GOOD AFTERNOON and welcome back to my South West Surrey update No. 152. It has been a seismic week in Westminster for health and social care policy but we can’t take our eye off the ball when it comes to the pandemic either so lots to cover today. If you know anyone who might like to receive this email please forward it…anyone can sign up here to receive them and of course unsubscribe at any time.
PANDEMIC UPDATE As of today, we have had a total of 7,094,592 positive cases of COVID-19 with 133,674 confirmed deaths in the UK. There have been 9,497 confirmed cases in Waverley and sadly 242 confirmed deaths, with an estimated 330 active cases in Waverley. In the last week in the UK coronavirus cases are up 15.3%, hospital admissions up 3.1% and deaths up 26.1%. All data is accurate as of 11am this morning.
HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE LEVY It isn’t every day of the week that a Conservative government puts up taxes to increase funding to the NHS and social care sector but that’s exactly what happened on Tuesday. The 1.25 percentage point increase on national insurance and similar increase on dividend tax will raise £12bn a year. This will be legally ring fenced for health and social care services so for the first time we will have a dedicated way of funding both sectors. I was concerned that a pure National Insurance rise would be unfair on the young but in fairness the government listened to those concerns and the levy will be paid by working pensioners as well as on dividends too. Full details are available here but the big picture is that both the NHS and care system are in a much better place today than they were last week. You can see my reaction via Channel 4 news and Newsnight (3 mins 13 seconds in) and in this twitter thread. You can also see my slightly risqué question to the PM here.
WHAT WILL THIS GO ON? The bulk of the funding for the first few years will go towards cutting the NHS backlog, and with more than 5 million people already waiting for a procedure who can argue with that? £5.4bn will go to the social care sector in the next three years including £500m for workforce issues. After that, I would hope more can be switched over to care. The details of the announcement mean that some increase for social care after 3 years is ‘baked in’ with hard commitments on the new £86k cap and commitment that no one with assets of less than £100k will have to spend more than 20% of them to fund care in any year (with all costs paid for those with assets below £20k). So even if I’d like to have seen more for care earlier on it is clear the sector will benefit greatly from these proposals and we will hopefully be able to give everyone who needs it the care they deserve.
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
PENSIONS TRIPLE LOCK Alongside the Health and Social Care Levy the government also announced that it was suspending the pensions triple lock for a year. I know many people are angry at the principle that this pledge has been broken but I really don’t think it would be fair to use average earnings this year given they were boosted by a statistical anomaly caused by the pandemic and would result in an artificial increase in pensions of 8-9%. This year pensioners will still get a decent increase equivalent to either inflation or 2.5%, whichever is higher.
SELECT COMMITTEE ON THE BACKLOG With all the attention on the NHS backlog it was with perfect timing that the Health and Social Care Select Committee held an evidence session on what was needed to actually tackle it. Anita Charlesworth from the Health Foundation said not only would it need £17bn for the rest of the Parliament but also - challengingly - 18,000 new nurses and 4,000 new consultants. Overhauling workforce planning is therefore going to be the next big battle to win, something I asked the Chancellor about on Tuesday.
WHAT’S GOING ON IN SOUTH WEST SURREY
ASB IN GODALMING on Monday I spoke to Borough Commander Sam Adcock about an incident last week in which a man came out of a pub and rammed the car of someone he had been arguing with, then hit a motorcyclist and another vehicle and did a runner. In fast police work he was arrested. Although it was a very unsavoury episode, Sam is confident there is not a general increase in antisocial behaviour (ASB) in Godalming.
AFGHANISTAN Waverley is looking to support between 5-10 families seeking refuge from Afghanistan and that they are working with local partners to ensure they get the help they need. I still have lots of constituents kindly offering their support, so wanted to highlight that you can also make a financial donation to charities that are best equipped to support Afghan refugees, such as The Community Foundation for Surrey and The British Red Cross. You can also offer support more locally, at one of several foodbanks in Surrey. If you are an Afghan family member and want to know more about help on offer, this Home Office factsheet might be useful. Alternatively, for current and former locally employed staff in Afghanistan, The Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) scheme may be helpful, as it offers priority relocation to the UK to those who are assessed to be under serious threat to life. If you are a non-British national in Afghanistan or are the family member of a non-British national in Afghanistan and in need of assistance, you should call (+44) 02475389980. If you are a British national, or family member of a British national in Afghanistan you should call (+44) 01908516666 and select the option “Consular services for British nationals” or e-mail: [email protected]
See my list of local groups working to support vulnerable residents here.
THE ECONOMY AND JOBS
BUDGET Slightly lost in all the other news this week was the fact that the Chancellor announced that he would be holding a Budget and Spending Review on 27th October. If you want to make representations of what these should include then you can do so here. Or just email me - plenty do!
WANTED: HGV DRIVERS AND MORE It has been well publicised that we’re suffering from a shortage of HGV drivers but there are a few other sectors that need workers too. Here’s a run down of the top 10. Incidentally the government is trying to help on the HGV front by shortening the test needed to become one.
WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON
PARALYMPIC PRIDE A huge congratulations to our two Paralympic champions Rachel Morris and Kylie Grimes, who between them have ensured that there has been a local gold medalist for every year that I have been MP. As well as representing their country with distinction, both have done an enormous amount to inspire young people in our area at countless events including many school visits. Rachel worked with me to set up the Surrey Para Games which prior to the pandemic was Surrey’s biggest disability sport event - and we hope to restart next year. It was, therefore, a great honour for my family to be invited to Kylie’s homecoming at the Hale Recreation Ground last Saturday. The event was organised at lightning speed by Farnham North councillor Catherine Powell, and we were part of a large crowd who gathered in high spirits to congratulate her and her family, from whom she has had enormous support - read my Herald article here.
REMINDER There’s still time to book tickets for my cancer campaign launch on Thursday of next week (16th September, 6.00pm to 7.30pm). I am officially launching the campaign to raise money for a new Cancer and Surgical Innovation Centre at the Royal Surrey to help them deal with the post-pandemic cancer backlog and transform its cancer and surgical services for the future. The new Centre will both improve the cancer treatment available locally and also support the Royal Surrey in its ambition to become the pre-eminent cancer hub in the South East. Joining me at the launch will be senior speakers from Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust,Surrey Heartlands CCG and Haslemere GP Surgery. The socially distanced event starts at 6pm in Haslemere Hall and tickets are available via the link above (with a 50p booking fee for Haslemere Hall) If you would prefer to attend remotely via Zoom, please pre preregister.
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