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Cllr Ian Hudspeth responds to the announcement of £300 million additional funding for local authorities to support the new test and trace service.

"A clear national message is now needed from government about the safe return of children to schools and the scientific advice must be accessible for all parents to support efforts by schools and councils."

Excluding councils from the Government’s newly created Cultural Renewal Taskforce removes the local voice on cultural renewal, the Local Government Association warns. 

"Councils continue to lead local efforts to beat this disease but are facing increased cost and demand pressures at the same time as experiencing a significant drop in income."

“Councils are keen to support their local schools to get children back as soon as possible. However, the safety of children, their families and staff will always be the top priority."

"While we have started to thankfully see a decline in some figures, it is still incredibly worrying that the percentage of all deaths in care homes attributed to COVID-19 has increased."

“This survey shows councils are doing all they can to support care providers despite being under huge pressure themselves to combat coronavirus and protect our elderly and most vulnerable."

“Councils have a unique understanding of their communities and are ideally placed with the skills, knowledge and experience on the ground to help ramp up the level of testing and contact tracing necessary to defeat this disease."

Responding to the publication of the Government’s Care Home Resilience Plan announced by the Health Secretary at the Downing Street briefing, Cllr Ian Hudspeth, Chairman of the Local Government Association’s Community Wellbeing Board, said: “This package of support is a recognition of councils’ vital leadership role in our national effort to combat coronavirus and protect our elderly and most vulnerable. “Social care is the frontline in the battle against this dreadful disease. As this plan makes clear, councils have a close relationship with their local care homes and are already working

“Social care is on the frontline in the fight against coronavirus."