Maggie Keenan got it, remember – we have now vaccinated three-quarters of the adult population with their first dose and over half with their second dose.

“That really is a tremendous achievement and of course the vaccine programme is our way out of this pandemic, so it is crucial that when you get the invite for your jab, come and get it.”

As of June 6, England has delivered 23,710,646 second doses of Covid-19 vaccine, meaning the equivalent of 53.6% of its adult population is fully vaccinated, with 76.4% of adults having received one jab.

In Wales, the equivalent of 49.5% of its adult population is fully vaccinated, with 86.5% of adults having received a first jab, while in Scotland 50.8% of adults are fully vaccinated and 76.4% of adults have received a first dose.

The equivalent of 48.9% of Northern Ireland’s adult population is fully vaccinated, while a first dose has been given to 75.1% of adults.

All adults have already been called forward to get their vaccine in Northern Ireland and most of Wales, while people aged 18 to 29 in Scotland have been asked to register for their jab, with appointments starting in mid-June.

Mr Hancock said the Delta variant “made the race between the virus and this vaccination effort tighter” but the vaccine was breaking the previously “rock solid” link between infections and hospital admissions.

The variant is thought to be 40% more transmissible than the Alpha variant first seen in Kent which swept across the UK over the winter peak.

As of June 3, from 12,383 cases of the Delta variant 464 went on ,hospital.

Of those admitted, 83 were unvaccinated, 28 had received one dose and three had received both doses of the vaccine, Mr Hancock said.

The spread of the Delta variant has seen cases increase in almost all parts of north-west England, London and Scotland.

The rise in rates has yet to be mirrored by a steady increase in hospital cases. Latest data shows numbers have climbed slightly, with the seven-day average for patients in hospital reaching 912 on June 3 – the highest since May 26.

Nearly three-quarters of local areas of the UK (283 out of 380) recorded a week-on-week rise in Covid-19 case rates for the seven days to June 2, the highest proportion since January 6.

Downing Street said data emerging over the coming week will be “crucial” in deciding whether England’s legal coronavirus restrictions can end as hoped on June 21.

However:

Devon MPs urge Government to lift lockdown on June 21

Daniel Clark www.devonlive.com

Devon’s MPs from across the political spectrum have called for the Government to go ahead and lift all remaining Covid restrictions on June 21.

Step 4 of the roadmap out of lockdown, which is set to take place not before June 21, would remove all remaining legal limits on social contact, ease restrictions on large events and reopen premises such as nightclubs which have remained closed.

A review of social distancing and other long-term measures that have been put in place to cut transmission, such as wearing of face coverings and working from home, is also due to be completed with these restrictions also potentially removed.

But the relaxing of the remaining rules has been thrown into doubt by the recent rise in cases being confirmed, as well as the Delta variant, first seen in India, which is thought to be about 40 per cent more transmissible than the Alpha (Kent) strain.

However, with deaths and hospitalisations staying low, and with Devon having some of the lowest Covid rates in England, the county’s MPs have urged the Government not to delay the planned lifted of restrictions on June 21.

Latest figures show that there is just one person in hospital in Devon following a positive Covid-19 test, while there have been no deaths in the county since May 9, and infection rates are at 6.9/100,000, down 35 per cent week-on-week, and the lowest they have been since September 2.

Newton Abbot MP Anne Marie Morris, who has been a ‘lockdown sceptic’, and who voted against the third lockdown, has urged the Government not to delay the planned lifting of restrictions on June 21.

She said: “Given the specific situation we find ourselves presented with in Devon (both health-wise and economy-wise) I would urge the Government not to delay the planned lifting of restrictions on Jun 21^st. While the latest steps have helped the local economy begin to get back on its feet, it won’t be until all restrictions are lifted that we will be able to enjoy the full freedom that we desperately all want.

“The vaccination rollout has been a stunning success and this should allow us to re-open with confidence. We cannot keep flinching at the slightest sign of every potential new variant. It’s damaging to physical and mental health and the economy.”

And Labour MP for Exeter Ben Bradshaw also joined the chorus of those calling for restrictions to go on June 21, saying that it should not be delayed in the county because ‘of a small number of hotter spots or because of fears about a theoretical new variant emerging’.

He added: “The data that matters now is on serious illness, hospitalisation and deaths and so far the evidence is that the vaccines protect against all currently known variants.

“There may be an argument for continuing with certain limited guidance that does not impact negatively on the economy, such as continuing to work from home if possible and wearing face protection in enclosed public spaces, but the June 21st date should not be delayed, particularly for low incidence areas like Exeter and Devon, because of a small number of hotter spots or because of fears about a theoretical new variant emerging.

“People have put up with unprecedented restrictions to their freedoms for long enough and with life returning to more or less normal across the rest of Europe, it would seem unreasonable for the Government here to impose unnecessary restrictions on the British for longer, particularly given our high vaccination rate, which the Government promised would deliver us a vaccine dividend.”

Central Devon Mel Stride MP said that the decision was ‘finely balanced’, but his hope and expectation was for June 21 to go ahead.

He said: “The decision on opening up fully is finely balanced at the moment. Hospitalisations and fatalities are obviously low but whilst many are vaccinated not all are and if the delta variant expands very rapidly over the next week then there may be a case for rowing back a little on fully opening. My hope and expectation however is that step 4 will be taken pretty much in full on the 21st.”

Sir Gary Streeter, MP for South West Devon, also added that the further release should go ahead.

He said: “I think it is finely balanced. Government said it would look at the date from the proceeding steps from lockdown and that is what they will do. There is a case for delaying full release until more people under 50 have been vaccinated, but my personal preference would be to proceed with the further release on the grounds that the vaccine is working and younger people tend not to get Covid seriously. The government has exercised terrific judgement on this in the last few months and I am happy to back their judgement whatever they decide.”

Selaine Saxby, MP for North Devon, said: “I very much hope the decision will be driven by the data, which in North Devon remains very positive. There are the four tests which need to be met for the next phase of unlocking to go ahead and the question about “variants of concern” is one that I am not privy to the data on at this time, but my understanding of the data I am able to see is that the other three are looking optimistic and very much hope that we will be able to progress to the next stage as planned.”

No decision on whether to proceed to step 4, or delay the step, will be taken until June 14 to allow for the full four weeks of data since the relaxation of step 3 on May 17 can be seen.

The Government says that the he decision will be based on four tests – that the vaccine deployment programme continues successfully, the evidence shows vaccines are sufficiently effective in reducing hospitalisations and deaths in those vaccinated, infection rates do not risk a surge in hospitalisations which would put unsustainable pressure on the NHS, and the assessment of the risks is not fundamentally changed by new variants of concern.

Meanwhile the traffic build up to the West doesn’t stop:

M5 and A38 experiencing heavy traffic delays – updates

Katie Timms, Eve Watson www.devonlive.com

There is heavy traffic across Devon and Cornwall this morning.

The M5 in Tiverton is partially blocked with heavy traffic due to a broken down vehicle, which has left the northbound exit slip road up to the roundabout is reportedly blocked.

Here is a link to the details

https://boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk/2023-review/

First impressions: major changes reflecting population growth.

New map of proposed local boundaries:

Existing boundaries (not to same scale):

Prime minister spared potentially embarrassing defeat in a vote on overseas aid but gets harsh words from the Speaker.

[Owl now thinks that Neil Parish is one of the non-cut rebels but no idea about Simon Jupp.]

Esther Webber www.politico.eu 

LONDON — Tory rebels have vowed to fight on after Boris Johnson was spared a potentially embarrassing defeat in a vote on overseas aid ahead of the G7 summit. 

Funding for foreign aid was cut from 0.7 percent of national income to 0.5 percent at the beginning of the year, as Chancellor Rishi Sunak argued it was “difficult to justify” amid the coronavirus crisis.

Conservative Party rebels, with cross-party support, introduced an amendment that would have reintroduced the 0.7 percent target from next year, attaching it to a law setting up the U.K.’s new Advanced Research and Innovation Agency.

However, the Commons Speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, ruled on Monday that it was outside the scope of the bill and could not be voted on. 

In explaining his decision, Hoyle said he understood the “frustration” of those seeking a vote, adding: “This House should not continue to be taken for granted but we must do it in the right way… not only for this House but the country needs this to be debated and aired and an effective decision to be taken.”

The MPs who want to see the cut reversed interpreted this as a call for the government to bring forward legislation on the matter, which it has so far resisted. 

Johnson argued earlier this year that it was permissible for him to act without changing the law because the target can be temporarily missed in exceptional circumstances.

Andrew Mitchell, the former international development secretary who organized the amendment, accused the government of “riding roughshod” over parliament and of “seeking to thwart our democratic rights” after the Speaker’s statement.

The Speaker announced an emergency debate would be held on the issue, which would be held over three hours on Tuesday but would not be subject to a binding vote.

Anthony Mangnall, who coordinated the campaign alongside Mitchell, told POLITICO: “Today has only shown the strength of our argument and numbers. Tomorrow we will make that case. The Speaker made it clear that the government ought to bring forward legislation — an almost unheard-of request.”

Other would-be rebels acknowledged privately the emergency vote would need to be followed by legislation and there was not a clear route towards this. 

One commented: “The government holds most of the cards, alas.”

Cornwall is facing an accommodation “crisis” after it was revealed that about 130 people homeless people were asked to move out of hotels to make way for paying customers.

Lee Trewhela  www.cornwalllive.com 

The promise of a busy summer season, next week’s G7 Summit, a packed Bank Holiday weekend and half-term have all meant that hotel and B&B owners who have provided temporary and emergency accommodation for homeless people and families want to return to welcoming paying guests.

Olly Monk, Cornwall Council’s cabinet member for housing, told CornwallLive the situation was a “crisis” and the council needed to come up with solutions as quickly as possible.

He said: “Last week about 130 people left temporary and emergency accommodation that the council provides at hotel chains and B&Bs for the reason that people wanted to get back to the business of providing hotel accommodation for regular, paying guests.

“The good weather, the bank holiday and the end of lockdown on June 21, hopefully, has meant those businesses want to get back on a regular footing of providing regular accommodation.”

The Conservative councillor for Newquay Trenance said the council didn’t have any long-term contracts in place with hoteliers so the businesses had the flexibility to terminate the contracts.

“Cornwall Housing managed to rehouse pretty much all of them,” added the councillor. “A lot of them moved in with family or friends, some were rehoused in Plymouth.

“A very small number of people, discretionary claimants, who were housed in Cornwall during Covid who couldn’t get back to where they came from during the pandemic have been offered accommodation elsewhere.”

Mr Monk said he had not heard any reports of anyone being made homeless as a result of the move.

“This is a crisis and we need to come up with some innovative solutions to it very quickly,” he stressed. “Moving forward, the people we are homing in temporary and emergency accommodation are going to come under more pressure as the holiday season progresses and as landlords cash in on the AirB&B side of things.

“Long-term our administration is looking at providing more council housing and open market rented properties for the people of Cornwall. But right now we’ve got a problem with a lot of people in temporary accommodation that we need to house and provide that provision until we start building the council housing that people need.

“This is why I wanted the housing job, it’s something I feel passionate about – it’s a problem in Cornwall and I want to do my best to help.”

Another Cornwall councillor hopes that a legacy from the G7 will provide more accommodation for homeless people.

Jayne Kirkham, Labour councillor for Falmouth Penwerris, said: “The G7 and the encroaching holiday season has flagged up a real weakness in homelessness and housing provision in Cornwall.

“Trying to rehouse so many people at short notice in Cornwall in the summer with the place full due to the G7 is incredibly difficult and expensive. The worry is that some people will slip through the net and end up back on the streets. All the good work done engaging with the support services will be lost and they will go backwards.”

Cornwall Housing installed homeless ‘pods’ in Truro and Penzance last year and are planning a new homeless centre in Truro with 11 rooms. They also received money from the Next Steps Accommodation Fund to purchase accommodation and fund support workers.

Ms Kirkham added: “They have done a huge lot of work in the last year in trying to get ‘everybody in’. Despite the rough sleeper count in November 2019 showing there were only 24 people rough sleeping in Cornwall, 168 people were given emergency accommodation in the first few months of the pandemic.

“However, there is always more that could be done and the G7 and our summer holiday season have highlighted the current fragility of emergency housing provision in Cornwall. Particularly the part that is commissioned with national hotel chains and is incredibly expensive and hard to find at certain times of the year, due to our seasonal economy.

“Much is spoken of the ‘legacy’ the G7 may provide to Cornwall. I would suggest that the Government consider that the G7 has proven that we need extra support with our homelessness provision.

“I went up to Falmouth Rugby Club last night where there are 40 ‘pods’ for security staff to occupy during G7. These buildings were rented, but there will be similar across the Duchy. Maybe if some of these housing pods could stay in Cornwall after the G7 moves on, along with some extra funding for more permanent accommodation, it would go some way to help plug a gaping hole.

“We obviously need more reliable options than renewing room bookings at national hotel chains.”

If this goes to a vote tonight, how do you think our MPs Neil Parish and Simon Jupp will vote? Neither particularly noted for their “independence” – Owl

Children could die as a result of UK cuts to the overseas aid budget, a senior Conservative backbencher says.

By Hazel Shearing www.bbc.co.uk

The prime minister is facing a possible Commons defeat after cutting spending of national income on international development from 0.7% from 0.5%.

David Davis – among more than 30 Tories against the move – said some UK-backed schemes have already been cancelled and “morally, this is a devastating thing”.

The government’s supporters say the cut is temporary, necessary and popular.

The Conservative Party committed to spending 0.7% in its manifesto for the 2019 general election – but ministers say it is hard to justify given record levels of peacetime borrowing during the pandemic.

The cut amounts to almost £4bn, but the government said it will still spend more than £10bn on foreign aid in 2021.

Speaking at the start of a week in which the UK hosts the G7 summit in Cornwall, Mr Davis said: “Historically, I am a critic of aid spending but doing it this way is really so harmful.”

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme if the government were to offer a compromise of a short time frame for their cut to foreign aid spending, “it helps”.

But he said “if you’re a small child and suddenly you get dirty water, you get an infection from it and you die, temporary doesn’t mean much”.

Mr Davis added: “If you’re going to kill people with this, which I think is going to be the outcome in many areas, we need to reverse those immediately”.

Former Prime Minister Theresa May is one of the other Tory rebels hoping to achieve a U-turn with an amendment to the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) Bill – a planned new law to set up a new agency designed to come up with innovative policy.

It would oblige the agency to make up any shortfall in aid spending if the government were to miss the 0.7% target.

The bill is due to be scrutinised in the Commons on Monday afternoon – but it will be up to Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle to decide whether the rebels’ amendment should be put to a vote.

Voting on the bill will begin no later than 21:00 BST.

Former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown also criticised the cuts, telling BBC Breakfast it was “a life and death issue” and made “no economic or moral sense”.

Former International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell, who is leading the rebellion, said the UK is the only member of the G7 group of advanced economies cutting aid this year – and that “contributing our fair share of aid is essential for a successful G7 summit” this week.

“The eyes of the world are truly upon us. But in this moment Britain is found wanting, because we have removed a foundational piece of our own global leadership,” he has written in the Guardian.

The aid reduction has meant millions of pounds less is being spent on supporting girls’ education, reproductive health, clean water, HIV/AIDS, the humanitarian crisis in Yemen and Syria, and hundreds of other projects.

media captionSir Bob Geldof: ”We don’t take the piece of bread from that child’s mouth in Yemen”

Dozens of charities said there was “no justifiable economic need” for them in a letter to Mr Johnson over the weekend, and Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby called the cuts “indefensible” on Twitter,.

The government has promised to restore spending to the 0.7% level “when the fiscal situation allows” – but has not specified a date.

Anti-poverty campaigner Sir Bob Geldof told the BBC’s Andrew Marr on Sunday that he feared they could become permanent.

Duty to ‘protect our citizens’

But Solicitor General Lucy Frazer said the government would return to spending 0.7% levels “when the fiscal situation allows”.

She said the UK was a big aid donor but added: “We have a duty to ensure we protect our citizens here as well as those in the rest of the world.”

A senior government source told BBC political correspondent Chris Mason that if the amendment were to go through, it would be the equivalent of putting up income tax by a penny for every pound earned.

And ex-Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey argued the UK shouldn’t “end up going into deeper debt in order to finance other countries”.

Writing in the Telegraph, she said the UK should instead help poorer countries “trade their way out of poverty”.

“If more and more aid was the solution, large parts of Africa would have escaped all poverty decades ago,” she added.

• Installation of additional pressure washer in existing external vehicle washdown area Unit 42 Greendale Business Park Woodbury Salterton Exeter EX5 1EWRef. No: 21/1509/FUL | Validated: Thu 27 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Erection of a sustainable zero carbon live/work development to include creation of a productive landscape rich in biodiversity. Land North East Of Atlantis Courtlands Lane ExmouthRef. No: 21/1512/FUL | Validated: Thu 27 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• T1610, Southern beech : fell to ground level Reason – Area of decay on lower trunk extending to at least two metres above ground level Hollerfields Higher Metcombe Ottery St Mary EX11 1SRRef. No: 21/1505/TRE | Validated: Wed 26 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Extension of existing employment site for the storage of caravans, motorhomes and boats (retrospective), plus building comprising six small-scale light industrial/warehouse units on the existing employment site and improvements to existing site access Storage Land Adjacent Electricity Sub Station Woodbury EX5 1LDRef. No: 21/1496/FUL | Validated: Wed 26 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Erection of detached garage with first floor home office. 1 Castle Lane Budleigh Salterton EX9 7ANRef. No: 21/1487/FUL | Validated: Tue 25 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Construction of single and two storey extensions including roof terrace, rear dormer window and garage 6 Lawn Road Exmouth EX8 1QJRef. No: 21/1477/FUL | Validated: Tue 25 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Erection of a two storey 4 x bed dwelling with habitable lower floor and associated parking and amenity use including demolition of existing bungalow. Shiles Farm Bungalow Axminster EX13 5SERef. No: 21/1488/FUL | Validated: Tue 25 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Variation of conditions No. 2 (Holiday Occupancy) of planning permission ref:11/1375/FUL to allow for a dual use as both holiday accommodation and annexe use Sowton Farm Buckerell Honiton EX14 3EHRef. No: 21/1490/VAR | Validated: Tue 25 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Erection of x 2 no. bus shelters. Taunton Cross Shute Nr AxminsterRef. No: 21/1480/FUL | Validated: Tue 25 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Change of use from garage to disabled access holiday accommodation. Culverfield Tytherleigh Axminster EX13 7BQRef. No: 21/1474/FUL | Validated: Fri 28 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision

• Single storey rear extension, two storey front extension and conversion of roof space to habitable use to include a rear dormer and 2 x rooflights. 10 Grove Road Whimple Exeter EX5 2TPRef. No: 21/1460/FUL | Validated: Fri 28 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Erection of portal framed calf rearing agricultural building Rosamondford Farm Perkins Village Exeter EX5 2JGRef. No: 21/1469/FUL | Validated: Mon 24 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Certificate of lawfulness to establish use of building for residential use Foxhayes Old Stables Rydon Lane Woodbury Exeter EX5 1JZRef. No: 21/1465/CPE | Validated: Mon 24 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Part two storey part single storey front extension and the addition of a front and rear dormer 6 River Close Stoke Canon Exeter EX5 4AFRef. No: 21/1459/FUL | Validated: Fri 28 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Certificate of lawfulness for the conversion of roofspace to include 5 x rear and 2 x front rooflights.4 Hilary Gardens Axminster EX13 5DXRef. No: 21/1457/CPL | Validated: Fri 28 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Certificate Of Lawfulness for a single storey rear extension5 Hillside Bendarroch Road West Hill Ottery St Mary EX11 1TTRef. No: 21/1452/CPL | Validated: Fri 28 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Replacement detached double garage including ancillary habitable space, and installation of driveway. 38 Church Street Axmouth Seaton EX12 4AFRef. No: 21/1440/FUL | Validated: Fri 28 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Construction of a two storey detached 4 x bed dwelling with associated parking and amenity space. Crosslands Gammons Hill Kilmington Axminster EX13 7RARef. No: 21/1439/FUL | Validated: Wed 26 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Demolition of existing porch and erection of new porch with balcony on same footprint. Summer Leaze Laskeys Lane Sidmouth EX10 8JWRef. No: 21/1430/FUL | Validated: Wed 26 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Construction of agricultural building providing storage for agricultural machinery, haystore, lambing space and stable, and construction of access track to serve building Land At Pidgeons Lane AxminsterRef. No: 21/1425/FUL | Validated: Thu 27 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision

• Replacement of single storey rear extension with larger extension. 40 Gronau Close Honiton EX14 2YTRef. No: 21/1429/FUL | Validated: Wed 26 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Variation of condition 1 (extension to opening hours) of 19/2150/VAR Unit 5 Weston Park Devonshire Road Heathpark Industrial Estate Honiton EX14 1STRef. No: 21/1420/VAR | Validated: Tue 25 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Conservation repairs to farm house and farm buildings, rear extension linking to farm building, conversion of farm buildings to business and ancillary use Cuthayes Farm Axminster EX13 5SERef. No: 21/1411/LBC | Validated: Tue 25 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Erection of a timber stable block comprising three stables a tackroom, hay barn and a manure clamp Fiddles Reach Preston Farm Upottery Honiton EX14 9PFRef. No: 21/1393/FUL | Validated: Tue 25 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Construction of garage 1 The Old Dairy Barrow Road Payhembury Honiton EX14 3HXRef. No: 21/1416/FUL | Validated: Fri 28 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed garage/workshop/games room Appledene Church Road Whimple Exeter EX5 2TFRef. No: 21/1407/FUL | Validated: Fri 28 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Installation of CCTV Symonds And Sampson Trinity Square Axminster EX13 5AWRef. No: 21/1402/FUL | Validated: Tue 25 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Installation of CCTV Symonds And Sampson Trinity Square Axminster EX13 5AWRef. No: 21/1403/LBC | Validated: Tue 25 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• First floor side/rear extension. Wheel Cottage Exmouth Road Colaton Raleigh Sidmouth EX10 0LERef. No: 21/1414/FUL | Validated: Wed 26 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Conservation repairs to farm house and farm buildings, rear extension linking to farm building, conversion of farm buildings to business and ancillary use Cuthayes Farm Axminster EX13 5SERef. No: 21/1410/FUL | Validated: Tue 25 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision

• Proposed single storey side/front extension 6 Oak Close Ottery St Mary EX11 1BBRef. No: 21/1409/FUL | Validated: Wed 26 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Single storey side/rear extension and first floor rear extension. 31 Primley Road Sidmouth EX10 9LDRef. No: 21/1408/FUL | Validated: Tue 25 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Two storey side extension and the addition of 4 x rooflights 24 Post Coach Way Cranbrook Exeter Devon EX5 7BSRef. No: 21/1394/FUL | Validated: Tue 25 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Single storey front/side extension and porch to front 19 Hollymount Close Exmouth EX8 5PQRef. No: 21/1383/FUL | Validated: Mon 24 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Erection of a swimming pool and recreation room and associated landscaping The Old Vicarage Rawridge Road Upottery Honiton EX14 9PWRef. No: 21/1400/FUL | Validated: Mon 24 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Re-instalment of roof to traditional farm building Tricombe Farm Northleigh Colyton EX24 6DARef. No: 21/1395/FUL | Validated: Fri 28 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Erection of a swimming pool and recreation room and associated landscaping The Old Vicarage Rawridge Road Upottery Honiton EX14 9PWRef. No: 21/1401/LBC | Validated: Mon 24 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Variation of condition No. 2 (approved plans) of planning permission ref: 18/2426/FUL River Lea Courtlands Lane Exmouth EX8 5ABRef. No: 21/1388/VAR | Validated: Mon 24 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Building directional signage located at entrance to upper Richardson, car parking directional signage, building mounted sign and car parking aisle designation signs Ada Lovelace Building Upper Richardson Science Park Clyst Honiton Exeter Devon EX5 2FSRef. No: 21/1373/ADV | Validated: Tue 25 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Single storey rear extension 41 Willhayes Park Axminster EX13 5QWRef. No: 21/1377/FUL | Validated: Wed 26 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision

• Demolition of existing storage building and replacement storage building Ottery Moor Farm Ottery Moor Lane Honiton EX14 1ARRef. No: 21/1356/FUL | Validated: Tue 25 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Erection of a single storey rear extension, which would extend beyond the rear wall of the original house by 6 metres, for which the maximum height would be 4 metres, and for which the height of the eaves would be 2.5 metres 1 Park View Broadway Woodbury Exeter EX5 1NNRef. No: 21/1370/GPD | Validated: Tue 25 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Erection of porch and single storey side and rear extension 24 Burnside Exmouth EX8 3AHRef. No: 21/1349/FUL | Validated: Mon 24 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Construction of two storey offices (Unit D) for Use Class E (g) (i), alterations to car park layout, and internal access. Installation of covered bike store to front. Land West Of Devonshire Road Heathpark Industrial Estate HonitonRef. No: 21/1350/FUL | Validated: Wed 26 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Refurbish garden room, works to include: replace 3no.windows; replace double doors; widen existing door to install double doors; install hardwood floor over existing concrete floor; repair internal plaster and section of ceiling install shelving and cupboards. Court House Fore Street Sidbury Sidmouth EX10 0RSRef. No: 21/1345/LBC | Validated: Fri 28 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Creation of basement for indoor swimming pool below re-built terrace and two storey side extension (already granted 20/0277/FUL). Westwards Bickwell Valley Sidmouth EX10 8RFRef. No: 21/1315/FUL | Validated: Mon 24 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Erection of a chalet bungalow (all matters reserved) 3 Orchard Close Ottery St Mary EX11 1HTRef. No: 21/1313/OUT | Validated: Wed 26 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Replacement of 4no. windows to front (west) elevation 2no. at ground floor and 2no. at first floor Court Place Cottage Higher Way Harpford Sidmouth EX10 0NJRef. No: 21/1324/LBC | Validated: Tue 25 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Install secondary glazing on front elevation 3no. first floor and 2no. ground floor and rear elevation 2no. first floor and 1no. ground floor 32 Fore Street Otterton Budleigh Salterton EX9 7HBRef. No: 21/1300/LBC | Validated: Mon 24 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Single storey extension to rear of existing garage. Linhayes Farringdon Exeter EX5 2JERef. No: 21/1310/FUL | Validated: Wed 26 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision

• Erection of a dwelling with landscaping and parking Land To Front Of 20 Highfield Honiton EX14 1JDRef. No: 21/1279/FUL | Validated: Mon 24 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Erection of farm shed Seven Oaks Rockbeare Exeter EX5 2HDRef. No: 21/1281/FUL | Validated: Mon 24 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Conversion of existing car port and shed to home office and internal alterations Autumn Cottage Dunkeswell Honiton EX14 4RERef. No: 21/1236/LBC | Validated: Thu 27 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Conversion of existing car port and shed to home office and internal alterations, and alterations to main house fenestration Autumn Cottage Dunkeswell Honiton EX14 4RERef. No: 21/1235/FUL | Validated: Thu 27 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Single storey side/rear extension with alterations to fenestration. Hillside Farm Harcombe Lyme Regis DT7 3RNRef. No: 21/1227/FUL | Validated: Wed 26 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Single storey rear extension and courtyard, and replacement windows on the first and ground floor. Hillside Farm Harcombe Lyme Regis DT7 3RNRef. No: 21/1228/LBC | Validated: Wed 26 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Retrospective single storey front extension. 5 Barnards Hill Lane Seaton EX12 2EPRef. No: 21/1208/FUL | Validated: Thu 27 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Application for existing lawful development for the existing use as 3 no.self contained flats 45A Rolle Street ExmouthRef. No: 21/1185/CPE | Validated: Wed 26 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Replacement of 4no. windows on East (front) elevation and 1no. window at ground floor on the South (side) elevation of the cottage and the removal of the associated secondary glazing The Captains Cottage Fore Street Beer Seaton EX12 3EERef. No: 21/1182/LBC | Validated: Fri 28 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Single storey rear extension and internal alterations including new internal partition to form WC off existing main bedroom. Creation of courtyard and parking bay with EV charging point and erection of maximum 1.8m wall/fence. Alteration of workshop/store to form garden room. Bakery Cottage Gittisham Honiton EX14 3AFRef. No: 21/1166/LBC | Validated: Fri 28 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision

• Single storey rear extension and internal alterations. Creation of courtyard and parking bay with EV charging point and erection of maximum 1.8m wall/fence. Alteration of workshop/store to form garden room. Bakery Cottage Gittisham Honiton EX14 3AFRef. No: 21/1165/FUL | Validated: Fri 28 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Variation of condition 2 (plans condition) of application 18/2337/RES, updating elevations designs/materials of the five properties on site Land Adjacent To Trederwen Town Lane WoodburyRef. No: 21/1157/VAR | Validated: Tue 25 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Construction of a two storey dwelling 55 Peaslands Road Sidmouth EX10 9BERef. No: 21/1148/FUL | Validated: Mon 24 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Retention / completion of balcony. 7 Woodfield Close Exmouth EX8 4HARef. No: 21/1114/FUL | Validated: Mon 24 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Retrospective installation of self-contained chiller unit, with galvanized steel enclosure Heavers Brothers Ltd Unit 19 Exeter Airport Business Park Clyst Honiton Exeter EX5 2LJRef. No: 21/1102/FUL | Validated: Fri 28 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Localised repairs and reinstatement of section of collapse garden boundary wall. Pomeroy House Gittisham Honiton EX14 3AJRef. No: 21/0945/LBC | Validated: Wed 26 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Variation of condition 2 (approved plans) of application 20/0372/FUL (change of use and conversion of garage workshop building (Use Class B2) to a single private dwelling (Use Class C3), including demolition of modern lean-to extensions) to allow for amendments to materials, height and form of converted building and window and door arrangements Earlys Garage Chardstock Axminster EX13 7BWRef. No: 21/0893/VAR | Validated: Fri 28 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• T1 & T2, Sycamores : Crown Lift. T3, Sycamore, T4, Ash & T5,Ash : fell; replant with Hawthorn, Gean and Red Oak respectively. T6, Sycamore : Fell; replant with 1 standard Ash in another location along the hedge line. T8,Ash : Crown Lift to 5 Metre. T9, Goat Willow & T10, Hazel, : Coppice; commence with Goat Willow in year 1 (2021) and the Hazel in year 3 (2023). Puzzle Cottage Widworthy Court Wilmington Honiton EX14 9JNRef. No: 21/0100/TRE | Validated: Wed 26 May 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision

Consequences of a low pay, low investment economy? 

Owl’s view has always been that moving to a high wage economy is the way to improve productivity (and improved standard of living).

Larry Elliott www.theguardian.com

From Michel Roux Jr to Tim Martin, from swanky Le Gavroche in London to Wetherspoons pubs, the message is the same: we need more staff. Labour shortages were not a problem envisaged when the UK was plunged into lockdown in the spring of 2020. Then, the fear was of massive job losses and the highest unemployment since the 1930s.

Now, the hospitality sector says a lack of chefs, bar staff and waiters is affecting trade. Roux has announced he is closing Le Gavroche at lunchtimes. At Wetherspoons, Brexit-supporting boss Martin has urged ministers to use their ability to set immigration laws to grant visas to EU citizens.

In part, the problem has been caused by the sudden surge in consumer demand as restrictions have been eased. Having been cooped up for so long over the winter, consumers have wanted to go out for a drink, a meal, or enjoy a weekend break. Lots of venues have been looking for staff at the same time.

The hospitality sector employs one in 10 workers in the UK – more than three million people in total – but has been particularly hard-hit by the repeated lockdowns of the last 15 months. Some of those employed in pubs, restaurants and hotels are still on furlough and not ready for a new job. Others have decided to change career or to stay on ine education rather than risk the vagaries of the labour market. Workers from the EU have returned to their own countries during lockdown and for a variety of reasons – health concerns and Brexit in particular – are not coming back.

There are solutions to this problem. The more unscrupulous employers might sweat their workforces harder, something made possible by the low level of union membership in the sector. They could decide – as Roux has done – to limit opening hours, although this is more feasible for businesses at the luxury end of the market than it is for high-volume outlets. A third option would be to attract more workers from overseas, which is what Tony Blair did when he welcomed people from the countries of eastern Europe after they joined the EU in 2004.

The only other solution is the most obvious one: make the jobs more attractive through higher pay.

There would be knock-on effects. The price of a pint would go up as employers passed on higher costs to their customers. Inflation would be a bit higher. Some businesses would close. Yet one of the basic tenets of economics is that raising the price of something – in this case the wages of a chef or a waiter – increases its supply.

The impact on labour shortages would almost certainly not be instant, because those attracted to a job in hospitality by the lure of higher wages may not have the necessary skills. But incentives would eventually make a difference in a sector notorious for its long hours and low pay.

The next chief executive of NHS England must be someone with “a proven track record”, Labour has said, after it emerged that the former test and trace chief Dido Harding was expected to stand.

Peter Walker www.theguardian.com 

It is understood that Harding, a Conservative peer, is considering formally applying to replace Sir Simon Stevens, who is leaving the job in July after seven years.

While Stevens’ whole career has been in healthcare and health management, Harding spent the bulk of her working life in areas such as supermarkets and telecoms, notably as head of the Talk Talk group.

Since 2017, she has chaired the board of NHS Improvement, an oversight arm of NHS England. Her first day-to-day management job in health came a year ago when she was appointed to lead the Covid test and trace service in England, with a budget that rose to £37bn.

Harding, who is married to the Conservative MP John Penrose, faced regular criticism over the service’s performance and has acknowledged failings in how it has operated, though allies argue she has been unfairly maligned.

Test and trace has been blamed by some for failing to better curb the spread of Covid variants, such as the highly transmissible Delta variant first identified in India, which has become dominant in the UK and is threatening plans to drop most lockdown restrictions this month.

In August, Harding was also made the interim chair of the new UK Health Security Agency, which integrates the work of test and trace and takes over from Public Health England. Jenny Harries, formerly England’s deputy chief medical officer, has now taken over the role.

The next head of NHS England will face the toll of disruption to non-Covid services, with one analysis saying more than 4.5 million people missed out on hospital treatment last year alone.

Labour did not comment directly on Harding, but made plain the party was sceptical at the idea of her taking on ultimate responsibility for about 1.3 million NHS staff and an annual budget of more than £115bn.

Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, said NHS patients and workers “will be looking for a new chief executive able to out-manoeuvre [the chancellor] Rishi Sunak” and secure enough funding for the service.

He added: “Given the scale of the waiting list backlog including for cancer and mental health care, the NHS needs someone with a proven track record of improving services for patients.”

Speaking separately, Justin Madders, the junior shadow health minister, said: “We hope the recruitment process takes candidates’ recent achievements into account, but test and trace’s performance speaks for itself.”

Another key Covid-related appointee, Kate Bingham, who led the vaccines taskforce until the end of last year, is set to become a dame in this week’s Queen’s birthday honours, according to a report.

The award for Bingham will be among a series of honours given to people who have played a role in combating coronavirus, the Sunday Telegraph said. Bingham has been praised for the success of the UK’s vaccine programme after rapidly securing contracts for large numbers of jabs of different types.

More than 130,000 people in Devon are now carers, a figure that’s grown because of the coronavirus pandemic.

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

But only 21,000 of them – roughly only one in every six – are said to be accessing vital information and support.

Next week is Carers Week, and Devon County Council, NHS Devon Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and Devon Carers are shining a light on it to encourage people who are carers for friends and family to recognise themselves as unpaid carers, and to come forward for help.

Devon Carers, which is commissioned by Devon County Council and NHS Devon, provides information, advice and support for people who care for others, whether they need help because they are ill, frail, disabled or have a mental health or a substance misuse problem and can’t manage independently without support.

Cllr James McInnes, Devon County Council’s cabinet member for adult care and health services, said: “Many people won’t even think of themselves as carers because the person they are looking after is a relative, but caring can bring a whole host of responsibilities and worries and which can often have a real impact on a carer’s health and wellbeing.”

Vera Tooke didn’t think she was a carer because Graham, who she cares for, is her husband.  He has Parkinson’s disease and Lewy-Body dementia. “There are people who need a little bit of help and those who need more,” she said.  “Looking after someone else is difficult, but I didn’t see myself as a ‘carer’.  The label didn’t feel right. I was coping with the physical aspects of looking after my husband, but dementia is something else. I felt I couldn’t leave Graham to do the things I needed to do. I felt guilty and worried when I did. He was very much against anyone else helping him, even family.

“I then admitted to myself that I was a carer and I contacted Devon Carers for a carer’s assessment. They were brilliant. A carers assessment has nothing to do with judging how you are functioning as a carer, it looks at your own needs as the carer.”

Vera is one of thousands of people across Devon working around the clock to help and care for relatives and friends who couldn’t manage on their own.

But while the coronavirus pandemic has meant even more people in Devon taking on caring responsibilities, Devon Carers saw a 50 per cent reduction in the number of people approaching them for support between April and June last year.

Support is available for adult carers at devoncarers.org.uk/support or support for young carers is available at https://www.westbank.org.uk/Pages/Category/young-carers or call 03456 434 435.

It’s lunch time at Preston Market. At one end of the large Victorian market hall, a generous pile of fried egg and chips will leave you with change from a fiver. Two friends have claimed the window seats and grin. “These are ours – we sit here every day.”

By Rebecca Wearn www.bbc.co.uk 

At the other end of the covered market it’s a different crowd and roasted halloumi in a fresh ciabatta will cost you a fraction or so more. A solicitor pops in for a latte: “It’s nice to have something here that’s modern, it’s trendy,” he says.

Both locations serve important purposes for local people. Street markets like this one in Lancashire are being revitalised across the country as part of urban regeneration plans.

The decline of British High Streets has put councils under pressure to draw new customers into town centres. However, The National Market Traders Federation says they must not forget their old customers, too.

The trade body wants these upgraded markets to maintain traditional, affordable stalls and produce.

Joe Harrison is chief executive of the NMTF and works alongside county councils and businesses to get the best of both worlds into any redevelopment plans.

“We’ll have swanky artisan markets – and that’s all that will exist. We need to make sure that we don’t take away from people that need access to that affordable food,” he says.

Preston’s newly glazed market hall is part of a £50m regeneration project. Alongside fruit and vegetable stalls are new coffee shops, mobile phone, and fashion stalls. Outside, traders of all kinds from the old market have new tables to sell their wares, ranging from toys, homemade soaps, and bric-a-brac.

Joe thinks the balance in Preston is right but is appealing to other councils to think carefully about existing customers and traders before they make changes.

Mother and daughter business team, Tracy and Becky Taylor, run Fresh and Fruity greengrocers inside the new trading hall. Their produce is high quality, fresh and popular.

They agree that selling affordable vegetables is still their staple trade but they’ve started offering more luxury or exotic items since the refurbishment now that new customers are picking up their shopping in the hall.

They believe they can walk that line because of their connections to local suppliers: “I think a big thing for us is local produce – because we can go straight to the growers and the farmers,” says Becky.

But for some it’s not so easy. “We’ve found that a lot of things the markets used to sell, they don’t sell anymore, like clothes,” adds Tracy.

Their views are supported by a research project, led by associate professor Sara Gonzalez from the University of Leeds, measuring the importance of markets to local communities.

“Markets tend to attract elderly people; people who are from low-income neighbourhoods; those with long-term illnesses, a disability, or people with young children, and migrants or [people from] ethnic minorities,” explains Prof Gonzalez.

“We worry that these more disadvantaged customers will be left aside.”

For three years she and her team have analysed indoor and outdoor markets in London, Newcastle and Leeds, to learn about the contribution they make to these local community groups.

Their value is not just about good produce at good prices to feed stomachs – it’s about regular human contact and interactions that feed the soul.

Prof Gonzalez says that people who shop regularly at local markets get something a supermarket could never give them – company – and that’s why many customers make a whole day out of a trip.

“They might have a haircut, they’ll have a cup of tea, they’ll meet with a friend, they’ll do some shopping. And it’s weather-proof, it’s warm,” she says.

Regeneration of older marketplaces is happening across the country

“But more than that, they get to speak to people they don’t know. That might be the only people they meet for the whole day, the whole week. So, they actually do develop friendships,” says Prof Gonzalez.

At the height of the pandemic, she spoke to traders in Newcastle’s Grainger Market, who had attended a regular customer’s funeral. While in Preston, bookstall holder Pete Burns delivered books to regulars he knew relied on the social connection.

“A lot of the die-hard regulars look at you as more of a friend than a trader,” he says.

Prof Gonzalez and her team fear these groups are being excluded from council redevelopment plans, because there’s no way to measure or make a profit from the valuable sociable interactions markets provide for local communities. Instead, regeneration plans have focused on higher-end, higher-priced offerings.

Citing examples like Borough Market in London or Altrincham Market, that offer late-night fine dining and artisan produce, she explains these can “alienate” many of the vulnerable groups she has worked with.

“We want local authorities to think about the market not as a property asset but as a community asset.”

Councils want powers to take over empty homes to tackle the housing crisis.

Chris McLaughlin www.mirror.co.uk 

They expect hundreds of thousands will need help after the ban on bailiff evictions imposed during the pandemic was lifted last week.

Official stats say 268,385 homes are empty for over six months.

And there were 280,000 people in temporary digs such as hostels and B&Bs even before the pandemic, according to Shelter.

The Local Government Association wants to move families into homes that have been empty for six months or more.

Its spokesman David Renard said: “Lifting the ban on evictions will leave some households on a cliff edge of becoming homeless.”

Ben Beadle, of the National Residential Landlords Association, added: “A quarter of those in arrears face court orders and damage to their credit score, which makes it harder for them to access new housing.

“We need an interest-free, government hardship loan for tenants.”

The Ministry of Housing said: “We have given councils tools to tackle empty homes, including the power to increase council tax by up to 300% on these properties, and take over the management of homes that have been empty for a long period.”

If you go down to the beach today

You’re sure of a big surprise

If you go down to the beach today

You’d need to be well advised!

Peter Brookes Times cartoon: June 5 2021

Some time before midday on Monday, quite a lot of English MPs will start getting distinctly twitchy. It is then that they will first see the results of a major redrawing of parliamentary boundaries, with a number of seats set to change, even disappear.

Peter Walker www.theguardian.com 

The report by the Boundary Commission for England is the latest development in a decade-long process which has previously failed to change the parliamentary map. This time the expectation is it will go ahead, with new constituencies finalised in 2023.

The key difference is that rather than reducing the Commons to 600 seats, as planned in since-abandoned reviews from 2013 and 2018, this version keeps the current 650. It will instead reflect population changes by giving 10 more seats to England, with Wales losing eight and Scotland two.

Within this framework, the respective boundary commissions for the four UK nations will work out details, followed by long months of consultation, argument and wrangling. England is announced first, with proposed maps for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – which keeps 18 seats – due by July.

The plan is based on trying to make every constituency within 5% either way of the average number of electors, just under 73,400, apart from a handful of “protected” seats.

These include the Scottish Western Isles constituency of Na h-Eileanan an Iar, the smallest by population, with just under 21,000 voters, and the Isle of Wight, which has 113,000 but will be split into two.

The overall picture is deeply complex and, especially for Conservative MPs, brings mixed news.

According to an analysis by Robert Hayward, the elections expert who is also a Tory peer, the new boundaries would have given his party between five and 10 extra seats at the 2019 general election, since most of the new constituencies are in Conservative-friendly areas such as England’s south-east, south-west and east – although Labour-dominated London will get two more.

But gaining a swathe of new seats in 2019 has created a bigger problem for the Conservatives than was the case, Hayward argued: “Having won seats in the north and the Midlands, and particularly in Wales, they now represent seats which are substantially smaller than seats they previously held.”

Labour had significant worries about the last boundary review, both the reduction in total seats and the plan to base it on a relatively old electoral register. This time the template will be the register from March 2020.

Cat Smith, Labour’s shadow Cabinet Office minister, whose brief covers electoral issues, said one worry was that the flexibility over populations had been set to 5% of the average, rather than 10%.

“That means less flexibility to keep communities together,” she said. “What we don’t want to see is new boundaries that cut across what people see as their community identities. It’s why the consultation process is so important.”

Such issues are likely to dominate the consultation process. In a media briefing this week, Tim Bowden, secretary to the English commission, said one possibility was a new constituency straddling the River Tamar – meaning it would include parts of both Devon and Cornwall.

While the proposed new boundaries will not be publicly announced before Monday night, MPs can collect information about their own area from Commons officials at midday. With many MPs still not in Westminster due to Covid, the information will also be emailed at 3pm.

The process was likely to be less tumultuous now the plan to trim 50 seats had been dropped, Hayward said: “Yes, up to a point – but redistribution always is contentious. Even an MP who has a majority of 20,000 gets neurotic if they might lose 4,000 of that, as they immediately assume it will be 10,000.”

Michael Savage www.theguardian.com 

Did he mislead the prime minister over care homes?

In perhaps the most explosive allegation made during his seven hours of select committee evidence, Dominic Cummings said Hancock had assured Boris Johnson that all hospital patients heading back to care homes would be tested. He then said that, at a disputed meeting in May, the prime minister had demanded to know why this had not happened. Hancock has already denied these allegations and suggested that he only pledged to test all discharged hospital patients as soon as testing capacity allowed.

Did he interfere with the testing programme to meet his own targets?

Another key accusation from Cummings was that Hancock was telling officials to “down tools” on the test and trace system so that they could focus on meeting his target of carrying out 100,000 tests a day by the end of April 2020. “It was criminal, disgraceful behaviour that caused serious harm,” said Cummings. Hancock has said that building capacity was critical to achieving the ability to test, among others, returning care-home residents.

Was he too slow to react on PPE?

Cummings said he was astounded to find that Hancock’s department had accepted that crucial personal protective equipment would take time to arrive because they were still shipping it from China, rather than making use of aircraft grounded as a result of the collapse in international travel. He also said Hancock had falsely claimed PPE funding was blocked by the Treasury.

Did everyone who needed treatment get treatment?

Hancock said publicly that everyone who needed treatment for Covid would receive the care that they needed. That this happened has been disputed, with Cummings stating that people were left to die “in horrific circumstances”. The Cummings claim is that Hancock knew that not everyone had received the care they required, because he had been briefed to this effect internally.

Was Hancock complacent about having the right plan?

It has become clear that when Covid first emerged, the government thought its plans to deal with a flu pandemic would form the basis of its response, but the disease proved to behave very differently. Cummings said Hancock gave reassurances that plans were in place, stating: “We’ve got full plans up to and including pandemic levels regularly prepared and refreshed, CMOs [chief medical officers] and epidemiologists, we’re stress testing now, it’s our top-tier risk register.” Hancock has called all Cummings’s claims of dishonesty unsubstantiated and untrue.

Opt out deadline 23 June

This is the most urgent step; the deadline to get your form to your GP practice is 23 June 2021, according to NHS Digital.

Click to access Type_1_opt-out_letter.pdf

Legal threat sharpens 

Caroline Molloy www.opendemocracy.net 

Today lawyers acting for openDemocracy and five other claimants have challenged the British government’s controversial plans to extract the medical records of everyone in England from their GP without proper consultation or informed consent – just as the doctors are reeling from coping with COVID-19.

openDemocracy has joined forces with Foxglove, a tech justice start-up, and other campaigners to issue an urgent legal challenge to the Department of Health and Social Care over its scheme to harvest the personal medical data into one massive database, which private corporations will be able to access.

The coalition’s legal letter to the government warns that unless the health department pauses the GP data grab – due to go ahead on 1 July – and seeks transparent patient consent, we will seek a court injunction to halt the scheme.

It’s the third time that openDemocracy has teamed up with Foxglove to protect patients’ rights to know – and have a say – about their data being shared with private corporations. This time we have joined forces with other campaigning organisations – Just Treatment, Doctors’ Association UK, The Citizens, and the National Pensioners Convention – and with David Davis MP.

The Conservative MP warned: “My constituents don’t expect when they sit down with their family GP that their sensitive health data is going to be able to be accessed by all and sundry. I support a future-fit NHS, but it’s got to be done in a way everyone can trust. The government must involve and inform patients so they have a meaningful chance to opt out before they progress any such policy.”

Unconvincing reassurances

Health data is both hugely sensitive and immensely valuable – to our health, and to big business. The UK’s NHS data has been valued at £10bn. And our GP data – with details of everything from diagnoses and medications to depression, abortions, sexually transmitted infections and addictions – is the most detailed, valuable and sensitive of all.

Back in 2013-14, openDemocracy was the first non-specialist news site to cover a similar, though less ambitious, project to upload and share GPs’ patient records – the care.data project – which was abandoned after two million people opted out amidst concerns about confidentiality and business use.

But on 12 May this year, health secretary Matt Hancock quietly issued a legal direction to every GP in England, instructing them to upload their patient records to a central database, with patients given just a few weeks to find out about the plans.

NHS Digital insists it’s not selling patient data – but then tells us that the data will be made available to third parties for a fee

During COVID, much health data was shared under extraordinary powers – including with private companies. But the government looks set to make this the ‘new normal’.

An NHS Digital spokesperson sought this week to justify its plans by arguing that “NHS data was vital in managing the response to COVID” – but relevant health data can already be shared in a public health emergency. Phil Booth of campaign group medConfidential told openDemocracy it was “very cynical for the government to be pointing to COVID purposes and using that to justify a data grab”.

The government says the data will be used only “for health and care planning and research purposes” as well as for “the development of health and care policy” – and that it will be used only “by organisations which can show they have an appropriate legal basis and a legitimate need to use it”.

The problem is, they’ve told us next to nothing about what would count as “research purposes” or a “legitimate need”.

Instead they’ve put out a succession of vague and inconsistent reassurances from NHS Digital, which give little confidence.

NHS Digital insists it’s not selling patient data – but then tells us that the data will be made available to third parties for a fee.

It tells us that it’s assessed the impact of its plans on our human rights and privacy – but that we aren’t yet allowed to see that assessment, less than three weeks before the data transfer is due to happen.

It tells us no data will be shared for “solely commercial reasons” – but few companies, particularly those operating in healthcare, claim to be motivated “solely” by their bottom line. The government itself has been generally sympathetic to companies’ claims of loftier goals. So that reassurance is a long way from watertight.

The government tells us that the data will be “de-identified” but acknowledges this process can be reversed and individuals re-identified “in certain circumstances, and where there is a valid legal reason” to do so. And it hasn’t made clear what those circumstances or reasons would be.

It tells us that companies accessing the data will be contractually banned from using other data sources to re-identify people, but we know companies don’t always play by the rules. Which is why new guidance just published by the Information Commissioner’s Office makes clear that de-identified data is still personal data, and can’t be shared with anyone else without meaningful, informed consent. Which is exactly what the government – so far – seems determined to evade.

It tells us it’s “engaged with the British Medical Association (BMA) [and the] Royal College of GPs (RCGP)” – but those organisations have pointedly not endorsed the current plans. The RCGP chair Martin Marshall said whilst the organisation supports improved data sharing in principle for “important healthcare planning and research”, it was “critical that this is transparent and that patients have confidence and trust in how the NHS and other bodies might use their information”. He added that they were “continuing to lobby NHS Digital to ensure appropriate safeguards are in place for how the data collected is used”.

The ‘mad rush’ for health data

GPs have pointed out that there’s a ‘safe setting’ for the medical data they hold that means researchers can access it without copies of our records being sent out to third parties – but the government is choosing not to use it. Why?

We know that access to NHS data is a key prize for the pharmaceutical and life sciences industries, as well as for the artificial intelligence firms. The latter, the Financial Times reported this week, are now a “mad rush” for health data, having seen their stock boom during the pandemic.

It’s also of interest to US health insurers and providers, who, as openDemocracy exposed, are already boasting of how they are “planting seeds” in England’s NHS. These firms are already advising the NHS on how to deal with more “expensive” patients, and what services could be cut. And openDemocracy has also covered how unfettered access to British data, including health data, is also a key demand for US trade negotiators.

Diarmaid McDonnell of medical campaign group Just Treatment said: “For many patients this is not just about their data – it’s about the future of the NHS. We’re sleepwalking into a health system where profits are prioritised over patients, with big tech and pharma corporations at the helm, shaping every decision about the care NHS patients receive.”

The largest public sector union, Unison, has called for the data upload to be delayed until there is greater transparency and consultation. The union called on the government to “harness the value” of our health data so that it can be “reinvested in health and social care”, rather than allowing access for next to nothing.

The government does not appear to have built in effective safeguards to protect the intellectual property arising from this precious data, meaning that the products and services corporations build from it could be sold back to the NHS for eye-watering sums.

Health data is extremely useful in the hands of medical researchers. But any involvement of private companies should be open to public scrutiny and debate. Without it, trust is damaged to the extent that legitimate researchers will be denied the kind of comprehensive data that could be most of use.

Indeed, mounting concerns about the government’s approach led to NHS Digital’s call centre “melting down” under the numbers of people calling them this week to request opt-out forms, with over half a million already having opted out, according to Phil Booth of medConfidential.

Meanwhile GPs – who are the legal guardians of patients’ confidential information – are deeply unhappy.

Rosie Sharpe, a GP at Doctors’ Association UK, said: “GPs were barely informed of this major change – how are patients expected to know about it?” and warned that the government’s approach made doctors’ lives “impossible”.

A growing number of GPs are refusing to hand over the data on 1 July, even if that means breaching a legally binding order from Matt Hancock.

Jan Shortt of the National Pensioners Convention said that the government’s approach had “excluded older people” and added the organisation was “very concerned about the lack of consultation and publicity about this except a lone government website. Most of our members have never heard of this.”

The race to get the scheme rolled out while the public and medical profession is still reeling from COVID means that there is little time for journalists and members of the public to use Freedom of Information laws to find out more about what’s going on – including how the government thinks its actions can possibly be compliant with the laws on data protection.

The government is hiding behind secrecy and ambiguity as it runs down the clock to 1 July.

So we’ve had no choice but to issue an urgent legal warning. Because we think the public urgently needs to know what the plans are for their personal information, and have the opportunity to consent – or not – before it’s too late.

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The coalition is today launching a crowdfunder to cover the cost risk of the legal claim.