Local context

Supporting vulnerable residents

The HantsHelp4Vulnerable helpline has, as of Monday 20 July, received a total of 14,879 calls in addition a further 17,971 outbound calls have been made by council officers. A total of 6,127 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 (967), Basingstoke (943) and Havant (915). The districts with the lowest number of referrals are Rushmoor and Test Valley with 284 referrals each. Help with food shopping, and prescriptions consistently remain the top two reasons for residents seeking support.

From 1 August, the Government will pause shielding unless the transmission of Covid-19 in the community starts to rise significantly. This means that from this date, people will no longer be advised to shield and the support for the National Shielding Service will cease. In line with the ending of shielding the HantsHelp4Vulnerable service will be scaling back its operation to five days per week.

There are approximately 7,000 Hampshire residents who are currently shielding and receiving support through government food packages. The County Council Welfare Team will contact all residents currently receiving food parcels and ensure that they have sufficient support once shielding comes to an end. As of Monday 20 July, there 1,000 people left for the team to contact. To further support those coming out of shielding the council is launching the “...its Ok to...” campaign aimed at supporting people with practical advice to feel confident with getting going again safely.

Local Covid-19 data

Local Outbreak Control data

Hampshire’s Local Outbreak Control Plan outlines the County Council’s key data objectives in terms of understanding and controlling the spread of Covid-19 (section 9), these include:

• Review daily data on testing and tracing.
• Identify incidents/trends, undertaking mapping and surveillance of Covid-19
• Identify epidemiological patterns in Hampshire to: refine our understanding of high-risk places, locations and communities, support decision-making and monitor the effectiveness and impact of any actions.
• Provide intelligence to support quality and performance reporting to the Local Outbreak Engagement Board.
• Ensure that those who require access to the intelligence for different purposes can do so, regardless of organisational affiliation, whilst ensuring confidentiality requirements are met.

There are a number of data sources, and public health analysis teams have worked collectively across the HIOW LRF to deliver intelligence products efficiently through sharing resources and avoiding duplication of effort. Hampshire County Council’s Chief Executive, Director of Public Health and Public Health Analysts also have access to data on numbers of confirmed cases at local level from PHE. This is from the restricted national Covid-19 dashboard (also known as the JBC Playbook) which contains data on testing from both NHS settings (known as Pillar 1) and the wider testing for all members of the public  / residents (known as Pillar 2).

The County Council will take a proactive approach to safely and appropriately sharing data with relevant stakeholders and partners, and will always have due regard to the relevant regulations. Members of the Local Outbreak Engagement Board will receive weekly reports to support them in their roles.  A monthly report will be produced for the Board’s formal meetings and will be published with the meeting papers in the usual way.

Number of cases by Hampshire District/Borough

The Government’s publicly available Covid-19 data dashboard is updated on a daily basis and outlines the total number of cases and rate per 100,000 resident population at upper and lower local authority tier. The latest data (22 July) shows:

• Hampshire – 5,048 total cases (366.8 rate)
• Basingstoke & Deane – 943 total cases (536.6 rate)
• East Hampshire – 493 total cases (408.5 rate)
• Eastleigh – 435 total cases (330.0 rate)
• Fareham – 299 total cases (257.0 rate)
• Gosport – 226 total cases (265.0 rate)
• Havant – 360 total cases (286.1 rate)
• Hart – 269 total cases (279.4 rate)
• New Forest 456 total cases (253.7 rate)
• Rushmoor 596 total cases (626.4 rate)
• Test Valley 495 total cases (395.5 rate)
• Winchester 476 total cases (383.0 rate)

Public Health England also maintain a map which shows positive cases by Middle Super Output Area.

The Local Government Association’s LG Inform produced the below 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.

Skills and employment recovery plan

In Hampshire, 7.5% of 18-24 year olds were claiming out of work benefits in June, in comparison to 9% nationally. The County Council is committed to significantly reducing this figure and to supporting young people to find employment. The County Council is developing a skills and employment recovery plan which will reflect government policy.

The plan will build on the extensive resources that the Authority already invests in Hampshire’s young people through, for example: the provision of a high quality careers service; the adult and community learning programme; Apprenticeship Programmes, including the Levy Transfer where small and medium enterprises can apply for funding to create their own apprenticeship opportunities; as well as Employment, Employability and Skills hubs which link employers to a local skilled workforce and promote skills and training opportunities for young people including those who have additional needs or disability. 

The County Council will continue to work in partnership with the district authorities and other partners such as the Solent Local Enterprise Partnership in order to maximise opportunities for young people to be successful.

National context

Communities

Public sector pay rises

The Government has announced public sector pay rises in recognition of their ‘vital contribution’ during the Covid-19 pandemic. For teachers, the starting salary will increase by 5.5%, and the upper and lower boundaries of the pay ranges for all other teachers are to increase by 2.75%. These recommendations are equivalent to a 3.1% increase in the overall pay bill. The police will receive an increase of 2.5% in 2020 to 2021. Dentists, doctors, prison officers, National Crime Agency staff, Members of the judiciary, armed forces personnel and civil servants will also receive pay rises.

Support for victims of sexual violence and abuse

The Ministry of Justice has announced the allocations to date of funding to Police and Crime Commissioners, Rape Support Centres, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence support organisations.

Economy and business

Green recovery in heavy industry

The Prime Minister has announced a £350 million package to cut emissions in heavy industry and drive economic recovery from Covid-19. The investment comes ahead of the first meeting of the Jet Zero Council today (22 July), which will bring together key stakeholders to tackle aviation emissions.

Competition policy

IPPR has published a paper by the Competition and Markets Authority Chairman, Andrew Tyrie, discussing how competition policy can contribute to a robust and sustainable post-crisis recovery.

Food businesses

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has updated the  guidance for food businesses with new information, an easy-to-translate guide and links to posters.

Grant funding

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has updated the data on local authority grant payments to small and medium businesses in England up to 19 July.

Eat Out to Help Out

HMRC are running free webinars over the next two weeks on the Eat Out to Help Out Scheme. The webinar provides an overview of the scheme, including how the scheme works, eligible establishments, registering and making a claim and what happens after a claim has been made.

Reduced VAT rate

HMRC has updated guidance for businesses to check if they can temporarily reduce the rate of VAT on supplies relating to hospitality, accommodation, or admission to include a new section on Retail Schemes.

The Business and Planning Act

The Business and Planning Act has today (22 July) received Royal Assent. The planning guidance to accompany the Act has been updated to reflect the provisions in the Act.

The Home Office has today (22 July) also published guidance on the temporary alcohol licensing provisions in the Business and Planning Act.

NHS Test and Trace service in the workplace

The guidance on the NHS Test and Trace service for employers, businesses and workers has been updated. The update includes a new section on collecting customer and visitor data for NHS Test and Trace and additional information on if a worker develops symptoms and orders a test.

Children and education

Homeschooling and parenting

The Office for National Statistics has published an analysis of homeschooling in the UK during the Covid-19 pandemic between April and June from the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey. They have also issued a release on parenting in lockdown which examines the effect on the work-life balance of parents in the UK.

Early years and childcare providers

The Department for Education has updated the guidance on childcare services, early years settings, and childminding services. The guidance now reflects that early years settings can return to normal group sizes and includes updated information about autumn funding, wraparound care, managing requests for site visits for new admissions in September, data collection changes, and reporting to Ofsted.

Adults' social care and public health

Care home visits The Department of Health and Social Care has announced that care home visits will restart where safe, following the publication of new guidance today (22 July). Local directors of public health will, with their authorities, lead the decision-making process for care home visits and appropriate safety precautions will be required, including face coverings, and social distancing measures.

NHS Test and Trace

On 20 July, the Health and Social Care Secretary delivered a statement about the measures to increase testing and support the NHS this winter, and the latest vaccine developments.

Environment, place and transport

Water industryThe Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has written to water companies inviting them to support a green recovery.

Transport statisticsThe Department for Transport has published the latest statistics on transport use by mode.

Rural DevelopmentThe European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development Q&A has been updated  to include a new question and answer, which confirms that Ministers have agreed that contracts for existing RDPE socio-economic projects seriously affected by Covid-19 can be extended by up to six months.

National Covid-19 data

Latest R number range

The R number range for the UK is 0.7-0.9 and the growth rate range is -5% to -1% per day as of 17 July 2020. The data is available to view online.

Cases

As of 4pm on 22 July, the total number of lab-confirmed cases was 296,377. The daily number of lab-confirmed cases was 560. The total number of Covid-19 associated deaths was 45,501, with 79 new deaths reported on the day. The data is available to view online.

Additional links