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Hampshire Library Service
The Executive Member for Recreation and Heritage, Councillor Seán Woodward, has confirmed that the Hampshire Library Service is working towards welcoming customers back into libraries in July and will publish further details soon. In the meantime, customers are reminded that the service has continued to offer digital services including books, magazines, workshops and activities.
The ‘Ready Reads’ book collection service is proving extremely popular, and the initial response has been positive. Around 2,500 people have registered to use Ready Reads since its launch on 8 June. ‘Ready Reads’ is free and can be accessed by completing an online form or calling 01962 454747. Customers can choose how often and how many books they would like. Specific books can be chosen through the paid reservation service which has been restarted.
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School attendance
Year 10 were welcomed back into secondary schools this week. Department for Education advice makes it clear that no more than 25% of Year 10 should be on the school site at any one time and therefore schools are receiving students on a staggered basis. They are using the time for face to face work which is supplementing home learning.
Yesterday 33,348 children of school age attended Hampshire schools, which equates to 18% of the total school population.
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School meals
The Executive Member for Education and Skills issued the below response to yesterday’s statement by the Education Secretary announcing the Covid-19 Summer Food Fund.
“We have had a keen interest in how the Government would respond to the call to support the provision of free school meals for eligible children, throughout the school summer holidays. We very much welcome the news that Government has announced a Covid-19 Summer Food Fund meaning that children eligible for free school meals in term time will get a six-week voucher.”
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New nursing care home in Gosport
In a unique collaboration between Hampshire County Council and local NHS partners, a new nursing care home for the exclusive use of patients leaving Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth, is opening this week.
Based in Gosport, the Clarence Unit at Woodcot Lodge, will offer temporary ‘step-down’ accommodation for 54 patients initially. On arrival, there will be a 14-day period when patients will be cared for in isolation. During this they will be supported by a team of care staff but will not be able to mix with other residents. This will minimise any risk of the virus, or any other infections, spreading. Stays will be for up to a maximum of 28 days after which residents will either return home or will be transferred to an appropriate longer-term care setting.
Under current plans, the Clarence Unit is set to remain open until 31 March 2021, but this will be closely monitored, and the arrangement could become permanent, subject to demand levels and the availability of partner funding beyond 2020/21. Press release to be issued on the County Council website.
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Supporting vulnerable residents
The HantsHelp4Vulnerable helpline has, as of today (11 June), received a total of 13,346 calls and has contacted a total of 16,659 people on the extremely vulnerable list through outbound calls. A total of 5,842 Local Response Centre referrals for voluntary support with food, medicine or other support have been made. The districts with the highest number of referrals from the contact centre were: New Forest (932), Basingstoke (911) and Havant (879). The district with the lowest number of referrals is Rushmoor (266). Help with food shopping, and prescriptions consistently remain the top two reasons for residents seeking support.
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Mental health campaign
As part of the ongoing mental health and wellbeing communications and campaign, social media posts have addressed specific mental health concerns during Covid-19, including suicide awareness. These posts have achieved high rates of engagement: Twitter - 2,750 impressions, 36 engagements, 5 retweets, 3 likes. Facebook - 5,894 people reached, 116 engagements. The messaging and the creative element were sensitively developed through collaboration with other local authorities and approved by Public Health and The Samaritans.
The messages signpost residents to the Zero Suicide Alliance and encourage people to take a 10-minute training course which aims to build confidence to start a conversation with someone who might be struggling.
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Local Covid-19 data
The Local Government Association’s LG Inform produced the above Covid-19 tracker using Public Health England data. The LG Inform reports show both the current data for authorities, as well as data over time. The information has also been combined with population data, to create a rate per 100,000 people and demonstrate relative rates of infection between authorities.
The figures relate to confirmed cases of Covid-19 following a positive test and do not cover all cases of Covid-19 which may exist – for more information on the methodology see LGA and Gov UK. For more detail and to view other charts with Hampshire specific data see LGA LG Inform.
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Regional R Number range
South East – 0.8 - 1.0
The above is the latest R estimate by NHS England regions. R values are shown as the range, and the most likely estimate is in the middle of this range. View data online.
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Impact on BAME communities
Public Health England has published a descriptive summary of stakeholder insights into the factors that may be influencing the impact of Covid-19 on BAME communities and strategies for addressing inequalities. The report summarises requests for action, which have been used to inform several recommendations. The insights will form the basis of the next steps being taken forward by the Equalities Minister.
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Financial impact on counties
The County Councils Network (CCN) has published a new report from Grant Thornton which warns government funding is currently insufficient to cover additional costs and losses, so councils could exhaust their reserves and be forced to make deeper cuts to services. Some of the Covid-19 costs will continue into future years, which could also result in service cuts if the losses are not permanently funded by the Government.
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Employment
The Office for National Statistics has published the latest labour market overview which suggests that the number of employees in the UK on payrolls is down by over 600,000 compared with March 2020. The Claimant Count has continued to rise, and the number of job vacancies in May fell to a record low.
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Business loan scheme statistics
The Treasury has released updated statistics on the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme, Bounce Back Loan Scheme and Future Fund Scheme. Data has been added up to close of business on 14 June.
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Support for self-employed new parents
The Treasury has announced that self-employed parents whose trading profits dipped in 2018/19 because they took time out to have children will be able to claim for a payment under the self-employed income support scheme. Further details of the change will be set out by the start of July in guidance.
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Reopening High Streets Safely Fund
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has updated the Reopening High Streets Safely Fund FAQ with new information on websites and local authority delivery partners, and a new table outlining which activities are in scope of the fund.
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Free school meals
The Government has announced a COVID Summer Food Fund which will be a one-off scheme to support children who are eligible for free school meals with a voucher to cover the full six week summer holiday beginning next month.
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Mental health support for students
The Universities Minister, Michelle Donelan, has outlined the mental health support available to students during the Covid-19 pandemic. She also announced a new online resource - Student Space - that will receive up to £3 million from the Office for Students and will be led by Student Minds.
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Devices
The DfE has released progress data on the number of laptops, tablets and 4G wireless routers they have delivered or dispatched to local authorities and academy trusts through the technology support programme.
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Adults' social care and public health
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New treatment approved
The Department of Health and Social Care has announced that dexamethasone, an anti-inflammatory drug, has been immediately approved to treat all UK hospitalised Covid-19 patients requiring oxygen, including those on ventilators.
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Hydroxychloroquine trials
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has instructed UK clinical trialists using hydroxychloroquine to treat or prevent Covid-19 to suspend recruitment of further participants. This follows emerging concerns about the use of the drug and a lack of evidence suggesting any meaningful benefit.
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Support bubbles
Public Health England has updated the guidance for the public on mental health and wellbeing to include information about support bubbles.
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Lifeguard provision
The RNLI has announced that they are accelerating their service roll-out and increasing the number of beaches which will have a lifeguard service. The charity is hoping to have lifeguards on around 170 beaches by early July, equating to 70% of the beaches it would patrol in a normal summer.
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Latest R number range
0.7-0.9 (12 June)
The reproduction number (R) is the average number of secondary infections produced by 1 infected person.
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Cases
As of 4pm on 17 June, the total number of lab-confirmed cases was 299,251. The daily number of lab-confirmed cases was 1,115. The total number of Covid-19 associated deaths was 42,153, with 184 new deaths reported on the day. The data is available to view online.
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