Call for clarity

LEADER OF COUNCIL SAYS BOARD HAS INSUFFICIENT POWERS

A PANEL of top city politicians and health chiefs is being assembled to lead Newcastle out of the coronavirus pandemic.

Council leaders, city hospital bosses, and university representatives will be among those tasked with preventing and controlling local virus outbreaks as lockdown is eased.

The ‘Covid-19 response and recovery board’ is expected to take decisions on whether a localised lockdown needs to be imposed if a cluster of Covid-19 cases is identified in certain communities, businesses, or schools.

Those responsibilities for overseeing local test and trace measures are set to be rolled into a reconstituted version of the city’s Wellbeing for Life Board, which was already due to be streamlined into a more purposeful body in any case. But Newcastle City Council leader Nick Forbes said there was a “lack of clarity” over what role the board will have to play in managing the next phase of the coronavirus crisis.

He added: “The expectation is that the board would take decisions about controlling further outbreaks, including the decision to close down a school or even an area of the community.

“But the council has no formal power to do any of that at the moment. My concern is that the Government’s expectation of the boards is not matched by the powers we have to make this happen.”

The board will also include representatives from the Newcastle Gateshead CCG, Healthwatch, NHS England, and the city’s community and voluntary sector. A Newcastle City Council spokesperson said: “As part of test, track and trace arrangements, local authorities are expected to create a local outbreak engagement board which provides political ownership, communication and engagement with communities. This is important in helping to prevent local outbreaks and in ensuring coordinated local action should they occur.”