UK and Scottish governments agree first stage of the Fiscal Framework Review
The UK Government and Scottish Government today agreed in principle the scope of the independent report that will inform the subsequent review of the Scottish Government’s Fiscal Framework.
During an in-person meeting in Westminster, Chief Secretary to HM Treasury Simon Clarke and the Scottish Government’s Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy Kate Forbes agreed to commission an independent report on the Block Grant Adjustment arrangements, including a call for stakeholder input, prior to a broader review of the Fiscal Framework. The Ministers will confirm these arrangements in writing.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Simon Clarke said: “After our first in-person meeting it’s great that we’ve been able to get an agreement and can now get on with the Fiscal Framework Review and ensure fair and sustainable funding for Scotland’s future.
“We’re continuing to work together to tackle the big issues we face as a United Kingdom, including climate change, levelling up opportunities and supporting jobs.”
Scottish Finance Minister Kate Forbes said: “Today’s meeting was positive and I am glad that we are finally making some progress on the fiscal framework.
“I have reached an agreement in principle with the Chief Secretary to the Treasury which enables us to move without further delay towards commissioning the independent report, with the Fiscal Framework review itself beginning as close to the beginning of 2022 as possible.
“While the report will look only at the Block Grant Adjustments, we agreed that the review should have a wider scope, and involve input from parliamentary committees and wider stakeholders.”
The Chief Secretary also chaired a quadrilateral meeting that included Cabinet Secretary Kate Forbes, and finance ministers from Wales and Northern Ireland where they discussed Net Zero, creating jobs across the UK and recovering from the pandemic.
The latest Emergency Department performance figures for September 2021 published today by NHS England show the highest number of 12-hour stays on record, the highest number of four-hour stays on record, and the worst four-hour performance ever recorded.
The latest figures were published on the day the UK Government set out it’s Plan to improve access for NHS patients and support GPs.
The data show in September 2021 there were 1,392,542 attendances to Type 1 Emergency Departments in England.
Four-hour performance has deteriorated for the sixth consecutive month, once again reaching a record low. Just 64% of patients in Type 1 Emergency Departments were admitted, transferred or discharged within four-hours.
A record breaking 5,025 patients stayed in an Emergency Department for 12-hours or more from decision to admit to admission. This is an 80% increase on the previous month, August 2021, and it is the highest number of 12-hour stays since records began and is almost a third higher than the previous highest, recorded in January 2021. The number of 12-hour stays from time of arrival is not published but is likely to be significantly higher.
Dr Katherine Henderson, President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said: “This data is bleak and is a stark warning of the crisis that we are heading towards this winter.
“Dangerous crowding has returned to Emergency Departments, exit block is preventing a flow of patients through the hospital, and there have been widespread reports of ambulances queuing outside hospitals facing long handover delays.
“For patients, this means long and potentially frustrating waiting times in the Emergency Department. For staff it is incredibly challenging, as they do all they can to continue to deliver care quickly amid rising attendances and pressures.
“At the same time the health service continues to manage covid as cases have been rising steeply, with the NHS now treating around 14 times as many patients as the same time last year.
“Trusts also continue to deliver elective care but there is a real threat that in the coming months this may once again have to be paused to manage pressures on urgent and emergency care and the rising number of covid cases.
“The winter presents a significant challenge for the health service; staff are increasingly worried about the NHS’ ability to cope. The Government need to recognise the potential crisis and support the health and care service as it tackles the challenges ahead.
“NHS England’s Urgent and Emergency Care Recovery 10 Point Action Plan is a blueprint on how to manage these pressures in the short and medium term. Trusts must do all they can to follow this guidance to mitigate pressures across the system and prevent further deterioration in performance.
“But the underlying cause of all of the problems facing the NHS is a decade of underfunding. The health service has for a long time struggled to meet the demand of the population. It is short on staff across the board; capacity has not risen in line with demand. Existing staff are exhausted, with many looking to leave after having to shoulder an ever-increasing workload.
“So far promises to increase the workforce have fallen short. The forthcoming spending review is an opportunity for the government to signal it’s intent to boost staffing with a long-term workforce plan and rescue the NHS in the long run.”
Meanwhile the NHS, working closely with the Department of Health and Social Care, has today published a blueprint for improving access to GP appointments for patients alongside supporting GPs and their teams in England.
Surgeries will be provided with additional funding to boost their capacity to increase the proportion of appointments delivered face to face, as part of a major drive to support general practice and level up performance, including additional efforts to tackle abuse against staff.
The measures, including a £250 million winter access fund from NHS England, will enable GP practices to improve availability so that patients who need care can get it, often on the same day if needed. The investment will fund locums and support from other health professionals such as physiotherapists and podiatrists, with a focus on increasing capacity to boost urgent same-day care. This is in addition to £270 million invested over the previous 11 months to expand capacity and support GPs.
Amanda Pritchard, chief executive of the NHS, said: “Improving access to high quality general practice is essential for our patients and for the rest of the NHS too.
“It is a personal priority and today NHS England is taking both urgent and longer term action to back GPs and their teams with additional investment and support.”
Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Sajid Javid said: “I am determined to ensure patients can see their GP in the way they want, no matter where they live. I also want to thank GPs and their teams for their enormous efforts in the most challenging times in living memory.
“Our new plan provides general practice teams with investment and targeted support. This will tackle underperformance, taking pressure off staff so they can spend more time with patients and increase the number of face-to-face appointments.
“Alongside this we are setting out more measures to tackle abuse and harassment so staff at GP surgeries who work so tirelessly to care for patients can do so without having to fear for their safety.”
The NHS England document makes clear that every GP practice must seek patients’ input and respect preferences for face to face care unless there are good clinical reasons to the contrary.
The extra investment will help to increase the number of appointments delivered, while local health systems will be free to determine how best to tackle particular challenges to access and provision of care in their own community, which could include putting in place additional resource for walk-in consultations.
Local plans will need to deliver these improvements in access, with practices that do not provide appropriate levels of face to face care not able to access the additional funding, and instead offered support to improve.
Under the plan, the NHS will also support upgrades to telephone systems, ensuring that more patients can quickly and easily speak to general practice staff, and help the public avoid long waits when contacting a surgery by phone.
The government will also reduce administrative burdens on GPs by reforming who can provide medical evidence and certificates such as FIT notes and DVLA checks – freeing up time for more appointments.
UKHSA will complete its review of infection prevention and control (IPC) guidance in general practice and set out practical steps on IPC measures in GP settings which could increase the number of patients that can be seen.
As part of this package, the NHS will increase its oversight of practices with the most acute issues in relation to access, and GP appointment data will be published at practice level by spring next year. This will enhance transparency and accountability, as monthly data is currently only published by clinical commissioning group.
In addition, patients will get the opportunity to rate their practice’s performance, via text message, based on their most recent experience of accessing support. This survey, which has been previously agreed with the profession, is being piloted in around 60 practices and will be rolled out next year.
Together with the government and Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, the NHS will also develop a zero-tolerance campaign on abuse of NHS staff, including GP teams.
General practice teams have delivered more than 300 million appointments over the last year as well as delivering the vast majority of Covid vaccinations, saving lives and protecting millions of people against the virus at speed.
Health Minister Maria Caulfield said: “As a nurse on the frontline during the pandemic I know how hard GPs and their teams have worked, while recognising how badly so many people want to see their GPs in person.
“This plan will give our dedicated general practices the support needed to increase capacity, boosting the number of appointments for patients to see and speak to their GP practice.
“I look forward to continuing to work with the sector to ensure patients can get the care they need.”
Patients will also be able to see different types of clinicians in general practice, who can best meet their needs and conditions, including pharmacists, paramedics, advanced nurse practitioners and nursing associates.
NHS England will also work with the government to consider how far and fast the role of pharmacists can be increased in the supply of medication, as part of relieving workload on GPs.
Government’s ‘rescue package’ for GPs is flawed and patient care will suffer as result, warns BMA
“It’s truly frightening that we have a government so ignorant to the needs of such a core part of the NHS”
Responding to the publication by the Department of Health and NHS England and NHS Improvement today, outlining their plans to improve access for NHS patients and support for GPs, BMA GP committee chair Dr Richard Vautrey said: “After weeks of promising an ‘emergency package’ to rescue general practice, we’re hugely dismayed that whilst additional funding has been promised, the package as a whole offers very little and shows a Government completely out of touch with the scale of the crisis on the ground.
“GPs and their teams will now be facing the worst winter for decades, and as a result, patients’ care will suffer. Appointments will be harder to book, waiting times will get longer, more of the profession could leave and GPs will struggle to cope.
“It is also disappointing to see that there is no end in sight to the preoccupation with face-to-face appointments; we need a more intelligent conversation about the variety of appointments and care that are available to patients to meet their needs.
“While in-person consultations are a key feature of general practice and absolutely necessary for some patients and certain conditions, the pandemic has proven that in many other cases, phone or video appointments are entirely appropriate and appreciated by patients, and a crude focus on percentages or targets is completely unhelpful.
“Throughout our discussions with ministers and NHS England in recent weeks, the BMA has been clear that without a concerted effort to reduce bureaucracy, admin and red tape in practices, patient access and care was at risk.
“Unfortunately, today’s offer merely tinkers around the edges, and will not reduce the unnecessary burden practices carry and therefore free up any more time for doctors to see more patients. We need an end to target-driven, payment-by-results, care and allow practices to look after patients in a way that is flexible and right for the person in front of them and the Government have missed an opportunity to tackle this.
“Reducing the administrative burden on GPs by reforming who can provide medical evidence and certificates such as Fit notes and DVLA checks, won’t happen for some time and is a mere drop in the ocean as what is needed is urgent action now to free up sufficient time for more appointments.
“While the additional £250m is welcome, it must be easy for practices to access rapidly and they must not be forced to have to produce reams of plans or try to meet unattainable targets to get it – which has often happened in the past.
“We had four simple asks – and only one appears to have been fully answered. Increased sentencing for assaulting healthcare workers is something we asked for, but meaningless if the same Government refuses to address the crisis fuelling such abuse. The Secretary of State has started to address a second, by talking more positively about general practice but he needs to do much more to publicly support the profession when we are under such pressure and facing a torrent of abuse on a daily basis.
“These proposals will only confirm the profession’s belief that ministers and NHS England fail to understand the dire state of general practice – or that they, not hardworking GPs, are to blame.
“It’s truly frightening that we have a government so ignorant to the needs of such a core part of the NHS. GPs want to improve the care we offer to our patients, but today’s offer will not enable us to do that as we had hoped.
“GPs across England will be truly horrified that this is being presented as a lifeline to general practice, when in reality it could sink the ship all together. There can be no doubt that this lack of action at such a critical time will force many GPs to hang up their stethoscopes and leave the profession for the last time.”
The climate emergency can only be successfully tackled through greater focus on adapting to the inevitable climate impacts that we are already seeing, the Environment Agency has warned today (13 October) as it urged world leaders to step up to that challenge at COP26.
In a report to the UK Government, the agency has warned of more extreme weather leading to increased flooding and drought, sea level rises of up to 78cm by the 2080s, and public water supplies needing more than 3.4 billion extra litres of water per day by 2050. It has urged governments, businesses and society to embrace and invest in adaptation, rather than living with the costs of inaction.
With COP26 less than three weeks away, it has welcomed the UK Government’s focus on adaptation as well as mitigation, and the fact that climate adaptation is one of the Summit’s four key goals, but urged that more action is needed at a global level to protect the billions of lives and livelihoods that are at risk.
Emma Howard Boyd, Chair of the Environment Agency, said: “The climate crisis is global, but its impacts are in your village, your shop, your home. Adaptation action needs to be integral to government, businesses and communities too and people will soon question why it isn’t – especially when it is much cheaper to invest early in climate resilience than to live with the costs of inaction.
“While mitigation might save the planet, it is adaptation, preparing for climate shocks, that will save millions of lives. Choosing one over the other on the basis of a simple either/or calculation is like telling a bird it only needs one wing to fly.
“With that in mind, it is deeply worrying that adaptation is in danger of being grievously undercooked at COP26. Not by the UK Government, but by the world at large.
“Significant climate impacts are inevitable. We can successfully tackle the climate emergency if we do the right things, but we are running out of time to implement effective adaptation measures. Our thinking must change faster than the climate.
“Some 200 people died in this summer’s flooding in Germany. That will happen in this country sooner or later, however high we build our flood defences, unless we also make the places where we live, work and travel resilient to the effects of the more violent weather the climate emergency is bringing.
“It is adapt or die. With the right approach we can be safer and more prosperous. So let’s prepare, act and survive.”
Even with a 2°C temperature rise compared to pre-industrial levels, key projections within the report include:
Winter rainfall is expected to increase by approximately 6% by the 2050s and by 8% by the 2080s, compared to a 1981-2000 baseline.
Summer rainfall is expected to decrease by approximately 15% by the 2050s compared to a 1981-2000 baseline.
London’s sea level is expected to rise by between approximately 23cm by the 2050s and 45cm by the 2080s.
River flows will be more extreme. Peak flows are expected to be up to 27% higher in the 2050s, while in the summer months river flows could be 82% lower by as soon as 2050.
Public water supplies are expected to require more than 3.4 billion extra litres of water per day if no action is taken before 2050.
Baroness Brown of Cambridge, Chair of the CCC’s Adaptation Committee, said: “We’re pleased to see the Environment Agency publishing its latest climate change adaptation plan.
“This road map will be vital to ensuring our natural and built environments are well adapted to the significant changes in our climate taking place today, with more to come.
We urge all Government agencies, authorities, regulators and businesses big and small to get their adaptation plans together before the deadline on 31 December.
“We look forward to assessing the EA’s plan in early 2022 as part of our independent appraisal for Government of similar plans from across the public and private sectors.
The report also sets out five climate “reality checks” to make the case for urgent action on adaptation:
The Environment Agency alone cannot protect everyone from increasing flood and coastal risks: rising sea levels and extreme winter rainfall will mean it will not be technically, socially, and economically viable to protect every community. Instead, alongside constructing and maintaining defences, we must help communities learn to live with risk, minimise damage, and return to normal life quickly.
Climate change makes it harder to ensure clean and plentiful water: existing issues with water stress will be exacerbated by climate change bringing altered temperature and rainfall patterns. Measures to tackle these pressures are underway, but a strategic approach to water management and faster progress on improvements are needed.
Environmental regulation is not yet ready for a changing climate: climate change is increasing the impact of environmental incidents, for example lower river levels means pollutants diffuse slower and have a greater impact. It is vital that environmental policy and legislation keeps pace with the escalating challenge to allow us and other regulators to protect the environment.
Ecosystems cannot adapt as fast as the climate is changing: industrialisation and urbanisation have left the UK as one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world, and climate change means wildlife in England will continue to be altered. We must recognise importance of natural ecosystems in supporting life (including our own) in our health and wellbeing. Nature must be the essential foundation of development, rather than being seen as an impediment.
There will be more and worse environmental incidents: both natural and man-made environmental incidents will be made worse by climate change. This will place an increased burden on emergency response, and divert resources from other activities.
The report highlights how the Environment Agency is working with government, businesses and communities to prepare for the impacts of climate change, including delivering a record £5.2 billion programme of new flood and coastal defences over the next six years.
While the risks are serious, they can be addressed by early action, and the report also sets out how the Environment Agency is meeting those challenges.
This includes:
Working with government, businesses and communities to implement the Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management (FCERM) Strategy and our vision to create a nation ready for and resilient to flooding and coastal change up to 2100.
Working with water companies and Ofwat on the National Framework for Water Resources, which sets out how we will address future challenges to water supply.
Helping to deliver the £10 million Natural Environment Readiness Fund, helping to support projects in attracting private sector finance into investment in the natural environment.
Focusing on nature based approaches, restoring and creating peatlands, wetland and other habitats to create climate-resilient habitats for wildlife, reduce flood risk, improve water quality and improve access to greenspace for people
Using our role as a regulator to help businesses understand and reduce their climate impact and prepare for the future.
MPs publish Coronavirus: Lessons Learned To Date report
Covid vaccine programme “one of most effective initiatives in UK history” but delay to first lockdown a “serious error” that should have been challenged
The House of Commons and Science and Technology Committee and Health and Social Care Committee have published their Report, Coronavirus: lessons learned to date, examining the initial UK response to the covid pandemic.
The 150-page Report contains 38 recommendations to the Government and public bodies, and draws on evidence from over 50 witnesses—including Rt Hon Matt Hancock MP, Professor Chris Whitty, Sir Patrick Vallance, Sir Simon Stevens, Dame Kate Bingham, Baroness Harding of Winscombe and Dominic Cummings—as well as over 400 written submissions.
The Report was agreed unanimously by members of both Select Committees, which consist of 22 MPs from three political parties—Conservative, Labour and SNP.
The joint inquiry, which began in October 2020, examined six key areas of the response to covid-19: the country’s preparedness for a pandemic; the use of non-pharmaceutical interventions such as border controls, social distancing and lockdowns to control the pandemic; the use of test, trace and isolate strategies; the impact of the pandemic on social care; the impact of the pandemic on specific communities; and the procurement and roll-out of covid-19 vaccines.
The inquiry concluded that some initiatives were examples of global best practice but others represented mistakes. Both must be reflected on to ensure that lessons are applied to better inform future responses to emergencies.
In particular:
The forward-planning, agility and decisive organisation of the vaccine development and deployment effort will save millions of lives globally and should be a guide to future Government practice;
The delays in establishing an adequate test, trace and isolate system hampered efforts to understand and contain the outbreak and it failed in its stated purpose to avoid lockdowns;
The initial decision to delay a comprehensive lockdown—despite practice elsewhere in the world—reflected a fatalism about the spread of covid that should have been robustly challenged at the time;
Social care was not given sufficient priority in the early stages of the pandemic;
The experience of the covid pandemic underlines the need for an urgent and long term strategy to tackle health inequalities; and
The UK’s preparedness for a pandemic had been widely acclaimed in advance, but performed less well than many other countries in practice.
The 38 recommendations made, if implemented by the Government and by public bodies such as the NHS, would ensure that during the remaining period of the pandemic and in any new emergency, the UK could perform better by having distilled lessons—positive and negative—from the UK’s initial response to covid.
In a joint statement on the publication of the Coronavirus: lessons learned to date Report, Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP, Chair of the Health and Social Care Committee, and Rt Hon Greg Clark MP, Chair of the Science and Technology Committee, said: “The UK response has combined some big achievements with some big mistakes. It is vital to learn from both to ensure that we perform as best as we possibly can during the remainder of the pandemic and in the future.
“Our vaccine programme was boldly planned and effectively executed. Our test and trace programme took too long to become effective. The Government took seriously scientific advice but there should have been more challenge from all to the early UK consensus that delayed a more comprehensive lockdown when countries like South Korea showed a different approach was possible.
“In responding to an emergency, when much is unknown, it is impossible to get everything right. We record our gratitude to all those—NHS and care workers, scientists, officials in national and local government, workers in our public services and in private businesses and millions of volunteers—who responded to the challenge with dedication, compassion and hard work to help the whole nation at one of our darkest times.”
The Report includes an Executive Summary with conclusions, recommendations and lessons learned at the end of each Chapter.
GB energy consumers face the biggest ever increase to the energy price cap
Fuel poverty charity National Energy Action (NEA) warns that the average increase of £153 for prepayment customers and £139 from those paying by direct debit using a default tariff is likely to result in more utility debt, 500,000 extra households in fuel poverty and an increase in preventable deaths this winter
Suppliers are putting their prices up in October when millions of people will see a reduction in their incomes, as uplifts to Universal Credit are withdrawn
Charity says new Household Support Fund welcome but not enough to prevent needless deaths this winter
Calls on UK Government to take more action to directly reduce higher prices for the poorest this winter and for Ofgem to do more to protect the most vulnerable consumers when suppliers fail.
Adam Scorer, Chief Executiveat fuel poverty charity National Energy Action (NEA), said: “The massive devastating increases in energy prices will drive over 500,000 more households into fuel poverty, leaving them unable to heat or power their homes.
“Just when they were needed most, the uplifts to Universal Credit are also being withdrawn and inflation is soaring. The new Household Support Fund will provide some welcome support for those who can access it, but on its own it is not enough to halt the erosion in incomes and deal with rising prices.
“Without a wider package of support – keeping UC uplifts and more rebates to protect those on the lowest incomes from spiralling energy prices – vulnerable people are still at dire risk of premature death this winter”.
“Falling through the gaps when suppliers fail”
NEA warns that the current crisis is likely to badly affect vulnerable customers when their suppliers fail. The charity is warning that households on older prepay meters are at risk of not being able to top up with their new supplier if their current supplier fails.
In addition, people in debt who transfer over to their new suppliers may also immediately risk aggressive debt recovery tactics from their previous suppliers’ administrators. People eligible for Warm Home Discount are also falling through the gaps when they move to their new supplier. They often can’t access all elements of this vital support.
Adam Scorer continued: “We know this situation is preventable, but Ofgem must act fast to protect the most vulnerable consumers when suppliers fail. The UK Government must also use the upcoming Budget to provide more additional emergency support so we can guard against the consequences of soaring bills and hits to millions of low incomes.
“This means enhancing current schemes and taking new steps to accelerate the repayment of utility debts across the UK”.
“Many of those on the lowest incomes live in the least efficient homes”
NEA has also stressed that one of the key reasons the situation is bleak for the poorest households is the vicious overlap between the households who live on the lowest incomes and who also live in the least energy efficient homes.
They say in England alone, more than 680,000 households on the lowest incomes also live in the least efficient homes making the impact of the price rises much more severe. Over 3 million fuel poor households will need to be prioritised for retrofits if the goal to meet Net Zero is to be met at the same time as statutory fuel poverty targets.
Adam Scorer again: “These quick emergency fixes are vital to get struggling households through this winter, but we can’t lose sight of the long-term solution to reduce the energy waste in our homes.
“We have some of the least efficient housing in Europe. This has left the UK more exposed to the current soaring gas price than many other countries and we are wasting billions of pounds each year as heat escapes through leaky roofs, floors and ceilings”.
What needs to be done
As a summary, NEA is proposing emergency provision to help fuel poor households to stay warm at home this winter, including:
Providing additional funding towards the Warm Home Discount scheme this winter as an emergency provision to guard against significantly increased gas prices
Supporting more households with the Winter Fuel Payment, especially for those eligible for the Cold Weather Payment in Northern Ireland
Helping accelerate the repayment of utility debts across the UK by enhancing Fuel and Water Direct
Continuing the Winter Grant Scheme through this winter
Additionally, through the Spending Review, NEA propose the following longer-term actions to ensure that fuel poor households can be warm at home for years to come:
Fully implement the Conservative Manifesto for the Home Upgrade Grant Scheme (HUG) and Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF)
Ensure the Shared Prosperity Fund (SPF) helps end cold homes across the UK
Extend and strengthen the £20 a week uplift in Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit for low-income households.
Eight areas longlisted for UK City of Culture 2025 have been unveiled today by Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries.
Following a record 20 bids, the eight longlisted locations are Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon, Bradford, Cornwall, County Durham, Derby, Southampton, Stirling and Wrexham County Borough.
Winning the prestigious title has enormous benefits with previous hosts attracting millions of pounds in additional investment, creating jobs and attracting thousands of visitors to their local area.
The places will now work with a panel of experts and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to finalise their bids before the shortlist is announced early next year.
Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries said: “Winning the UK City of Culture competition has a hugely positive impact on an area, driving investment, creating jobs, and highlighting that culture is for everyone, regardless of their background.
“This year’s focus is on levelling up access to culture across the country and making sure there is a legacy that continues for generations to come. I look forward to seeing what this brilliant longlist has in store as they continue in the competition.”
Sir Phil Redmond, Chair of the City of Culture Expert Advisory Panel, said: The Expressions of Interest stage was introduced as an opportunity to encourage many more places to experience the benefit of coming together to define and share a cultural vision for their areas, and what the longlist demonstrates is the range and depth of cultural ambition across the whole of the UK.“
Also for the first time, each longlisted city will receive financial support to help them develop their vision. Each is different. Each has its own story to tell. All share a common aim: to demonstrate how culture can act as the creative catalyst for change. I am really looking forward to seeing how each story develops.
The competition, delivered by DCMS in collaboration with the Offices for Scotland and Wales and the Northern Ireland Executive, uses culture as a tool for levelling up towns and cities across the country. The longlist was recommended by an independent advisory panel which brings together a wide range of expertise from across the UK.
All bids were asked to explain how they would use culture to grow and strengthen their local area, as well as how they would use culture to recover from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. For the first time, this year each longlisted place will receive £40,000 to support the development of their promising proposals.
The winner will be announced in spring 2022 and will follow Coventry’s tenure as UK City of Culture 2021 to take the lead on culture in the UK in 2025.
Previous winners Hull and Derry-Londonderry have shown how the competition can deliver greater and long-lasting cultural participation, economic regeneration and local pride, whilst Coventry City of Culture 2021 is already providing a blueprint for how culture can be at the heart of social and economic recovery.
Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries will also be hosting a roundtable with all unsuccessful bidders to discuss how best they can be supported.
UK Government Minister for Scotland Iain Stewart said: “I’m particularly pleased that Stirling is in the running for this prestigious award. With its fascinating history and vibrant creative scene, it’s a strong contender for the title.
“The list of cities announced today is testament to the outstanding creativity and culture across the UK. I look forward to seeing proposals develop as Stirling strives to bring the UK City of Culture to Scotland for the first time.”
This morning, around 5.5 million families across the United Kingdom are waking up £1,040-a-year worse off due to the Prime Minister imposing the biggest ever overnight cut to social security.
Despite fierce opposition from across the political spectrum, his government has pressed ahead with this controversial cut which will cause immense, immediate and avoidable hardship.
As the cut comes into effect today, the Prime Minister must face the five most serious consequences of his cut:
Half a million more people pulled into poverty, including 200,000 children.
Makes social security wholly inadequate by reducing the main rate of out-of-work support to its lowest level in real terms since around 1990 and its lowest ever level as a proportion of average earnings.
Around 20% of all working-age families across the UK have lost £1,040 a year. 6 in 10 single parent families will be affected by this cut.
1.7 million people who will experience this cut to Universal Credit are unable to work – due to caring for others, disability, or illness – a promise of higher wages will do nothing to help them.
The cut takes £6 billion of spending power out of local economies. The cut has the most severe impact in Yorkshire and the Humber, the North East, North West and West Midlands, although no region will be left unscathed.
Helen Barnard, Deputy Director of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said:“Today the Prime Minister has imposed the biggest ever overnight cut to social security. It makes a mockery of his mission to level up.
“Despite overwhelming opposition, he is ploughing ahead with a cut which fundamentally undermines the adequacy of our vital social security system as we face a cost-of-living crisis. This is not building back better, it’s repeating the same mistakes made after the last financial crisis.
“The Government says a key test of levelling up is improving living standards, yet they have just made around 5.5 million low-income families £1,040 a year worse off. People’s bills won’t get £87-a-month cheaper from today, in fact they are going up. Ministers’ arguments in recent days beg the question: has the party that created Universal Credit forgotten the purpose of the system?
“The Prime Minister is abandoning millions to hunger and hardship with his eyes wide open. Low-income families urgently need him to reinstate this vital lifeline.”
Participants in the Covid Realities project responding to the Prime Minister’s comments on the eve of the cut:
“My husband has been in his job for 25 years +, he hasn’t received a pay rise in 5 years and has recently been told there’s no way he will get one anytime soon.
So I’m sorry but there’s no fix there for us. Once again the only option is to struggle and I’m tired of it.” – Emma, England, Covid Realities
“He has no idea how tough it is and how hard people are working to make ends meet!
It is sickness inducing that he completely misses the point that families will either be cold or hungry due to this cut.” – Kim, Wales, Covid Realities
“Fuel and food is on the increase and … families on a low income cannot afford to absorb these costs.
“It is short-sighted to not think of the long term costs involved when already impoverished working families cannot sustain themselves.” – Aurora, England, Covid Realities
“So our prime minister has said he knows it is tough for people on low incomes, does he honestly? … How as parents can we support our children when we are going without food, hungry and unable to concentrate and even sleep at night with worry and stress, do you really understand?
… I would invite any MP to come and actually experience the day to day drain of living on low income and the impact that has on our mental and physical wellbeing.” – Caroline, Northern Ireland, Covid Realities
Political consequences:
413 parliamentary constituencies across Great Britain will see over a third of working-age families with children hit by the planned £1,040-a-year cut to Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit.
Of these 413 constituencies, 191 are Conservative – 53 of which were newly won at the last general election or in a subsequent by-election.
In 35 local authorities across Great Britain, 50% or more of working-age families with children will be impacted by the planned cut.
“THE NASTY PARTY IS WELL AND TRULY BACK”
Edinburgh Pentlands SNP MSP Gordon MacDonald has condemned the £20 a week cut to Universal Credit, which comes into force today. The First Minister of Scotland, the First Minister of Wales and the First Minister of Northern Ireland have also condemned the measure.
The previous week, the Scottish Parliament voted overwhelming to support cancelling the Tory UK Government’s planned £20 a week cut to Universal Credit.
Gordon MacDonald also raised the matter with the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government, Shona Robison seeking information on what representations the Scottish Government has made to the UK Government.
Ms Robison confirmed that the Scottish Government had written to the UK Government on eight separate occasions since March 2020 to ask it to retain the much-needed £20 uplift. In addition on 30 August, Ms Robison joined colleagues from Wales and Northern Ireland to write to the UK Government to urge it to retain the uplift. They are yet to receive a response.
SNP MSP Gordon Macdonald for Edinburgh Pentlands said: “The Scottish Parliament overwhelmingly spoke and demanded the Tory UK Government halts their plans to scrap the uplift to Universal Credit.
“Sadly, we also witnessed every single Tory MSP failing to stand up to their Westminster bosses in opposing the £20 a week cut – the biggest welfare cut since the 1930s at the worst possible time. Even former Scottish Tory leader, Ruth Davidson and six former Tory DWP Secretary of States, opposed the cut.
“I am standing up for the 32,022 households impacted across Edinburgh, but the Tory Government at Westminster has now implemented their plans that will rip more than £1,000 a year out of the hands of the most vulnerable at a time when they need it most.
“I am quite frankly shocked, but not surprised, that the Scottish Tory MSPs not only voted to back the Universal Credit cut which will condemn thousands of families to poverty, but actively defended it – the Nasty Party is well and truly back.
“History will remember them for this – Scottish Tory MSPs are letting down thousands of families and children with this callous cut in favour of propping up their Tory chums in the UK Government who are imposing these policies on the people of Scotland.
“This demonstrates once again how the people of Scotland cannot afford to continue to suffer under Westminster control. We need to have the option of choosing a different path in a referendum which can give us the full powers of independence where we can build a fairer Scotland.”
new simplified travel system with a single red list and the rest of the world comes into force from 4am this morning
fully vaccinated travellers from over 50 countries and territories have simpler, cheaper rules, with just a single post arrival test needed
changes come as UK government welcomes fully vaccinated residents of over 50 countries and territories who can travel like fully vaccinated UK travellers
From 4am today (Monday 4 October 2021), the UK’s new travel system comes into force with countries and territories categorised as either red or the rest of the world.
The new simplified travel system also means that eligible fully vaccinated passengers and eligible under-18s returning from over 50 countries and territories not on the red list, can do so without needing to complete a pre-departure test (PDT), a day 8 test or enter a 10-day self-isolation period, making it easier for those travelling – whether that’s to see friends and family, or on business trips.
As announced last month, the new rules also mean that from later in October eligible fully vaccinated passengers with an approved vaccine and recognised certificate from a country not on the red list will be able to replace their day 2 test with a cheaper lateral flow test, reducing the cost of tests on arrival into England. The government aims to have this in place for when people return from half-term breaks.
Anyone testing positive will need to isolate and take a confirmatory PCR test, at no additional cost, which would be genomically sequenced to help identify new variants.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: “We are accelerating towards a future where travel continues to reopen safely and remains open for good, and today’s rule changes are good news for families, businesses and the travel sector.
“Our priority remains to protect public health but, with more than 8 in 10 people now fully vaccinated, we are able to take these steps to lower the cost of testing and help the sector to continue in its recovery.”
Also from today, under-18s from the over 50 countries whose vaccination status the UK recognises will not need to present a negative PDT before travelling to England. This applies regardless of their vaccination status.
All under-11s, regardless of where they are travelling from, are already exempt from pre-departure testing for arrival in the UK. If children aged 11 and over are not travelling from one of the 50-plus countries and territories where vaccines are recognised, they will be required to follow the same rules as for unvaccinated passengers.
From today, the UK is expanding it’s vaccinated policy to a further 18 countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Japan and Canada. The recognised vaccines are Pfizer BioNTech, Oxford AstraZeneca (including Covidshield), Moderna and Janssen (J&J).
This builds on the UK government’s successful pilot phase with Europe and the US, and brings the total number of countries in scope of the policy to over 50, with more countries and territories being added in the coming weeks.
Those eligible must have a document from a national or state-level public health authority that includes certain information including name, date of birth and vaccination details, as set out in guidance on GOV.UK.
The UK government has maintained it would take a phased approach to recognising vaccines administered by other countries and territories, building on the success of the pilot with the US and Europe.
Fully vaccinated residents in other countries not yet part of the inbound policy, as well as those partially vaccinated, will still have to take a pre-departure test, PCR tests for day 2 and day 8 after arrival, and self-isolate for 10 days, with the option to test to release after 5 days.
The UK government is continuing to work with international partners as we seek to more regularly expand the policy to further countries and territories.
All arrivals will still need to fill in a passenger locator form ahead of travel. Travellers should continue to check GOV.UK travel guidance including Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) travel advice before, during and after travel to keep up to date with entry requirements and ensure compliance with the latest COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 regulations for the country being visited.
Passengers should also carefully check booking conditions prior to booking.
The Scottish Government has ‘reluctantly’ agreed to adopt the same system.
“It is time for the Scottish Government to stop walking and start running”
The Scottish Government must take urgent action to avoid missing its own child poverty targets by a significant margin, leaving families across the country locked in poverty. The cut to Universal Credit by the UK Government in just two days’ time makes the task more urgent.
Kicking off Challenge Poverty Week with its annual state of the nation report, Poverty in Scotland 2021, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) paints a picture of poverty levels in Scotland just before the Covid-19 pandemic.
It highlights a failure to make inroads into the significant levels of poverty among the priority groups for action as identified by the Scottish Government, including families from an ethnic minority background, families where someone is disabled, those with a child under the age of one and single parent households.
Key findings for these groups include:
More than 80% of children in poverty are in one of these groups.
100,000 children in poverty in live in a household where someone is disabled – a shocking 40% of all children in poverty
Children from minority ethnic backgrounds make up 7% of the population yet make up 16% of all children in poverty
Children in two or more priority groups have a much higher poverty rate (36%) than those in one priority group (25%) and nearly three times that of those in no priority group (13%).
These figures are pre-Covid 19, and much evidence has highlighted the unequal impact the pandemic has had on many of these groups, meaning their current situations could be much worse. This lays bare scale of the challenge facing the Scottish Government if it is to meet its targets and makes clear the need for targeted action to support these groups.
The report was produced alongside the End Poverty Scotland Group, an advisory group of people from across Scotland with first-hand experience of living on a low income.
Alex, a member of the advisory group said: ‘If over 80% of children in poverty are still in one of the priority groups, how much of a priority are we, really?’
The findings also highlight the importance of full-time work in reducing poverty in Scotland. 54% of people who are in families where no one is working are in poverty. People in families where someone is working part-time have a poverty rate of 30% while the poverty rate for people in families where at least one person is in full-time work is 10%.
The desire and need to work was a strong theme from the advisory group, but the inflexibility of childcare provision was highlighted as a consistent barrier. The group expressed deep frustration that in most cases people were trying to create a better life for them and their families, but success was often despite the system rather than because of it.
The report urges both the Scottish and UK Governments to increase the adequacy of social security in order to drive down poverty levels.
JRF recommends that the Scottish Child Payment is doubled as soon as possible and that the upcoming Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan must set out a clear and measurable course towards meeting those targets. It must include a far greater scale and pace of activity to support families in the priority groups who are most at risk of poverty.
The UK Government’s cut to Universal Credit and Working Tax credit in just two days’ time will cut £1,040 per year from the incomes of 450,000 families in Scotland. This cut will increase poverty in Scotland across all groups, not just families with children.
The UK Government is responsible for 85% of social security spending in Scotland and the responsibility for the impact of this cut lies at their door. As well as reversing the cut, the report recommends reform of rules such as the five-week wait for the first payment of Universal Credit, and the two-child limit, which drive destitution and hardship in Scotland as they do in other parts of the UK.
Chris Birt, Associate Director of JRF in Scotland said: “The Scottish Government has rightly set a national mission to end child poverty and has put in place steps to move us in the right direction. But we are on course to miss our targets by some distance. Such a political failure would have a profound human cost – tens of thousands more children will experience childhoods blighted by hardship and anxiety.
“It is time for the Scottish Government to stop walking and start running, by immediately doubling the Scottish Child Payment and by significantly increasing the scale and pace of its programme to support families in priority groups. The forthcoming Budget and Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan will be crucial in putting us on a path to meeting our targets.
“All tiers of government must look at the design and cultures that underpin public services. The group of people on low incomes who co-authored the report are clear in the need for a more constructive approach underpinned by kindness and ease of use as well as more accountability to the people who use the systems.
“The responsibility for the cut to Universal Credit falls squarely at the UK Government’s door. It is a failure of both compassion and of policy. Its decision to impose the biggest overnight cut to social security in the history of our welfare state will cause immediate and widespread hardship in Scotland. With reserved powers, comes reserved responsibility.
“Our social security system should protect people from poverty, but the UK Government is instead choosing to condemn them to it.”
Joseph Rowntree Foundation issues a stark warning ahead of the cut to Universal Credit scheduled for 6 October – the same day as the Prime Minister’s speech at Conservative Party Conference.
New analysis looks at the impact of the Universal Credit cut by local authority.
On Wednesday, as the Prime Minister delivers his speech to the Conservative Party Conference, his government will be imposing the biggest ever overnight cut to social security. This will reduce the incomes of around 5.5 million families by £1,040 per year.
In the Greater Manchester Combined Authority area – the host city of this year’s Conservative Party Conference – around 312,000 working-age families (26%) are facing this historic cut to Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit.
If the Government presses ahead with the cut, it would:
Pull half a million people into poverty, including 200,000 children.
Fundamentally undermine the adequacy of our social security system at precisely the moment when families are facing considerable increases in the cost of their energy bills, prices on the shelves are going up and National Insurance is set to rise in April 2022.
Reduce the main rate of out-of-work support down to its lowest level in real terms since around 1990 and its lowest ever level as a proportion of average earnings.
The Government themselves have admitted this week that families may struggle to meet basic costs, like food and heating, by increasing the funding available for local authorities to give grants to families in emergency situations.
The support available through their newly announced Household Support Fund is temporary and discretionary and is typically reserved for one-off emergency situations such as a broken fridge. This scheme does not come close to meeting the scale of the challenge facing families.
Who will be impacted by the cut?
New analysis finds that in 35 local authorities across Great Britain 50% or more of working-age families with children will be impacted by the planned cut.
JRF has consistently warned that:
Working families make up around 60% of families who will be affected by the cut to Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit.
Families with children (particularly single-parent families), those containing someone who is disabled, and Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic (‘BAME’) families, will be disproportionately impacted by the reduction in Universal Credit or Working Tax Credit.
The cut will have the most severe impact in Yorkshire and the Humber, the North East, North West and West Midlands, although no region will be left unscathed by this decision.
Katie Schmuecker, Deputy Director of Policy & Partnerships at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said:“The Prime Minister is abandoning millions to hunger and hardship with his eyes wide open. The biggest ever overnight cut to social security flies in the face of the Government’s mission to unite and level up our country.
“When the increase to Universal Credit was introduced, the Chancellor said it was to “strengthen the safety net” – a tacit admission a decade of cuts and freezes had left our social security lifeline to wear thin and threadbare for families in and out of work relying on it. This planned cut would reverse the progress made and leave it wholly inadequate.
“People’s bills won’t get £87-a-month cheaper from Wednesday and families are already anxious about how they will get through a looming cost of living crisis. This decision is set to plunge half a million people into poverty and shows a total disregard for the consequences. The Prime Minister cannot say he has not been warned, he must abandon this cut.”
Table 1: Top 10 Labour and Conservative majority local authorities with the highest percentage of working-age families with children impacted by the cut
Top 10 Labour majority local authorities affected
Top 10 Conservative majority local authorities affected
Local Authority
% of all working-age families with children impacted by the cut
Local Authority
% of all working-age families with children impacted by the cut
Newham
64
Pendle
58
Leicester
62
Walsall
53
Manchester
61
Great Yarmouth
52
Bradford
61
North East Lincolnshire
50
Oldham
60
Southampton
49
Birmingham
60
East Lindsey
48
Blackburn with Darwen
58
Dover
45
Kingston upon Hull – City of
58
North Lincolnshire
44
Sandwell
58
South Holland
44
Tower Hamlets
58
Nuneaton and Bedworth
44
Of local authorities with no majority party, with the highest percentages of working-age families with children impacted by the planned cut, Middlesbrough (60%) and Burnley (58%) are both coalition-led councils. Blackpool (57%) is Labour minority and Thanet (55%), Peterborough (55%) and Stoke-on-Trent (55%) are all Conservative minority.
Table 2: Families impacted by £20-per-week reduction to UC/WTC in October 2021
Family type
Families on UC or WTC losing £20 per week in October 2021
Number of families (millions)
Proportion of families who lose
% of all working-age families of that type who lose
All working-age families
5.5
100%
20%
Families with someone in work
3.5
64%
16%
Families without someone in work
2.0
36%
33%
Single without children
2.3
42%
18%
Couples without children
0.6
10%
8%
Single-parent families
1.1
20%
61%
Couple-parent families
1.5
28%
25%
Families where someone is disabled
2.8
50%
35%
Families where no one is disabled
2.7
50%
14%
BAME families
1.1
20%
25%
Non-BAME families
4.4
80%
19%
Source: Microsimulation by JRF using the IPPR Tax and Benefits Microsimulation Model and the OBR’s March 2021 forecasts. Breakdowns may not sum to totals due to rounding.
Making this decision with his eyes wide open:
The cut is opposed by six former Conservative Work & Pensions Secretaries, the Northern Research Group of Conservative MPs, the One Nation Group of Conservative MPs, all the devolved administrations, numerous cross-party committees in all nations of the UK. Iain Duncan Smith recently said, “the extra £20 has returned to UC some of the investment that was cut from my original design.”
100 organisations are urging the Prime Minister not to cut Universal Credit. Among the signatories of the joint open letter to the Prime Minister are leading voices on health, education, children, housing, poverty, the economy and other aspects of public policy. (published 2 September)
