This week is the final week of recess before MPs return to Parliament on Tuesday. Normally, MPs spend recess in their constituencies - meeting residents and making visits to businesses, charities and others. Unfortunately, the COVID outbreak has made that more difficult this year but it has been interesting to see the various ways colleagues have overcome these challenges.
This week saw the final day of the Chancellor’s Eat Out To Help Out scheme – which has been a huge success, with 64 million meals having been enjoyed by diners across the country since the launch of the scheme.
Data from OpenTable shows that during Eat Out to Help Out’s third week, the number of customers at UK restaurants was 61% higher than last year’s average for the same days. This is excellent news, and it has been amazing to see so many people supporting our fantastic local pubs, restaurants and cafes. I am delighted that many restaurants will be continuing the discount, and I hope people continue to support local businesses.
Next week also sees schools fully re-open, having mostly been closed since the beginning of the Coronavirus outbreak. Firstly, I’d like to express my thanks to all the teachers and other staff who have worked throughout the Coronavirus outbreak – keeping schools open for the children of key workers and providing work and support for children unable to attend school.
Unfortunately, the COVID lockdown meant significant disruption to pupils’ educations this year, so I was pleased to hear that a £1 billion COVID-19 ‘catch-up’ package will be in place this academic year to directly tackle the impact of lost teaching time. This one-off grant to support pupils recognises that all young people have lost time in education as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, regardless of their income or background.
However, it is vital that schools re-open and children get back into the classroom. It is excellent to see the continued progress being made in reducing the transmission of coronavirus, but I appreciate that people will want to know what safety measures are in place in schools. It is useful to bear in mind that the youngest in our society are at the least risk from coronavirus. The latest research – including one of the largest studies on the coronavirus in schools in the world – makes clear that there is little evidence that the virus is transmitted at school. However, to help schools reopen, guidance has been published on how schools can return safely - this includes advice on hygiene, social distancing and the different ways schools may need to operate. Testing is also available to anyone living in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland and the NHS Test and Trace programme is now operational and ready to react to any cases detected.
Finally, as residents may be aware, permission has now been refused for Wasdell’s proposed Science Park. Whilst I supported the application, this was always going to be a contentious decision, balancing the understandable need to protect greenbelt land with the very real need to support a growing Swindon business. The Planning Committee have made a clear decision and I hope that Swindon Borough Council will now make every effort to work with Wasdell to find an alternative site - this is crucial.
