GOOD AFTERNOON and welcome to my regular South West Surrey update No. 140. If you’ve been forwarded this email and find it useful sign up to get your personal copy here. You can of course unsubscribe at any time.

 COVID STATS As of today, we had a total of 4,535,754 positive cases of COVID-19 with 127,860 confirmed deaths in the UK. There have been 5,910 confirmed cases in Waverley and sadly 246 confirmed deaths, with an estimated 50 active cases in Waverley. All data is accurate as of 11am this morning.

PANDEMIC UPDATE The vaccination programme is continuing at pace with over one million people booking their appointment yesterday – a new record. It is incredibly encouraging that just three out of 12,000 cases of the Indian (delta) variant were double jabbed. I therefore questioned the Health Secretary about the easing of restrictions on 21^st June to which he reasonably replied that it is simply too early to say. My prediction is that we will end up with a short delay before a full opening up. I also asked Matt Hancock what more we can do for families with disabled children as we move towards normality. Indeed, disabled children and their families have been very hard hit over the last year. Full video here.

BEATING BURNOUT Earlier in the week my Health and Social Care Select Committee published its report on NHS and social care burnout. The WHO defines burnout as much more than 'a stressful day at work’: it’s chronic fatigue, emotional exhaustion, and a feeling of being distant from your job. The NHS has done much on burnout recently, but one thing remains: a failing workforce planning system which has led to shortages in nearly every medical specialty. I started to address this by setting up five new medical schools and increased doctor, nurse, and midwife training places by 25%, one of the biggest ever rises. But I argue in this report we need an independent watchdog to do workforce projections rather like the OBR does for budget projections, without which we will not tackle burnout - and ultimately put patients at risk. My full Twitter thread here (including Metro headline), and my question to the Health Secretary here. I also did a few media interviews on this topic, including with LBC.

WUHAN WET MARKETS According to a study performed by the University of Oxford, no bats or pangolins were traded at Wuhan wet markets prior to the pandemic. In fact, contrary to popular belief, bats are rarely eaten in Central China. The mystery of how the COVID-19 outbreak originated continues…more information here.

The key number to remember for anyone with pandemic-related difficulties remains 0300 200 1008 the Surrey Helpline run by Surrey County Council (Mon-Fri 9 am to 5 pm).

WHAT’S GOING ON IN WESTMINSTER

MATT HANCOCK AT THE SELECT COMMITTEE By the time you read this I will have completed another marathon session at the Select Committee when Matt Hancock will be replying to the Dominic Cummings allegations of a couple of weeks ago. As ever we will be hoping to shed light rather than heat on our national pandemic response.

ENVIRONMENT & ECOLOGY I spoke on World Environment Day about the need to hardwire sustainable consumption into everyday life. My argument is that we will only get there with smart, practical measures to ease the transition needed in areas like the use of plastics, electric cars... and that we need to help developing countries do the same which is why returning to the 0.7% target is so vital. Video here. Also check out my Herald article which explains further my not entirely popular position on foreign aid.

G7 SUMMIT Yesterday President Joe Biden landed in the UK, ahead of the G7 summit in Cornwall. This is Joe’s first overseas trip as American President and he will meet with Boris Johnson and other leaders to discuss climate change, biodiversity, and net-zero carbon emissions. Find out more about the UK’s G7 Presidency to unite leading democracies here.

WHAT’S GOING ON IN SOUTH WEST SURREY

TRAFFIC IMPROVEMENTS At last the traffic situation looks set to improve in Farnham after months of congestion. There has been extensive discussion on the matter with Surrey Highways and the Town Council and I had a meeting yesterday afternoon with SCC Leader, Tim Oliver and the town's three county councillors to discuss the issues ahead of the next Farnham Infrastructure Project Board meeting tomorrow morning. A decision will be made in the very near future as to what happens with the social distancing measures that many feel are contributing to the traffic misery. Whatever solutions are put in place we clearly need better and more frequent communication so that residents and visitors to the town know what is happening and being done. Some other good news is a new refuge (traffic island) at the bottom Castle street will be reintroduced soon.

WAVERLEY WORKSHOPS Catherine Knight, the Economic Development Manager at Waverley Borough Council has asked me to share the details of two workshops and a training course which will support businesses to grow. The first one is called ‘The Beginners’ Guide to Selling Your space for Events’ targeted at schools, village halls, and community spaces, whereas the second is aimed at people who are new to hybrid events. In both cases, there are 30 free places worth £99pp thanks to government funding. There is also a free digital business skills training course for 15 local businesses hardest hit by COVID-19 that have little or no online presence. For more details and to book your place, businesses need to email Xav Anderson at [email protected]. Some great opportunities!

RACHEL MORRIS continues to inspire as one of our biggest local heroes and I caught up with her yesterday. She qualified for the Tokyo Paralympics although not announced whether she will be taking part. But as well as her sporting career she continues to campaign for improvements for local wheelchair users. She points out that the tents put up for vaccine distribution have often been on disabled spaces and two disabled bays have gone in Castle Street. I have worked closely with her since setting up the annual Surrey Para Games which we hold at Charterhouse School and hope to resume next year.

See my list of local groups working to support vulnerable residents here.

THE ECONOMY AND JOBS

YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT According to the UN International Labour Organisation, almost 15% of young people were jobless in 2020. Economists found that ‘middle-income countries’ like Brazil were most affected economically, due to, for example, poor support packages for businesses and employees. The UK has been able to keep the youth employment rate fairly stable throughout the pandemic, but it is undeniably more competitive.

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON

UNI STANDINGS QS World University Rankings 2022 were published this week, with Oxford securing second place and Cambridge coming joint third with Stanford. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) remained first – huge congratulations,  although I know what you’re thinking… where’s the MIT COVID-19 vaccine?! Perhaps Oxford will top the table next year as apparently the scores were awarded before the development of the coronavirus vaccine with AstraZeneca. Other UK Universities in the Top 100 included: Imperial (7^th), UCL (8^th), Edinburgh (16^th), Manchester (27^th) King’s College (35^th), LSE (49^th), Warwick (61^st), Bristol (62^nd), Glasgow (73^rd), Southampton (77^th), Durham (82^nd), Birmingham (90^th), St Andrews (91^st) Leeds (92^nd), and Sheffield (95^th). A long list which is excellent news and as ever incredibly impressive that we have four of the world’s top 10 universities.

AND FINALLY, here’s a video of 15 elephants napping together. For some reason, they casually went on a 500km adventure through SW China – a mammoth tusk…

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