COVID-19 Updates – week commencing 22/02/21
More updates of developments from the government and various links to interpretation and guidance.
Go to date:
22 February 2021 …
Tourism Alliance updates:
Ordering Home Testing Kits
The Government has announced that it is making it is introducing three new measures to make it easier for people to order home testing kits. These measures are:
Home test kits can now be ordered over the phone by calling 119 as well as via the internet
NHS Test and Trace partnership with Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) to improve home testing service for people with visual impairments
New video-call support service with specially trained NHS Test and Trace staff will assist people with vision impairments to test at home
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/covid-19-home-testing-kits-now-easier-to-order
WTTC letter to the Prime Minister
WTTC have written to the Prime Minister putting forward four principles of an exit strategy for reopening international tourism flows. The four principles are:
An international coordinated approach, led by the UK, including public and private collaboration, to establish an international mobility framework to allow the safe movement of people and remove restrictions such as blanket quarantines, hotel-based requirements and travel bans.
Shift to individual traveller risk assessments instead of country risk assessments, to avoid importing and exporting the virus through robust testing, supported by technology, such as digital health passes, virus detectors and contact tracing systems, to ensure a seamless experience.
Reinforce health & hygiene protocols, including mandatory mask wearing, in addition to the vaccination roll out, as part of an integral solution.
Continued support for the sector, including, fiscal, liquidity and worker protection, with a clear strategy to resume economic activity and provide consistency and certainty, in addition to promoting the importance of the sector.
Regional Coronavirus Briefing
Here’s a link to the weekly regional coronavirus update that is provided as a briefing to MP. It’s an excellent source of information on coronavirus infection rates at the national and regional levels. Of particular interest in the national summary which show how infection rates have started to fall rapidly across the country.
Business Growth Programme for Leeds
BEIS have launched a business growth programme through the Leeds LEP which will provide grants of between £10,000 to £250,000 to small and medium-sized businesses and between £100,000 to £250,000 to large businesses (those with more than 250 employees)
To be eligible, businesses must be based in or moving to the Leeds City Region and:
have a capital investment project over £50,000, that will create jobs
have been established for at least 12 months
operate from commercial premises
https://www.gov.uk/business-finance-support/business-growth-programme-leeds-city-region
Wales Reopening
The Welsh First Minister, Mark Drakeford, has announced that, following the latest review, Wales will remain at Alert Level 4. However, in terms of reopening he announced the following changes:
From Saturday 20 February, four people from two different households will be able to meet outdoors for socially distanced local exercise. This doesn’t apply to private gardens.
From 1 March, the law will be changed to allow licensed wedding venues, such as visitor attractions and hotels, to re-open but only to perform wedding and civil partnership ceremonies.
Sport Wales will make arrangements for talented athletes to resume training and playing.
With more people living and working in older people’s care homes being vaccinated, guidance for care home visits will be looked at.
From Monday 22 February, children aged three to seven will begin returning to schools in a phased way, while some vocational learners, on courses that require practical learning, will return to college.
The next review will take place in three weeks’ time.
https://gov.wales/lockdown-continue-further-three-weeks-pupils-return-school
Social Impact of Coronavirus
The ONS’s weekly update has been published and, somewhat surprisingly, even though the roll-out of the vaccine has been successful and the Prime Minister is set to announce the reopening Roadmap next week, there hasn’t been a corresponding increase in optimism regarding life getting back to normal. Just 20% of people feel that life will return to normal in six months or less (compared to 21% last week), while 29% of people feel that it will take more than a year for life to return to normal (up from 27% last week).
This indicates that while there is considerable demand for some sectors of the tourism industry such as self-catering, considerable effort will be required to encourage people to return to city destinations and activities such as going to pubs and restaurants or entertainment venues.
Delay to Business Rates Review
The Government has announced that, due to the coronavirus pandemic and economic uncertainty, the final report on its Business Rates Review will now be released later in the year when there is more clarity on the long-term state of the economy and the public finances. However, an interim report, which will include a summary of consultation responses, will be published on 23 March 2021.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/business-rates-review-update
GVA By DCMS Cluster
DCMS has published data on the GVA of different industries under their responsibility. These figures show that the GVA from tourism is £74.5bn of the total GVA of £291.9bn generated by businesses across Arts, heritage and Libraries, Design and media, Digital, Gambling, Sport and Civil Society
There are also figures for employment in industries under DCMS’s remit which unfortunately don’t include any figures for tourism. This is extremely disappointing both in terms of the current economic situation and that it would be relatively easy to produce figures for tourism by applying Tourism Satellite Account ratios for tourism-related industries to the Labour Force Survey
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/ad-hoc-statistical-analysis-202021-quarter-4
Repaying EOTHO
HMRC has update their factsheet for businesses that participated in the Eat Out To Help Out Initiative on how to repay any money that was accidently overclaimed and of their new powers to recover amounts of Eat Out to Help Out payments businesses have overclaimed.
25 February 2021 …
Tourism Alliance update:
Levelling Up Fund
The Government has announced that the levelling Up Fund announced as part of the Spending Review is to be extended to cover the whole of the UK and will now comprise £4.8 billion which will be spent on local projects, such as regeneration and transport. The additional £800m is being allocation to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The Levelling Up Fund will supersede existing local growth funding streams, such as the Local Growth Fund, Pinch Points Fund, and future rounds of the Towns Fund
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/fund-extended-to-help-level-up-every-corner-of-united-kingdom
Well, That Explains Everything …
I offer up the following question on the Roadmap in the House of Lords without comment.
Baroness Doocey (LD)
My Lords, self-catering accommodation can open from 12 April, but only if there are no shared facilities. Camping grounds cannot open because they have shared toilet blocks. Pubs can also open from 12 April, for those people sitting outside, and those people can use the pub’s toilets. Could the Leader explain why it is considered safe to use a shared toilet in a pub but not in a camping site?
Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)
No, I am afraid I cannot.
Business Grants Data
The government has published the latest round of business grants data, showing the government funding delivered to each council in England to support their local businesses. What is of particular interest in this table on the percentage of LRSG and ARG grants that has been allocated. Although the table is over a month out of date, it shows that Councils have been slow to allocate this funding to businesses – especially the ARG grants that many businesses are depending on.
The data tables for the individual grants show which councils are performing well and which councils are performing badly in this regard. Here’s a couple of examples:
ARG Funding
Blaby District Council in the East Midlands has received £2m in funding from Government but only given out 13 grants totalling £16k
Broomsgrove District Council in the West Midlands has received £2m in funding and only given out 5 grants totalling £12k
Norwich Council has received £2.8m in funding and only allocated 14 grants totalling £20k
Road Map Questions
Attached is a copy of the collated questions on the Roadmap that I’ve sent through to DCMS. If you have further questions, please let me know and I will continue updated this
