News
Evidence suggests that food fraud continues to be an issue in the global food supply chain. This POSTnote provides an overview of food fraud, including its drivers and impacts. It discusses methods for food authenticity testing, broader strategies to prevent food fraud and impacts of EU exit.
Find the full POSTNote here: https://post.parliament.uk/research-briefings/post-pn-0624/
In the daily briefing Matt Hancock announced that the number of deaths with Coronavirus listed as a cause was 55, the lowest figure since the start of the lockdown. The total death toll now stands at 40,597. Hancock warned that numbers do tend to be lower over the weekend but assured the public that the low figure does suggest that the pandemic is under control.
The number of excess deaths recorded by the ONS since the start of the pandemic are 64,000. This figure includes deaths directly attributed to Coronavirus, deaths probably caused by Coronavirus, even if not listed as such, and deaths caused by the wider consequences of the crisis.
The UK’s flood risk from rivers, surface water and ground-water is projected to increase with climate change. Natural flood management (NFM) can be described as using the natural features of the land to store and slow down the flow of water. NFM is being piloted across the UK and its expansion is an objective of the Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan. This POSTnote examines the evidence for the effectiveness of NFM at reducing flood risk, and successful governance approaches to implementing NFM measures.
Find the full POSTNote here: https://post.parliament.uk/research-briefings/post-pn-0623/
On 25 and 26 June 2020 the House of Commons Library is offering a series of sessions which are aimed at helping Members’ staff deal with casework arising from the coronavirus pandemic. The sessions will also be of wider interest to Members’ staff interested in policy development.
The sessions will be provided online via MS Teams and will be recorded, so if you miss one you can listen later.
The cut-off date for signing up is Midnight on 22 June 2020.
You must have a Parliamentary network account to access this. See here for more details: https://parliament.learningpool.com/course/view.php?id=1735
The Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology has launched a new series of rapid response content on COVID-19 which you can find here: https://post.parliament.uk/category/analysis/covid-19/
The R value, which measures the rate at which one individual passes on Coronavirus to others, has risen to between 0.7 and 1.0.
The total death toll as result of Coronavirus now stands at 40,261, an increase of 357 as of today.
In the daily briefing the Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, announced that all hospital visitors and outpatients will now be required to wear face masks. Face coverings are already mandatory on public transport.
Hancock also advised the public to not attend the protests for George Floyd in London this weekend because of the possible of the risk of further spreading the virus.
The total death toll as a result of Coronavirus now stands at 39,728, an increase of 359 as of today.
In the daily briefing the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, urged anyone with symptoms to apply for a test at www.nhs.uk/coronavirus, as soon as they develop symptoms. Johnson also announced that anyone arriving in the UK from abroad will be asked to isolate for 14-days.
The Government’s report into BAME deaths as a result of Coronavirus has led to controversy after third-party submissions were left out of the Government’s commissioned report. Organisations such as the Muslim Council of Britain have expressed dismay at the lack of inclusion of their suggestions to tackle racism and discrimination in the NHS.
The total death toll as a result of Coronavirus is 39,369, an increase of 324 as of today.
The Chairman of the UK Statistics Authority has criticised the Government for their presentation of data on testing. The Government has recently claimed that their capacity for testing exceeds 200,000 a day. However, Sir David Norgrove has objected to this presentation of the testing figures because it does not give any indication of how many people are tested.
Death rates from Coronavirus in England have been higher amongst Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people, according to a government enquiry into the effects of Coronavirus on BAME people. People of Bangladeshi background face the greatest danger of dying from the disease, their risk of death is double that of white British people.
1,570 Coronavirus cases have been confirmed as of yesterday, the lowest since 25 March. The total death toll as a result of Coronavirus now stands at 39,045, an increase of 111 as of today.
In the daily briefing Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, stated that this trend suggests that the UK government is making significant progress with combating the virus.
According to a new survey, more than half of parents are planning to keep their children at home, despite primary schools being open to more pupils from Today. Schools across the country are trialing new measures, such as reducing class sizes to 15, to deal with Coronavirus.
Brexit negotiations between the UK and EU are still undergoing. The deadline for the UK to request an extension for up to two years is the end of June.
In the daily briefing the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, announced plans to wind down the Government’s furlough scheme. The plan set out by the Chancellor aims to gradually end the furlough scheme by November.
In the June and July the scheme will continue and the tax payer contribution will stay at 80%.
In August, employers will be asked to pay national insurance and employer pension contributions – around 5% of the total employee cost – whilst the tax payer contribution remains at 80%.
In September, taxpayers will contribute 70% and employers be asked to pay 10% towards furloughing workers.
Finally, in October the taxpayer contribution will go down to 60% and the employer contribution will increase to 20%. The scheme will then end in November.
From July the flexible furlough scheme will be made available to employers. This will allow employers to retain workers part time, paying them for time worked, whilst the rest of their wage is made up through the furlough scheme. The deadline for applicants to the flexible furlough scheme will be June 10th.
The Government’s self-employment income scheme will be extended in the same fashion that it was implemented in March. The self-employed will receive a single instalment of three months of average profits, the final grant making up 70% of their average earnings.