Local Authority round-up 22/01/21

Brexit

Seafood exporters receive £23 million funding

The UK government has announced that it will be providing £23 million in funding to seafood exporters across the UK who have been adversely affected by the coronavirus pandemic and who are also having to deal with changes following the UK’s departure from the EU. The funding will be available immediately and will be backdated to 1 January 2021, with applicants having to evidence a genuine loss in exporting fish and shellfish to the EU in order to be eligible for funding. Further details as to full eligibility criteria and the application process is yet to be revealed. The Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Steve Barclay said “This further £23 million package of support will help our hardworking fishing sector navigate the challenges of the next few months. It is vital that no community nor region within our United Kingdom is left behind as we continue to support British jobs and build back better from the coronavirus pandemic.”

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UK and Switzerland sign Memorandum of Understanding

The UK and Switzerland have signed a Memorandum of Understanding which ensures that UK nationals will benefit from ongoing access to the Swiss labour market. The Swiss Federal Council announced a quota for UK nationals to facilitate their employment in Switzerland in 2021 which will allow up to 3500 workers from the UK to be recruited in Switzerland, made up of 2100 residence permits and 1400 short-term residence permits, which will be released on a quarterly basis. HM Ambassador Jane Owen said “This Memorandum of Understanding is yet another example of the close relationship and pragmatic cooperation between Switzerland and the UK and builds on our work to bring certainty to citizens and businesses for after the transition period. It will pave the way for further deepening our cooperation in the fields of migration and mobility in the future and is a demonstration of the close ties between our people and our economies.”

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Commercial

£269 million funding for social sector

Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock has announced that the government will be providing £269 million in funding for the social sector. The funding will be made up of a new £120 million Workforce Capacity Fund for councils to boost staffing levels by providing additional care staff where there are shortages, providing support in administrative tasks and providing support for existing staff to take on additional hours by providing overtime payments or by covering childcare costs. Final grant allocations under the fund will be published in due course with the money being available later this month. There will also be a £149 million grant system to support increased testing in care homes and to facilitate visits from family and friends where possible by setting up safe testing areas. Councils will be required to pass on 80% of the funding to care homes on a per beds basis, with the remaining 20% being used at the councils discretion to support the care sector in delivering additional lateral flow device testing. Mr Hancock said “This funding will bolster staffing numbers in a controlled and safe way, whilst ensuring people continue to receive the highest quality of care. Since the start of the pandemic, we have taken steps to protect care homes, including increasing the testing available for staff and residents, providing free PPE and investing billions of pounds of additional funding for infection control.”

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£148 million drug misuse fund announced

The government has announced £148 million of funding under Project Adder, which stands for Addiction, Diversion, Disruption, Enforcement and Recovery, in order to tackle drug misuse through combined services of councils, the police and health services. The new approach to tackling drug misuse with new tougher policing of drug crime and enhanced drug treatment and prevention services will initially be trailed in 5 areas which will be Blackpool, Hastings, Middlesbrough, Norwich and Swansea Bay. Cllr Ian Hudspeth, chairman of the Local Government Association’s Community Wellbeing Board, said “Extra funding means that drug treatment and prevention can be at the heart of councils’ local public health responses, working closely alongside the police, health service and charities.”

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Regulatory

New laws announced to protect England’s cultural and historic heritage

Robert Jenrick has announced that new legal safeguards will be introduced in order to protect England’s cultural and historic heritage. Under the new laws, all historic statues, plaques and other monuments will now require full planning permission in order to be removed. There will be a new policy to “retain and explain” historic statues which will be applied. Where any council intends to grant permission for the removal of a particular statue, plaque or other historic monument the Communities Secretary will be automatically notified and will make the final decision about the application and historic statues will only be removed in the most exceptional circumstances. Mr Jenrick said “We cannot – and should not – now try to edit or censor our past. That’s why I am changing the law to protect historic monuments and ensure we don’t repeat the errors of previous generations, losing our inheritance of the past without proper care. What has stood for generations should be considered thoughtfully, not removed on a whim, any removal should require planning permission and local people should have the chance to be properly consulted. Our policy in law will be clear, that we believe in explaining and retaining heritage, not tearing it down.”

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Planning and housing

Councils urged to update Local Plans

Minister of State for Housing, Christopher Pincher MP has urged councils to update their Local Plans to ensure the country can build the homes it needs in the right places. Last year the government set a deadline of December 2023 for all councils to have up-to-date Local Plans in place and to date only 10% of council are yet to do so. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government will now be working with those remaining councils to get Local Plans in place as soon as possible which then must be kept up to date. Mr Pincher MP said “Local Plans not only unlock land for development and ensure the right number of new homes are being built in the right places, they also provide local communities with an opportunity to have their say on how their local areas will change. It is critical work that should continue to advance Local Plans through to adoption by the end of 2023 to help ensure that the economy can rebound strongly from the COVID-19 pandemic.”

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New Right to Regenerate announced

Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick MP has announced new Right to Regenerate proposals which will enable the public to require councils and the public sector to sell unused land and assets by providing the public with a first right of refusal to purchase underused land in England. The public could then use vacant plots of land and derelict buildings and turn them into new homes or community spaces. Under the proposals public bodies would be required to sell land where it is kept too long without being used and where it has no clear plans for use in the future. The consultation on the proposals opened on 16 January and closes on 13 March. Mr Jenrick said “Right to Regenerate is the simple way to turn public land into public good, with land sold by default, unless there is a very compelling reason not to do so. We are cutting through red tape so that communities can make better use of available land and derelict buildings, which means more new homes, businesses and community assets. Millions of people will now be able to buy that empty property, unused garage or parcel of land and turn it into something good for them and their community.”

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New energy efficiency standards announced

Housing Minister Chris Pincher has announced new energy efficiency standards which all homes and businesses will be required to meet. Existing homes will be subject to higher efficiency standards in order to make homes warmer and reduce energy bills. This will include significant improvements on the standards for extensions as well as requirements for replacement, repairs and parts to be more energy efficient, including the replacement of windows and building services such as heat pumps, cooling systems or fixed lighting. New homes will also be subject to higher standards with all new homes needing to be highly energy efficient with low carbon heating and they will be expected to produce 31% lower carbon emissions from 2021 in order to be zero carbon ready by 2025. Under the new plans there will also be a requirement for additional ventilation and indoor air quality monitoring in high-risk non-domestic buildings such as offices and gyms and a new overheating mitigation requirement in the Building Regulations. Mr Pincher said “The radical new standards announced today will not only improve energy efficiency of existing homes and other buildings, but will also ensure our new homes are fit for the future, by reducing emissions from new homes by at least 75%. This will help deliver greener homes and buildings, as well as reducing energy bills for hard-working families and businesses.”

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New national construction products regulator announced

Robert Jenrick has announced that a new national regulator will be established in order to ensure that construction materials are safe for use. The regulator for construction products will have the power to remove any product from the market that presents a significant safety risk and prosecute any companies who flout the rules on product safety in order to ensure that homes are being built from safe materials. Business Minister and Minister for London Paul Scully said “We all remember the tragic scenes at Grenfell Tower, and the entirely justified anger which so many of us in London and throughout the UK continue to feel at the failings it exposed. This must never happen again, which is why we are launching a new national regulator for construction materials, informed by the expertise that already exists within the Office for Product Safety and Standards.”

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If you have any questions about the issues raised in this update, please do not hesitate to get in touch.