£3million boost for most vulnerable mental health service users

* Minister for Mental Health and Wellbeing Eluned Morgan.

Additional funding of nearly £3million will support some of the most vulnerable mental health service users in Wales during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Welsh Government has announced.  

Minister for Mental Health and Wellbeing Eluned Morgan has vowed to provide a ‘helping hand’ to those looking for work, permanent accommodation, who may be struggling with mental health or substance misuse problems in the midst of this pandemic.

The additional funding will provide early, targeted support, for the most vulnerable individuals in a preventative capacity to reduce the escalation of often complex needs.

The funding is split into seven distinct areas and will see the Welsh Government work in partnership with the Department for Work and Pensions, local authorities, the police and Area Planning Boards, as well as supporting health boards to provide voluntary sector led mental health support in their areas.

Funding includes:

• £1.4million towards third sector led schemes designed to address low level mental health and wellbeing need
• £75,000 will fund the ‘I Can Work’ programme supporting people with mild to moderate mental health problems into paid work
• £25,000 to support development for the substance misuse workforce to ensure they are adequately skilled and supported to provide essential services
• £750,000 to provide residential rehabilitation accommodation for those with complex needs to successfully transition to living independently in permanent accommodation
• £500,000 to provide PPE to substance misuse services providing a range of support for some of the most vulnerable people in society
• £150,000 Digital Inclusion Fund for the enhancement of digital services for service users who are currently excluded
• £50,000 to support work with police forces across Wales piloting nasal naloxone kits as part of the drive to reduce drug related deaths

Eluned Morgan said: "We know that early intervention is vital for better outcomes. We’ve seen the devastating effect this pandemic has had on the most vulnerable members of our society and we must provide an extra helping hand when they need it.

"This funding is a key part of our recovery plan, where we have committed to protecting and improving individuals’ well-being, supporting the homeless, and reducing unemployment to give people the best chance in life.

"These are tough times for us all to live through, but if we look out for each other and support the vulnerable, we will get through it. Anyone concerned about their mental health or that of a relative or friend can access the C.A.L.L. Helpline on 0800 137 737 or can text ‘help’ to 81066."

Coronavirus update from Welsh Government

Latest coronavirus update from the Welsh Government, dated yesterday, is:

·         First Minister Mark Drakeford (pictured) has set out the further details about the new national measures which will be introduced when the firebreak ends on November 9.

o   In a statement to the Senedd, he confirmed a group of four people would be able to meet in indoor public spaces, such as pubs, bars, restaurants and cafes.

o   The hospitality sector will also introduce pre-booking, time slots and collect contact details to support the Test Trace Protect system.

o   The 10pm curfew on alcohol sales will remain in place in Wales.

o   The system will be reviewed after two weeks.

o   The First Minister’s statement is available at: https://record.assembly.wales/Plenary/6616#A61801  

 

·         The Covid-19 risk assessment tool is available to download for a variety of workplace settings, including the NHS and education

o   The self-assessment tool was developed by the Covid-19 BAME advisory group

o   More information: https://gov.wales/covid-19-workforce-risk-assessment-tool

 

Firebreak information

·         A firebreak to break the cycle of infections and bring coronavirus under control began on Friday October 23 and ends on Monday November 9

·         Frequently asked questions https://gov.wales/coronavirus-firebreak-frequently-asked-questions

·         Overview of the rules to follow (multiple languages) https://gov.wales/coronavirus-firebreak-guidance-summary

·         Closure of businesses summary: https://gov.wales/closure-businesses-and-premises-coronavirus-covid-19

·         Taxi and private hire vehicles guidance: https://gov.wales/taxi-and-private-hire-vehicle-guidance

·         Further education and apprenticeships: https://gov.wales/further-education-and-apprenticeships-coronavirus-firebreak-guidance

·         Childcare and play guidance: https://gov.wales/childcare-and-play-coronavirus-firebreak-guidance

·         Exams and assessments: https://gov.wales/examinations-and-assessments-coronavirus

·         Schools guidance: https://gov.wales/schools-coronavirus-firebreak-guidance

·         Support for businesses: https://businesswales.gov.wales/coronavirus-advice/covid-19-support-business

Coronavirus in numbers

·         The latest figures published by Public Health Wales today show there have been 1,119 new cases of coronavirus, bringing the total to 54,456 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Wales since the start of the pandemic.

o   Sadly, another four deaths were reported by Public Health Wales today. The total number of deaths reported by Public Health Wales is 1,895.

o   These figures are updated daily at: https://public.tableau.com/profile/public.health.wales.health.protection#!/vizhome/RapidCOVID-19virology-Public/Headlinesummary 

·         Public Health Wales has added a map to its surveillance dashboard showing the number of Covid-19 cases in small local areas. The map shows cases on a rolling seven-day or 21-day basis, or all cases since the start of the pandemic. It shows the number of cases and the rate per 100,000 people: https://public.tableau.com/profile/public.health.wales.health.protection#!/vizhome/RapidCOVID-19virology-Public/Headlinesummary

·         The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has today published statistics on provisional weekly deaths, including deaths involving COVID-19, for the week ending 23 October.

o   The cumulative number of deaths involving Covid-19 in Welsh residents up to 23 October was 2,806.

o   Of the deaths registered in the week ending 23 October, there were provisionally 65 deaths involving Covid-19 in Welsh residents. This was 10% of all deaths and 18 more than the previous week. The number of weekly registered deaths involving Covid peaked in April.

o   This is the sixth successive week the number of deaths have increased and they are at the highest level since mid-June.

o   For the period 29 February to 23 October, there were a total of 2,418 excess deaths (12%) above the five-year average. The excess death rate for Wales for this period was lower than in England.

o   https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/deathsregisteredweeklyinenglandandwalesprovisional/latest

Where to find the latest information

·         A firebreak to break the cycle of infections and bring coronavirus under control began on Friday October 23 and ends on Monday November 9. More information: https://gov.wales/coronavirus-firebreak-frequently-asked-questions 

·         Public Health Wales provides a daily update about the number of cases of coronavirus in Wales. It is available at: https://covid19-phwstatement.nhs.wales/

·         Information about coronavirus is available on the Welsh Government’s website at https://gov.wales/coronavirus and https://llyw.cymru/coronafeirws

·         Information about support for businesses is available at the Business Wales website https://businesswales.gov.wales/coronavirus-advice/

·         If you can help the effort to produce PPE in Wales please visit https://businesswales.gov.wales/news-and-blogs/news/provision-critical-equipment-and-personal-protection-equipment-ppe

·         The Welsh Government holds a regular media briefing about coronavirus. These are on-the-record, on-camera and supported by a BSL translator. These are held at 12.15pm and live-streamed on our @WelshGovernment Twitter channel.

o   Dr Andrew Goodall, chief executive of NHS Wales held today’s press conference. You can watch again at: https://twitter.com/WelshGovernment/status/1323599344717606913

 

Temporary traffic measures begin to be put in place

* New double yellow lines outside the library and the Town Hall.

* Line painting in progress on Castle Street this morning.

The package of temporary traffic measures designed to aid public safety in the town centre during the pandemic started to be applied today (Monday).

First signs of the new times were double yellow lines along Castle Street where parking is now prohibited.

Denbighshire County Council recently published the temporary traffic order enabling the moves.

The council says it is making the order for “reasons of public safety following the pandemic and in accordance with Welsh Government regulations”.

The aim, it says, is to “facilitate easier on-street mobility of the public on foot or by pedal cycle with greater self-distancing for individuals”.

The order come into force today and will remain in force for a maximum of 18 months.

It enables the council to:

* Reverse the one-way restriction on Church Street between its junction with Chapel Street and its junction with Regent Street. 

This, says the council, will reduce instances of ‘rat running’ and provide improved access to schools and the town centre for pedestrians and cyclists.

* Introduce a widened pedestrian area on the eastern side of Castle Street between its junction with Bridge Street and its junction with Regent Street. 

This will be achieved with the introduction of bolt-down kerbing and will provide enhanced facilities for people to social distance and travel actively. 

To facilitate this work, on-street parking will be suspended on Castle Street for the duration of the trial period.

* Introduce a one-way restriction on Market Street between its junction with Castle Street and its junction with East Street. 

Vehicles will be allowed to enter Market Street from Castle Street and proceed in a westerly direction. 

The purpose of this restriction is to provide an additional loading bay, for use by businesses, along the north side of Market Street.

What's happening in Wales after firebreak lockdown ends

* First Minister Mark Drakeford in today's press conference. 

A new set of national rules will apply once the Wales-wide firebreak lockdown comes to an end at 00:01 on Monday November 9.

The First Minister said in this afternoon's press conference that everyone in Wales has an important part to play in helping to prevent the spread of coronavirus – and this means thinking carefully about the contact we all have with other people.

He added: "The more people we meet, the more people are at risk from coronavirus."

The new national measures, which the First Minister began to set out today, are designed to protect people’s health and provide as much freedom as possible while the virus remains in circulation.

Some of the new measures are still being finalised following the "unexpected" announcement over the weekend about a month-long lockdown in England, which will start on Thursday.

The new national measures include:

• The need to maintain two metre social distancing and wear face masks in enclosed public places, including on public transport and taxis, will continue
• The requirement to work from home whenever possible will remain
• People should only meet with their ‘bubble’ in their own home and only two households will be able to form a ‘bubble’. If one person from either household develops symptoms, everyone should immediately self-isolate
• Up to 15 people can take part in an organised indoors activity and up to 30 in an organised activity outdoors, providing all social distancing, hand hygiene and other covid safety measures are followed
• All premises, such as restaurants, cafes, pubs and gyms, closed during the firebreak, will be able to reopen. Following the announcement about the English lockdown, Ministers are having ongoing discussions with the hospitality sector about the detailed rules for reopening. This includes about meeting in public indoor spaces
• As part of keeping risks to a minimum, people should avoid non-essential travel as much as possible. There will be no legal restrictions on travel within Wales for residents, but international travel should be for essential reasons only.

In addition:

• All schools will reopen
• Churches and places of worship will resume services
• Local authority services will resume but based on local circumstances
• Community centres will be available for small groups to meet safely indoors in the winter months.

First Minister Mark Drakeford said: "Each of us has an important part to play in slowing the spread of coronavirus in Wales and saving lives – we cannot do this without your help.

"Everyone has made so many sacrifices this year already. To make sure we do not lose all this hard work, we need to carry on looking after each other and keeping ourselves safe.

"This is a virus which thrives on human contact. Social contact is important to all of us but to keep ourselves and our loved ones safe, we need to think carefully about all our meetings and contacts with other people and try and reduce them to reduce our risk of infection.

"Rather than us asking what we can or can’t do, we need to ask ourselves what should we be doing to keep our families safe.

"Government rules and regulations are here to help. But the real strength we have is in the choices we make and the actions we take together."

Nominate your local pub for an award, says MP

Clwyd South MP Simon Baynes (pictured) is supporting PubAid’s campaign and encouraging local entries for its 2020 Community Pub Hero Awards.

Every year, PubAid runs a competition to find the Charity Pub of the Year, sponsored by Matthew Clark and run in conjunction with the All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group. 

This year, the country’s pubs, and people’s lives more broadly, have been disrupted by the Covid-19 outbreak and lockdown. 

Pubs closed and fundraising became near-impossible – but that didn’t stop licensees and their teams across the country from doing all they could to support their communities.

PubAid therefore decided to change the name of the competition this year to the Community Pub Hero Awards, and are looking for pubs who went the extra mile to help others during the pandemic. 

Maybe by offering vital supplies for local residents, cooking hot meals for the elderly or keeping people connected through online quizzes or chats. 

Simon Baynes said: "There are some amazing pubs in Clwyd South who have really gone the extra mile to help their communities through the pandemic. 

"I’d encourage any Clwyd South residents who know of any such pubs to send in a nomination so our local licensees and teams get the recognition they deserve.”

* To nominate a pub, please complete a nomination form before 30^th November by visiting http://www.pubaid.com/.

Judges will review entries received and publish a shortlist. All finalists will be invited, with their MP, to an online ceremony in the new year when the overall winner will be announced. 

Shape My Llangollen secures £3,500 National Lottery windfall to finish its work

* In summer 2019 SML chair and vice-chair, Phil Robinson and Issy Richards, conduct  a public consultation exercise outside the Co-op in Regent Street.

The team putting together Llangollen’s official input into the county’s new Local Development Plan (LDP) has received a £3,500 National Lottery windfall to finish the job.

Shape My Llangollen was formed by the town council in 2018 to ensure Llangollen people have their say on the new masterplan for Denbighshire’s future up until the year 2033.

A team of volunteers embarked on an exhaustive round of public consultation to sound out local opinion on a range of key issues.

They eventually received over 1,700 separate answers on a very wide range of topics such as traffic and parking, the appearance of the town centre, local services and facilities and the environment.

The mass of evidence gathered has been constantly refined and will eventually be published in SML’s final report which will be subject to scrutiny by the town council before being submitted to the county council for incorporation into the new LDP.

Shape My Llangollen was just about to host its final round of public consultation when the country went into its first Covid-19 lockdown back in March.

Despite the need to observe social distancing SML’s work has continued, with its members getting together at regular online meetings.

However, a lay-off of over seven months put the work of the team way behind schedule, especially the completion of its final report, and so to bring it back on track members recently took the decision to employ specialist consultants to put their expert finishing touches to the project.

In a bid to secure the necessary cash to cover the cost of the consultants the team recently put in a bid to the National Lottery.

And it has just been given the good news that it has been granted £3,594 by the Lottery’s Community Fund.

This will go to cover the full cost of the consultants who are based in Powys and have done similar work for major organisations across Wales.

SML chair Phil Robinson said: “We are absolutely delighted that the Lottery has agreed to grant us this money which will now allow us to finish the job we started over two years ago.

“Like many organisations our work, which we believe is vital to the future of our town, was disrupted by the pandemic.

“In our case that was just as we were reaching the final furlong of what had been quite a tough exercise.

“We believe that our consultations with the public were the most exhaustive ever undertaken in Llangollen and resulted in over 1,700 separate answers to the questions we posed on what people liked and disliked about their town and the way in which they would like to see it go forward.

“We remain extremely grateful to everyone who took part in our question-and-answer sessions and now also to the Lottery’s Community Fund by granting us this fantastic sum which will help our work to be finished and our community to thrive.”          

MP welcomes extra 95 police in north Wales since last year

Clwyd South MP Simon Baynes has welcomed the announcement that North Wales has been bolstered by an additional 95 officers since the Conservative UK Government launched its major police recruitment drive one year ago.

The addition of these new officers brings the total number of police across North Wales up to 1,602.

Since the launch of the UK Government’s recruitment campaign one year ago, a total of 5,824 extra officers have joined police forces across England and Wales.

My Baynes says these statistics confirm that the UK Government remains fully on track to meet its manifesto commitment of recruiting 20,000 extra officers by 2023, and is ahead of schedule to have the first 6,000 in place by March 2021.

The figures also show, he says, that the police workforce is now more diverse than ever before, with 10.7 per cent of new recruits identifying as Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic, and with 9,842 of all officers now being from these groups.

"Alongside the recruitment campaign, the Conservative UK Government is also boosting police pay by 2.5 per cent this year, equivalent to a constable receiving an extra £1,100, providing officers with an increase above inflation for the second year running, the largest pay rise in a decade," Mr Baynes said.

"The Government is also enshrining a new police covenant into law, which will offer enhanced support and protection for frontline officers, and is bringing forward legislation to double the maximum sentence for those convicted of assaults on frontline staff including police officers, firefighters and paramedics.

"Other steps to support our frontline officers include a £1.1 billion funding boost for police forces this year – the biggest increase in a decade, funding to provide over 8,000 more officers with Taser devices, and personalised new stop and search powers so that officers can effectively target repeat offenders."

He added: "Getting more police officers onto our streets is one of people’s top priorities, so I am delighted that in just over one year, this Conservative Government has already delivered an extra 95 officers across North Wales.

“Every one of these officers will make an enormous difference in helping to cut crime and keep people safe – and I know that many more will follow as this UK Government continues to deliver on its promise to recruit 20,000 more over the next three years.

“By backing our police with the funding, powers and resources they need, we are keeping the public and our communities safe, so that people everywhere can live their lives free from the fear of crime.”

Home Secretary Priti Patel said: “Getting more police officers on our streets is a priority for the British people – therefore a priority for me.

“Just one year since we began recruiting, I am delighted that there are nearly 6,000 of the 20,000 additional officers on our streets cutting crime and making your communities safer.

“As we’ve seen from the frontline response to coronavirus, the work of each and every police officer helps to save lives and I would like to extend my gratitude to them, and to the new recruits, for joining the police and being a part of this heroic national effort.”