President's Update

While much of the world is rightly focused on the situation in Ukraine, closer to home we have come to the end of all formal Covid-19 restrictions. This is not the same as being the end of the pandemic, so we will all be discovering what living with coronavirus means. Of course, for local authorities, this also marks the end of Covid-related funding support, so many of our colleagues in public health will be focused now only on the most vulnerable in our communities.

Welcome to the first President update in 2022 – slightly later than usual and while Paula’s on leave, this time coming from our Chief Executive Officer, Hannah Bartram.

As we head into the Christmas break, the rapid spread of Omicron leaves many of us with a sense of weary familiarity. Fears of last minute changes to Christmas plans at home and impacts on services at work remind us of how much we continue to live with uncertainty.

This month, the focus has been very firmly on climate change (and not just the ADEPT Autumn Conference!), with widespread agreement that this is the ‘decade of action’ and we need to work together, urgently, to find solutions.

COP26 had a varied response - many positive pledges and commitments were made, including the announcement to end deforestation, agreements to bring forward green innovation in agriculture, promoting more sustainable land management practices, and the focus on rewiring national and international finance systems for net zero. 

It feels like déjà vu, and not for the first time, that as Covid rates climb, the government is resisting calls to implement even the lightest of restrictions. Local authorities are once again in the position of seeing rates rise in their local areas, but without that vital national backing that brings weight to any precautions they might want to put in place.

The news is full of the effects of HGV driver shortages across the UK, something that many local authorities have felt for some time. Our waste services have been particularly hit by shortages, and as we look ahead to winter, we are all concerned with how gritting services and their essential role in safety and accident prevention might be impacted. Some authorities are also feeling the impact on passenger transport, particularly school bus provision.

As I write, the government has just published its Covid-19 response plan for the autumn and winter. Plan A focuses on encouraging further vaccine take up and booster doses for priority groups 1-9, introducing vaccines for 12-15 year olds and a renewed emphasis on test and trace and self-isolation for those testing positive. Plan B leaves the way open to a return to mask wearing in enclosed spaces, working from home and vaccine passports for larger gatherings should there be a surge in cases and increased pressure on the NHS.

I hope you’ve all managed to get a good break over the last few weeks. With September here and schools about to return, it feels like we’re about to face many familiar pressures over the autumn. Although case numbers are rising, we are fortunate that the vaccinations are doing their job and we’re not seeing a parallel rise in hospitalisations or deaths. However, in many areas, we are seeing numbers that are putting additional pressures on the NHS and colleagues across public health, adult and children’s services.

The summer holidays are here and I hope many of you will be taking a well-deserved break. Unfortunately, for local authorities, there is no break from the continuing impacts of Covid, with many services severely affected by the self-isolation ‘pingdemic’.

At the recent Leadership Team meeting, we welcomed Tom Walker from the Levelling Up Unit, which is tasked with bringing forward the Levelling up White Paper currently scheduled for the autumn. It was helpful to know that government understands the agenda to be broader than economic growth and big infrastructure, with health and education emphasised as well. There was also recognition of net zero and how the workplace might look post-Covid.