Councils ‘in dark’ over local lockdown powers
Health director tells MPs clearer details are needed
DIRECTORS OF public health at town halls across the country are still unclear on what “local lockdowns” touted by the Government are meant to look like.
The ability to contain coronavirus outbreaks in local areas has been put forward by Ministers as the key way in which the country can begin to return to normal.
But MPs heard yesterday how those responsible for enacting these restrictions in local government remain in the dark about what is expected of them.
Giving evidence to the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee in the Commons, Sheffield’s Director of Public Health Greg Fell, who is also on the board for the Association of Directors of Public Health (ADPH), said clarity was needed both on what local authorities were expected to do, and the powers they had to take action.
Mr Fell said: “Much is made of the term local lockdown, and the ADPH is not quite sure what the term means. I think we need to be really careful, the Government needs to clarify what local lockdown actually means, and in my personal view, I think it is a rather unhelpful phrase.”
He said while public health bosses already had a variety of powers, he said: “If we get to a scenario whereby we need to close down schools in Sheffield, or close down Sheffield, I don’t think we have the powers to do that at local authority level.”
He said those sat with Health Secretary Matt Hancock, or regional directors of public health, but he added: “By the time we get to needing to close down Sheffield, we will be in widespread community transmission again.”
It came as 38 further deaths in those who had tested positive for coronavirus were recorded yesterday, bringing the UK total to 41,736. In Yorkshire, 2,729 people have died, up by four yesterday.
Mr Fell said there was still work to do on making sure the data received locally was detailed enough. Asked whether he thought he would get that, he said: “I’m not terribly hopeful.”
Ian Hudspeth, chairman of the Local Government Association’s Community Wellbeing Board, added: “The real crucial thing to make sure that we do get that granular detail because obviously in a large area [...] it might give a bit of a false reading if we don’t know where the clusters are.”
However Leeds City Council chief executive Tom Riordan, who is overseeing the Government’s test and trace programme, said local ‘dashboards’ had now been shared, and he said work was being done to find a “good fit” on what information was needed.
But one of those pieces of data would not be regional R rates – the rate of transmission.
Dr Clare Gardiner, director general of the Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC), said: “We certainly have no plans to provide R levels that are at a regional or local level. I think the important data that certainly Greg Fell and Coun Hudspeth were looking for is information on specific clusters.” She said the JBC would not be running fully until later in the summer.
THE EXPECTED surge in demand for children’s services when the lockdown is over has been described as a wave “gathering pace beneath the surface” that could have a widespread lasting impact.
The true scale of need is unlikely to be known until schools fully reopen months away from now, a report by the Early Intervention Foundation (EIF) and Action for Children found.
They interviewed more than 30 professionals, including from Yorkshire, about the impact of coronavirus on services that would ordinarily be supporting vulnerable families below the threshold for statutory local authority support.
The experts revealed “widespread apprehension” about the ability of services to respond to what could be a significant rise in need.
They are also concerned about “out of sight” children who may have become vulnerable, but who were not known by authorities before the lockdown.
In a foreword to the report, Dr Jo Casebourne, EIF chief executive,
Dr Jo Casebourne, chief executive of the Early Intervention Foundation. said: “Our research paints an ominous picture of a wave gathering pace beneath the surface.”
Dr Casebourne said beyond the immediate impacts of lockdown on issues like mental health and family conflict, their interviewees highlighted “the compounding risks created by a period when traditional face-to-face social services and interventions have been radically reshaped, severely constrained or simply cut off altogether”.
Deputy leader of Hull Council, Daren Hale, who is a social care manager, said numbers of children coming into care had been at a 20-year high and lockdown would only make it worse.
There was concern that some of the most vulnerable children, who have been allocated a social worker, have not been attending school, although they have been able to do so throughout.
Support agencies were keeping in contact by telephone and online, but not necessarily doing face-to-face visits. There was also the looming issue of unemployment. Coun Hale said a surge in referrals was inevitable, adding: “We know large numbers have not been going to school. Lack of visibility is an issue – schools act as an extra pair of eyes and ears.
“We know from China that the pandemic led to large increases in people applying for divorces and the pressure of lockdown will lead to additional family problems. Twenty-six per cent of Hull’s working population is furloughed and the reality is a proportion will lose their jobs. That will lead to increased economic burdens on families, which we know is a major factor in social care referrals.”
Leeds Council leader Councillor Judith Blake, who is Chair of the Local Government Association’s Children and Young People Board, said the report added weight to calls for children’s services, including early help services, to be properly funded.
She said: “The impact of the pandemic on some children will be far-reaching, and it will be essential that the right services are there to support them.”
It paints a picture of a wave gathering pace beneath the surface.