I?m really pleased to hear that the Government has awarded Nottingham ?2.5m of new funding to introduce temporary measures to encourage walking and cycling as Covid-19 restrictions are eased. This will make social distancing easier as more people return to work and for other activities as shops and cafes begin to reopen in time.
Nottingham is in a good position having already made significant investment into facilities for walking and cycling in the city, extensive pedestrianisation in the city centre and other measures to ease congestion and improve air quality. Walking and cycling along with public transport are at the heart of our approaches to economic development, social and health ambitions for our city. Our response to Covid-19 will be underpinned by those principles. To keep our city moving, bus lanes will be kept running freely, space made available for people to safely socially distance, and roadspace changes carried out to support walking and cycling that people will start to see in the coming weeks and months.
Find out more about Walking and cycling improvements planned as Covid restrictions are eased

Keeping older and vulnerable people safe through this pandemic has required an extraordinary amount of quick and decisive local partnership working. ?Across Nottingham, there are 75 registered private care homes with 1,555 residents, and the council has needed to work together with a variety of local NHS services and other statutory bodies to ensure that care home residents and the people looking after them are kept safe.

We have written to the Government to highlight this good practice and the wonderful care and commitment that has been evident in Nottingham?s care homes. However, our letter also makes it very clear to the Government that care homes will face severe financial stress unless they provide additional funding. As well as financial support we need to see more testing, better communication and a plan to recruit more care workers.

I would like to thank all the care home teams across the city that have worked tirelessly on the frontline to support residents during lockdown. It is essential that the Government now comes forward with a national plan for social care to help limit the impacts of the pandemic but also to ensure that everyone can access the care and support they need.

Find out more about the local effort: Council praises partnership work to support care homes in Covid-19 crisis

A Public Health England report published yesterday has found that people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) groups in the UK are more likely to die from coronavirus. The publishing of the report is welcome but it is very frustrating that the review hasn?t come anywhere near to saying why the BAME community are disproportionately affected and crucially what needs to be done to tackle this. ?

Age remains the largest factor affecting death rates, but there is between 10% and 50% higher risk of death for black and other minority groups. The risk of dying among those diagnosed with COVID-19 is also higher for those living in more deprived areas and for people with certain occupations including caring roles, security guards, drivers and lower skilled roles.

At a local level we will discuss this report with community partners and use it to inform further decisions and actions to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 and we urge the Government to move quickly to share their official guidance on what more can be done to further protect our communities.?