Coun Tony Dobson
Hyndburn Conservative leader
IN my column this week, I thought I would highlight some national initiatives that have a local impact and also respond to concerns that I receive correspondence on from local residents.
On 3 September, the Home Secretary vowed to tackle the evolving threat of online child sexual exploitation. There has been a 700 per cent increase in child abuse images referred to the National Crime Agency in the last five years. An estimated 80,000 people present some kind of sexual threat to children online. The Home Secretary has demanded web giants show real progress on tackling this exploitation, or face legislative action. He has also announced an extra £21.5 million investment over the next 18 months to reduce the volume of offending and pursue the most hardened and dangerous abusers. A further £2.6 million will be made available for prevention work.
On 5 September, the Tenant Fees Bill passed its Third Reading in the House of Commons. A ban on letting fees will help hundreds of renters by ending costly upfront payments and hidden charges.
The Government is delivering on a promise to ban letting agent fees, alongside other measures announced to make renting fairer and increase protection for renters. The approach: Ban landlords and their agents from charging private housing tenants anything except rent, capped deposits and lost keys.
Provide for enforcement of the ban to be carried out by local authorities.
Cap charges for where tenants have requested a variation of their tenancy.
Improve transparency by requiring agents to display in their office and on their website any relevant fees.
On 6 September, the Health Secretary set out plans to make the NHS an ecosystem for the best technology available. The plans will build on the £20.5 billion long-term plan for the NHS that will transform health and social care.
The Government are piloting a new NHS app in five areas in England from next month, ahead of a national roll-out in December. Amongst other things, the app will allow patients to book GP appointments, access medical records and record their organ donation preferences online. They are also investing more than £200 million to make a group of NHS trusts into internationally recognised centres for technological and digital innovation.
Following on from the launch of its Rough Sleeping Strategy last month, The Government have announced provisional allocations of a £34 million fund to provide local support for those living on the streets.
Councils across England with the highest numbers of rough sleepers will receive a share of the funding to back on-going initiatives in their area, such as dedicated support teams and securing additional bed spaces.
It will be allocated for council spending over the next two years and is an extension of the £30 million that we provided to councils in June through our Rough Sleeping Initiative Fund.
The Rough Sleeping Strategy is backed by an additional £100 million and was developed across government in conjunction with charities and experts.