UPDATE (28th June 2020): We challenged the Government and the Council - Was it safe to re-open schools on 1st June?
New figures that Somerset Independents has obtained from Somerset County Council suggest that parents knew that it was not safe, and chose instead to continue for their children to be educated safely at home.
We agreed with the vast majority of parents who did not want to send their children back to school. Parents were worried. Staff were worried. The general public were worried.
And we stood up for them by questioning those councillors who are supposed to protect us by standing up to the failed Conservative Government, but instead those Tory councillors like County Council Cabinet Member Councillor Faye Purbrick put their party ahead of the people and passed the buck onto schools, parents and staff.
Our Leader Andrew Pope spoke up for Somerset residents by speaking at a "virtual meeting" of "Scrutiny" at Somerset County Council.
"Good Afternoon councillors and officers and members of the public,
One
parent Kristian Thomas said: “I refuse to let my children be the
government’s hamsters (maybe they meant guinea pigs :-) ?). My children will
not return until this virus is gone for good.”
Another parent Terrie Payne said: “I chose not to. I didn't want my child being an experiment whilst they worked out a system.”
I
asked the Cabinet Member Councillor Purbrick about this. Unfortunately,
she did not seem to agree that with me parents should have the right to
choose about their children's safety and education.
So I ask you as scrutiny councillors:
What figures does Somerset County Council have on the number of
children attending school, as a percentage of the total of school age
(a) during the "lockdown" (b) after some restrictions were lifted? If no
figures exist, please can they be published at the earliest
opportunity, and collected weekly, so that Somerset citizens, school
staff, and parents can make their own risk assessments about their
safety."
The Council took their time in answering. Here is the Council's eventual answer:
"During lockdown Somerset County Council had around 2900 children attending schools
and these were either vulnerable children or children of key worker,
this is this is around 4% of the approx. 71,000 on Somerset school
roll. With the extended provision numbers have increased, on 15th June schools reported 11,377 children attending, 6% of roll."
Deputy Leader and Co-Founder of Somerset Independents, Denise Wyatt, said:
"So 94% of schoolchildren were not at school.
This does not surprise us at Somerset Independents, as we could not find any parent who wanted to send their child back to school.
Some key workers had to, and already had their children at school during the lockdown. The same was the case for children that the Council classify as "vulnerable children".
But it seems for those parents who did not have to, the hugely vast majority CHOSE NOT TO send their children back to school - 94%.
Why is it that the Conservative Government wanted to put our children at risk?
Why didn't the Conservative Somerset County Council stand up against the Government?
Instead of protecting our County's residents, the County Council put out an offensive press release pretending that all is fine, and that parents wanted to send their children back to school but suggesting that it was the staff's fault that there was not the "capacity".
What an insult to teachers and school staff who would be putting themselves and their families at risk!
Why did both Government and Council fail to protect us?
Because they always put their party ahead of the people, EVEN WHEN OUR SAFETY IS AT RISK.
That is why Somerset Independents always says that the Westminster parties let you down. We believe that party politics has no place in local councils.
Even in an unimaginably horrible National Emergency, they think that their party is more important than the health of children, teachers and parents."
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UPDATE (2nd June 2020): It wasn't just Somerset Independents that was questioning the wisdom of the Government's decision to "re-open" schools yesterday.
Tens of thousands, if not millions, of parents across England questioned the wisdom of it.
And they refused to send their children back to school.
Well done to them!
So what about Somerset County Council? Is it protecting us?
NO.
Instead, they are passing the buck to schools, staff and parents who have been repeatedly misled by the Government.
Only three councillors of the many that we contacted at Somerset County Council bothered to respond to us. We are not going to publish their names, at least not for now, because we are grateful to at least get some kind of response. But we had to pressure them to do so.
However, we think that the response of Somerset County Council's Cabinet Member Councillor Faye Purbrick should be mentioned.
She did respond. But her response repeated the same rehearsed lines that were in the press release below. Lines that were probably written for her by Communications officers at the Council.
Her "answers" did not answer our questions anyway.
What is "Scrutiny" and Why is it Important?
So - around 15 councillors were asked by us what their views were - 3 responses were given. One was genuine and wanted to listen. Another did not answer the questions. The other was from Councillor Purbrick.
Scrutiny is supposed to hold the Executive of a Council to account.
How can a "scrutiny" panel of councillors that is supposed to hold the ruling Executive to account - claim to be doing any scrutiny at all, when only 3 councillors respond to genuine concerns from the public?
The Association of Directors of Public Health
Now, we are aware that the Association of Directors of Public Health are also concerned.
They say that the Government is "lifting too many restrictions, too quickly. " and that "a string of recent national policy announcements affecting England which
project a degree of confidence that many – including ADPH members – do
not think is supported by the science."
They are exposing the Government that has been telling lies about following the science.
And as we said weeks ago - children, staff and the general public are being put at risk.
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UPDATE (26th May 2020): After weeks of silence, our enquiries appear to have brought a step change in activity by the County Council and its councillors.
The Council issued their update on 22nd May (see below) after our enquiries to them over the last few weeks about the Coronavirus and its impact in Somerset.
Now following our questioning of him and his councillor colleagues, the Chair of the Policies, Children and Families Scrutiny Panel of Somerset County Council, Labour Councillor Leigh Redman, has issued this statement via The Leveller.
Councillor Redman's sudden spurt of activity occurred after we asked all councillors on his Committee what they thought of the situation regarding schools re-opening and the passing of the buck by the Council.
Councillor Redman's Committee are supposed to hold the Conservative-controlled County Council to account on these matters.
In his article, which only really makes predictable Tory-bashing points but offers no alternative, Councillor Redman claims "it's complicated". But it isn't.
Wouldn't you agree that our local councils stood be standing up for us and protecting our children and our health, against a failing Government? If you don't agree, tell us by emailing us.
Instead of protecting you, Somerset County Council is passing the buck from the Government and straight onto schools and parents - and putting children, staff and the public at risk.
Of course, it is a Tory-controlled Council and Tory Government. Why would the Tories put the people first? They don't. And wouldn't.
As independently-minded people across England know, the Westminster parties always put their party before the people that they are supposed to represent. The people that they are supposed to protect.
You would have thought that a Committee run by a Labour Councillor would fight against the Tories. But he isn't. Instead, with this mild sort of criticism that does not suggest an alternative, Councillor Redman is preserving his place as a paid Chair (he gets an allowance for being the Chair) of a Committee that is superfluous and achieves nothing.
During a National Emergency, the version of "Scrutiny" that he is presiding over is only meeting once every two months - hardly the action of a group of councillors that want to represent you, is it?
We contacted them urgently a few days ago. Not a single councillor on that Committee has replied - hardly on the ball, are they?
At Somerset Independents, we say what everyone in England knows - Labour or Tory, same old story.
Email us at somerinds[at]gmail.com and tell us what you think about the schools re-opening.
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UPDATE (23rd May 2020): Somerset County Council yesterday issued an update here.
It appears that they are not taking responsibility and it confirms what we said - that they are not ready.
Instead, they are passing the buck onto individual schools, which will lead to inconsistency and confusion.
Do you think this is right?
Why won't they stand up for Somerset people against the Government?
This is our health they are failing to protect!
Tell us what you think by emailing us at somerinds[at]gmail.com.
---
Like most headlines that ask a question. The answer is a firm NO!
Somerset Independents believes that schools in Somerset should NOT be
opened on 1st June. It would put Somerset's children, school teachers and staff,
and the public in general, of further risk of infection, and increase the
likelihood of a second spike in infections and deaths.
We've asked
Somerset County Council, who are the local authority responsible for education in Somerset, 5 questions on the Coronavirus/Covid-19 crisis and its impact in Somerset.
Our
questions were sent to them on Wednesday 6th May 2020, intending for
them to be asked at the Children and Families Scrutiny Panel. The
answers were
finally given to us on Friday 22nd May, after a good deal of chasing.
What do you think of the Council's answers? Email us at somerinds[at]gmail.com to let us know.
You may draw the conclusion from their answers that Somerset County Council are not ready. Are you?
And the advice published on the Council's website has not changed for some time. See
the link here.
If you think there are further questions that need to be answered, get in touch at the email above.
Somerset Independents listens and acts for Somerset residents. We don't trust the Westminster parties to act for you.
Questions from Somerset Independents and Answers from Somerset County Council
Q1. Deaths of adults
can lead to fostering and adoption. What is your view, and why, of
the accuracy of Government figures on the number of deaths of people
in Somerset in (a) hospitals (b) care homes (c) at home
As a general
comment, all official figures go through multiple stages of checking
which is partly why there is understandable a slight delay in them.
The different government sources of information however usually
differ in which deaths they cover and how quickly the data becomes
available. Some will cover people who die in Somerset wherever they
usually live, some Somerset residents who die in Somerset and some
Somerset residents who die elsewhere in the UK. Some are based on the
date of death and some on the date the death is reported. For
example, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) data, which is
probably the most widely used, covers deaths of Somerset residents in
the UK. The numbers of deaths published can only be based on
registrations reported at the time of data capture. The number
registrations will increase slightly over time due as late
registrations are recorded, this is an inevitable aspect of the
registration process and not to be considered an inaccuracy.
Given all these
caveats, the ONS figures are usually a slight underestimation and for
the most recent week published probably represent about 85% of the
true number of deaths. This figure is based on usual patterns on
delays between date of death and date of death registrations. ONS are
adjusting past weeks data on death occurrences when further
registrations come in so weeks further back will be more complete.
A useful explanation
of the differences between the various sources of data on deaths is
given here and may explain why different sources give slightly
different figures.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/deathsinvolvingcovid19bylocalareasanddeprivation/deathsoccurringbetween1marchand17april
This explains more
background on registrations and also the data checking processes.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/methodologies/userguidetomortalitystatisticsjuly2017
Q2. What impact on
the number of children requiring (a) fostering and (b) adoption has
the National Emergency had in Somerset?
The impact on
children coming into care in Somerset has so far been minimal with
families being supported by social workers and other professionals
in their own communities. The number of referrals to children’s
social care has reduced compared to the same period last year, in
common with many other services across the country. It is
anticipated nationally that referrals to children’s social care
departments will rise as lockdown eases. This may impact on the
number of children requiring fostering or adoption placements but is
as yet unknown.
Q3. According to
Reuters News Agency, there have been reports of symptoms of Covid-19
or similar symptoms affecting children. Has this affected Somerset
and what are the numbers of infections here?
We are aware of
children (under 18) who have tested positive for COVID locally, we do
receive details of their symptoms. We do not currently have official
published data on confirmed cases split by age groups at Somerset
level.
Q4. If schools are
re-opened, what impact will this have in Somerset on infection rates
of children and adults, and will it negatively affect the "fragile"
(in the report) supply chain of PPE to the public and health workers?
The Government are
proposing a phased return to school for some children starting on the
1st June. This will only happen if the Government are assured that
the infection rate has reduced sufficiently and that testing and
contact tracing processes are in place. In Somerset, the public
health team are working closely with colleagues in education services
and Public Health England to ensure schools are adequately prepared
and have access to all the available information and support required
for expansion of services.
The guidance issued
on the 11th May supporting the wider opening of schools from the 1st
June indicates that the majority of staff in education settings will
not require PPE beyond what they would normally need for their work,
even if they are not always able to maintain a distance of 2 metres
from others. PPE is only needed in a very small number of cases; for
those children who care routinely uses PPE and if children become
symptomatic at school and needs direct personal care until they can
return home. The focus is on hand washing with soap and water or hand
sanitiser more often than usual, cleaning frequently touched surfaces
with detergent and bleach, “Catch it, Bin it, Kill it” messages
and minimising contact and mixing within the school as the infection
prevention and control messages.
Q5. In your view,
has the testing in Somerset been adequate to prevent the spread of
the disease, and the deaths of the public and health workers?
At the time of
writing (19.5.20) Somerset Health & Care system have put in place
mechanisms to ensure health and care staff testing were prioritised.
This was established from the beginning of April for health staff and
expanded to include care staff shortly afterwards, this was initially
through 4 staff testing sites (Taunton college and Shepton Mallet,
Bridgwater and Yeovil hospitals) and used local laboratories to
process results, which were received back usually within 48 hours.
1861 staff were tested via this route up to 10th May, 350 of these
were care home workers.
The regional testing
sites were established at Bristol and Exeter and we built a local
process to support staff to access these, utilising staff from across
Somerset County Council (SCC) and the Clinical Commissioning Group
(CCG) to staff this local co-ordinating centre and support
symptomatic key workers or household members to get tested to ensure
we could preserve essential services by getting people back to work
if tests were negative and people were well enough.
We have worked as
part of the Local Resilience Forum testing cell. SCC Public Health
jointly chairs this and we have secured a second visit from a mobile
testing unit, delivered by military staff, this will be in situ
between 13th and 21st May – there are 9 of these units (8
operational at any one point in time) for the whole of the south
west. This improves access to ‘pillar 2 testing’ for those over
65 years, those who cannot work at home that need a test to enable
them to get back to work and all essential workers e.g funeral
directors, waste staff, police, fire,
The care home portal
has also been launched and we are supporting our Somerset providers
to access this for their staff and residents. There will be 300 homes
per day covered nationally by this offer
Nationally, the
Government are increasing availability of testing however it is
important to appreciate that testing alone does not prevent the
spread of the disease, many people are infectious before they are
symptomatic, and a great many people are infectious without any
symptoms. The key to preventing spread, is to maintain good hygiene,
the appropriate use of PPE and, where possible, physical distancing,
we all can help prevent the spread of disease, by the small actions
we take every day.
*
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-britain-children-idUSKCN22A0XW
