Brent Trades  Council is urging local residents and trade unionists to sign an open letter to Sadiq Khan urging him to stop  attempts to change the working conditions of London bus drivers.

The change, called 'remote sign on', would mean drivers instead of going to a garage to begin their working day going to a bus stop or other venue and joining a bus. Their working time would begin at that point and pay would be reduced if the bus was late. Drivers would only be paid for the time they are behind the wheel. The bus stop would of course lack the facilities of toilets and canteens available at a garage and limit interaction with other bus workers.  It is believed that the change would equate to a 7% fall in earnings.

SIGN THE OPEN LETTER  HERE

 From Brent Council

Former Councillor Pam Jordan has sadly passed away peacefully at her home in Neasden.

Pam served as a committed Councillor, representing Cricklewood ward from 1978 to 1982 and Willesden Green ward from 1986 to 1990.

She was also Chair of Governors at the College of North West London for many years and Director of the Tricycle Theatre Company.

Mayor of Brent Cllr Ernest Ezeajughi, said:

Pam’s death is very sad news. She was an excellent public servant and will be greatly missed by everyone at the council.

My thoughts are with her friends and family at this incredibly difficult time.

'Wembley Park', the Quintain off-shoot today which has commandeered the name of our area, today launched the steps replacement for the Pedway as if it was a gift to local people -  '48 Steps for the Community' - of course the community (via Brent Council) made Quintain a gift of some £17.8m  of Strategic CIL money to part-fund the steps and other changes on Olympic Way.

I am sure  that people from the  far reaches of Brent  will rush up to Wembley avoiding broken pavements, pot holes and fly-tips to marvel at this gift and enjoy sitting on the steps.

The Press Release from Coverdale Barclay (click bottom right for full page) 

 Guest post from Philip Grant

Although lockdown restrictions because of the Covid-19 pandemic are beginning to ease, normal services at facilities like our local libraries are still something for the future. In the meantime, a small team from Brent Libraries is still working hard to provide free online events for residents of all ages. You can find the details and sign up for free tickets, by “clicking” here.

Events in the programme include “Storytime & Rhyme” sessions every Tuesday morning for under 5s and their parents, “coffee morning" sessions for adults at home and a number of evening talks. Within the next fortnight there are three 6.30pm evening sessions on books and authors (including an “adults only” story presentation, “Death and the Warrior Maiden”, for World Book Night on 23 April!).

The next “coffee morning” event, on Tuesday 20 April at 11am, is a session hosted by Brent Museum and Archives, “Talking Brent’s Heritage”, where residents are welcome to share pictures and stories from our borough’s past. And while I am still not able to give local history talks, planned for 2020, at Kingsbury, Wembley and Willesden Green Libraries, I have been able to offer an online one. 

Originally given at a Kingsbury Library “coffee morning” in 2016, I hope that this updated version of “Amy Johnson – From Kingsbury to Australia” will appeal to a wider audience. It concentrates on a year in her life, aged just 26, which saw an unknown secretary from Hull transformed into a world-famous aviator. And most of that year was spent living and working in Kingsbury!

It’s the story of a young woman who decided that she wanted to fly, and how she overcame prejudice to fulfil her dream, through hard work and determination. The rules said that women were not allowed in the London Aeroplane Club’s maintenance hangers at Stag Lane Aerodrome, in case they distracted the aircraft mechanics. How did you get round that, if you were a woman who wanted to become one?

Amy Johnson, working at Stag Lane Aerodrome.

Going solo to Australia was not what she originally had in mind, when she began her flying lessons. But that is what she set off to do on 5 May 1930, and what a journey it was! 

My online “coffee morning” talk, onWednesday 5 May 2021, from 11am to 12noon, is (by pure chance) on the 91^st anniversary of the day she took off for Australia from Croydon Aerodrome. The details, and free tickets for the talk, can be found here.

On her way to Australia, Croydon Aerodrome, 5 May 1930.

Like all of my library talks, and articles, this one has plenty of illustrations. If you think it may be of interest to you, please check out the details, and sign up for this free Brent Libraries online event. I look forward to sharing my talk with you on Wednesday 5 May!

Philip Grant.

Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87086823773

Transition Town Kensal to Kilburn (TTKK) is inviting local residents to take part in a competition this spring. 

Our volunteer organisation has created three grants - one £500 grant and two £250 grants.

To enter the competition, participants need to fulfill the following criteria :

-       live in the Kensal to Kilburn area,

-       submit an idea for a community project that would benefit residents living in the area,

-       be ready to turn the project into action this year.

The projects submitted need to bring people together and protect the environment. The grants will finance the material costs of the successful bids.

TTTKK, a local volunteer group created in 2009 and advocating a transition to an environmentally friendly way of life, isparticularly keen to get some young people enter the competition. One of the £250 grants will be allocated to a resident under 25 years old. 

However, the group is generally looking for new people of all ages and origins to create a more resilient local community in the face of climate change. 

Inject new energy into the group by submitting project ideas

Over the last decade, TTKK volunteers have made a positive impact in the Kensal to Kilburn area by setting up community gardens, harvesting fruit every summer, planting trees and organising regular electric and electronic repair events etc.

Some TTKK members have also created their own separate organisations to take their project further. For example, Brent Pure Energy is a community benefit society that has been funding solar panels for local schools since 2016. 

Fruit tree harvesting in Kilburn last summer

“As we are coming out of lockdown, we would like to inject some new energy into our group of dedicated volunteers”, says Janey McAllester, one of the fruit picking group leaders. “Making the most of our local community and environment has brought us a lot of satisfaction and joy. We want to create more opportunities for fellow residents to enjoy the benefits of a life deeply rooted in our local area”, adds Amandine Alexandre, another TTKK volunteer. 

People attend our online Zoom meeting on Thursday April 22nd at 7pm (link here)and by submitting their idea by email before Monday June 7th  mail@ttkensaltokilburn.ning.com

Please apply with up to 100 words about your idea, yourself, the road you live in, how it would work, what help you would need or like and how long you think it will take for you to complete the project.

Projects that meet the criteria will be shortlisted by local people voting at a meeting on June 23rd in the eveningand then Transition Town Kensal to Kilburn will select the three best projects. 

Restart party at The Library in Willesden in 2015

TTKK can help people find others interested in making their idea happen and help with advice. “We are happy to provide feedback and help develop and present the project”, underlines Michael Stuart, a founding member of TTKK. 

Expenses are reimbursed against receipts or we can pay for items directly so prize winners are not out of pocket. If your project costs less than the full amount the money will be reallocated to extra projects.  

Unfortunately, you can't apply if you are:

-       an organisation - individuals or small groups of individuals only please,

-       if your idea should be covered by statutory funding (as in health care and social care funded by the government and local authorities),

-       If you are promoting religion.

TTKK can be contacted via Michael Stuart. You can email him at: michael.stuart6@googlemail.com

You can visit our website here.

Book here: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/3760955803309245197

 From the Historic England website LINK

A key stretch of buildings is set to be restored at an important gateway to the area. This will help to make the town centre more attractive and welcoming, and help Harlesden retain its character and sense of place in the face of major new developments nearby.

Harlesden is a bustling, vibrant and multi-cultural hub within Brent, London Borough of Culture 2020. But its High Street has declined over a number of decades. Some of the High Street's Victorian and Edwardian buildings have seen better days. 

Harlesden is vulnerable to sweeping changes with nearby major developments in the pipeline which could undermine the social and economic character of the town centre. 

The High Street Heritage Action Zone outlined on a street plan of Harlesden © Crown Copyright and database right 2020. All rights reserved. Ordnance Survey Licence number 100024900

How the Harlesden High Street Heritage Action Zone will help

The High Street Heritage Action Zone aims to create an attractive gateway to Harlesden town centre and support the local economy, traders and entrepreneurs, as well as offering local people high quality community spaces to come together and maintain their sense of local identity. There is an opportunity to make improvements to some of the wonderful historic buildings here so that residents, business owners and visitors benefit. 

An exciting project is planned, led by the Refugee Support Network, to transform a disused former bank into a focus for support for young people, workspace for small businesses, and a meeting place for community groups. The bank is at a focal point in the centre of the High Street and will bring alive this prominent building. 

Elsewhere, shop fronts will be repaired and restored, with opportunities for apprentices, and for shopkeepers to learn basic maintenance skills for their buildings to help maintain the sense of pride in the local area.

 Guest post by Liz Wood of North Devon Green Party. This was originally a letter to her local newspaper. I asked for permission to post as a guest article as it sums up the issues so well.

Anyone would think the Government doesn’t want us to know its plans for the NHS.  The consultation period on its current white paper was half the normal time and ran from 26 November till 8 January, when we were focussed on family and Christmas and New Year festivities, and also somewhat preoccupied with Covid.  Hardly anyone knew a consultation was taking place.  No effort seems to have been made to inform the public.  So we are left to conclude that the wide support claimed by the white paper must be from private companies (many of them American) already doing rather well from the NHS and from others now also expecting to pocket taxpayers’ hard-earned money.

The NHS in England is rapidly being reorganised into 42 regional Integrated Care Systems.  ICSs are, in fact, American style insurance-based ACSs, with the name changed slightly in an attempt to prevent us recognising them for what they are.  They are based on a “population health” model from the United States, which aims to spend less on care.

Some 83 corporations and businesses, including 22 from the US, are getting heavily involved in developing ICSs and possibly will sit on their boards, putting them in a prime position to guide decisions in their own favour.  It is significant that the head of NHS England, Sir Simon Stevens, previously worked for the American company, United Health, and that Boris Johnson’s medical adviser, Samantha Jones was CEO of Operose, a subsidiary of Centene.

Unaccountable ICS board plans will be binding. They could well mean more private contracts awarded without safeguards, more down-skilling and outsourcing of NHS jobs, deregulation of professional standards, reduced services (partially replaced by ‘digital’ options and volunteers), data-sharing to suit the system, and significant spending cuts.

Local authorities will lose the power to refer decisions on Reconfiguration (e.g. service closures) to the Secretary of State.

Unfortunately the Government’s successful and welcome vaccination programme seems to have made us forget the earlier incompetence and failures.  Tens of thousands of lives could have been saved by a prompt and adequate response to the first inklings of the threat of Covid.  Even before the onset of the pandemic the NHS was already stretched to breaking point by cuts and too frequent reorganisations.  Huge sums had been given to overpaid managers and consultancy firms to work out how many hospital beds they could close, which services they could cut and how many hospitals they could shut, whilst frontline workers were so overworked and underpaid that they were leaving the service in droves. 

Successive Conservative Governments allowed stocks of PPE to run down and decided not to replenish them, despite being warned in 2016 of the imminence of a pandemic.  When Covid did arrive, the Government refused offers from several firms to manufacture PPE, and instead handed millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money to large corporations lacking the necessary expertise and experience.  

Professor Anthony Costello said that the Government’s failure to set up adequate testing and tracing meant that Covid could never be properly suppressed in the UK.  Again, the Government had handed out billions to private companies who were inexperienced and incompetent, instead of giving the tasks to local authorities, who did have experience in contact tracing and hospital labs, who had experience in testing.

The heroic efforts of our health professionals have been consistently undermined since 1979 by successive Conservative governments bent on destroying the NHS, in order to replace it with an American-style, insurance-based system that in the US has led to bankruptcy, both for individuals struggling to pay astronomical health bills and for companies saddled with huge insurance costs for their workforce: a system that can even leave people lacking adequate insurance to die on the streets.

We must insist that the white paper be paused and a proper consultation conducted.  We need to read the proposals in the current white paper on ICSs very carefully and oppose them with all our might, or else we shall lose our precious health service altogether.  We must demand that Eleanor Smith’s National Health Reinstatement Bill be enacted.  For all our sakes we need to save what is left of the NHS and get back what we have lost.

Local Demonstration - Willesden Centre, Robson Avenue tomorrow 2-3pm

49 GP practices in England have been taken over by a private health company based in the United States. The decision was made, very quickly and quietly, at a Brent Clinical Commissioning Group  meeting in December. 

The GPs who had been on the board have resigned and been replaced by appintees from the insurance company. Three of the GP practices are in Brent and one of them is in Willesden Green - The Burnley practice based at Willesden Centre for Health & Care in Robson Avenue. 

There are London wide demonstration against the takeover planned for Thursday 22nd April. The local demonstration Outside Willesden Centre for Health & Care, Robson Avenue, NW10 3RY - where the Burnley GP practice is based. Time 2-3pm Stay for 5 minutes, stay for an hour. Wear a mask, keep socially distanced. 

If it gets too crowded we may have to do a walking march / demo along Robson Avenue! 

Bring a home made banner with you. Bring a friend. (You can go to Roundwood Park after the demo!) In Central London - there is a demonstration outside Centene headquarters, the details are: Address: Operose Health HQ, 77 New Cavendish St, W1 6XB Time 3-4pm 

The Background 

Green Left the eco-socialist group in the Green Party has issued the following statement in sypport of tomorrow's demonstrations:

Green Left urges Green Party members and supporters to join the campaign against the takeover of General Practice surgeries by Operose Health, owned by Centene, a US health company.  The campaign includes a demonstration outside Operose Health HQ in Central London on Demonstration outside Centene headquarters on Thursday 22^ndApril 2021 3-4pm (Operose Health, 77 New Cavendish Street, W1 6XB) and in other areas of London as well as Nottingham and Leeds. Details here: https://keepournhspublic.com/event/stop-corporate-take-over-gp-surgeries/

Green Left notes that 70 GP practices in the UK, 49 of them in London, have been taken over by the Centene Corporation, a major US health insurer, through its UK subsidiary, Operose. These were approved by NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) without consulting the public or local councils and with minimal oversight of the effect on NHS staff and quality of service. 

We demand that CCGs prohibit any further takeovers by Centene or other for-profit companies; and that all such existing for-profit contracts be terminated as soon as legally possible. 

We believe that Centene has made its large investment in UK NHS GP practices, through Its UK subsidiary Operose, in the expectation that Operose will in future pay dividends to the parent company. Operose has contracts to digitalise the NHS, transferring various patient-physician interactions to online only, with serious implications for future quality of care. It is clear from the business model that dividends will involve the closure of non-profitable parts of its business. This could include closure of GP practices that remain unprofitable despite "rationalisation" through cuts in staff, wages and services to patients. Local GP practices in deprived communities, or with a large number of older patients, may be particularly vulnerable to closure and transfer of patients to large area GP hubs. This will create difficulty for patients with impaired mobility to reach a doctor. 

We cannot trust   the 'due diligence' of CCGs who permitted the sale of independent-provider contracts to a new corporate owner, while apparently ignoring that Centene is accused by the Attorney General of defrauding Ohio of millions of dollars of Medicaid payments.

Unless these profit-driven takeovers are stopped, our NHS GP Services will be commercialised and taxpayers will pay more for a reduced service, the profits ending up in the US.

More information is available here: https://weownit.org.uk/blog/3-reasons-centene-bad-your-local-gp-practice

Photo: Amanda Rose

Photo: Martin Francis

Photo: Amanda Rose

Photo: Martin Francis

There was a good turnout today outside the Burnley GP Practice in the Willesden Centre.  The practice has recently been taken over by US private health conglomerate Centene along with two others in Brent and many in the rest of London.

The protesters were cross party and no party and included Cllr Janice Long an oustanding champion of the NHS.  The protest was part of national action by campaign group WeOwnIt  and organised as a local alternative for those who could not make it to Centene's national HQ in Central London. 

PETITIONING IN GLADSTONE PARK

 NHS Banner Photo: Anna Delazol

A demonstration and petitioning was also held in Gladstone Park for those unable to attend the event in Willesden.  One of the organisers said:

In one hour we met around 60 people.Some wondered why so little or nothing is in the news about the takeovers of GP practices by Operose and Centene. Others promised to sign the petition on ‘We Own It’ website. Some signed up to offer help in campaigning in the future. People were worried about the Integrating Care Systems proposals by the Tory Government to restructure the NHS in England. We should all be worried.

The protestors were joined by Cllr Shafique Choudhary.

Lawyers involved in the Grenfell Tower Inquiry into the 2017 fire which killed 72 people have described it “as a landmark act of discrimination against disabled and vulnerable people”.

The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Council knew about the conditions of Disabled people living in Grenfell Tower but refused to provide them with evacuation plans, and housed some on the upper floors with a ‘stay put’ fire policy, the Inquiry into the Tower fire has heard.

Source Disability Rights UK  

Readers may recall several articles Wembley Matters has published about the plight of disabled pensioner John Healy who lives in a Brent Council block on the  South Kilburn Estate.

John wrote a personal blog on March 12th  about the issues he was facing and Brent Council made the following statement in response:

"Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (PEEP) are essential for anyone who may need assistance in the unlikely event of being advised to leave a building because of fire. We're concerned that something seems to have gone wrong here and have contacted Mr Healy to put it right."

John Healy contacted the Council and the Council could not find the PEEP request he had made and asked him to resubmit. He resubmitted and has heard nothing further. John says that officers have stopped replying to his emails.

In their evidence LINK  to the Grenfell Inquiry Bindmans pointed out the failure of the Tenant Management Organisation (TMO) to assess residents' needs:

 Dr Lane finds no evidence that TMO assessed the needs of any vulnerable person in GT in the event of a fire3. This failure resulted in TMO not being appraised of the fire precautions required by RRO in order to protect residents, including vulnerable residents, and failing to advise LFB of the need to assist the vulnerable. The lack of appropriate precautions is reflected in the deaths: a quarter of the 67 child residents present on the night died and 41% of the 37 vulnerable adult residents died.These groups suffered higher death rates than any other category on the night. Yet TMO's spreadsheet emailed during the fire showed only 10 out of 225 residents listed with disabilities5

 Mr Healy is rightly concerned that Brent Council has also failed to adequately assess the needs of its vulnerable residents, putting them at considerable risk.  I would go further and say that they are repeating what Kensington and Chelsea did in ignoring the pleas of their tenants when they draw attention to deficiencies in safety precautions in their blocks. Brent Council brought council housing back in house instead of having the arms length organisation ,Brent Housing Partnership - Brent Housing has direct control and thus direct responsibility for the welbeing and safety of its tenants.

It even appears the Mr Healy is seen as a nuisance who can be ignored.  Today he wrote to his housing officer:

Good afternoon, you may be aware that the Grenfell Inquiry heard today from an officer of Kensington & Chelsea council, as he responded about why he failed to issue PEEPs to several disabled residents in the block, including many who tragically died on the night.

I myself have been asking for a PEEP since last September and I still have not been sent one.

I also need to see the evacuation policy for everyone at William Dunbar House.

And finally can you send me a copy of the latest Fire Risk Assesssment for William Dunbar House please?

Cllr Janice Long has submitted a generic  question to the Council  about PEEPs. according to Mr Healy, which gave him some hopes, but the Council has 14 days to reply, prolonging the uncertainty and anxiety.

John told Wembley Matters he had  contacted a senior officer who deals with Council policy:

 I asked him what did he mean when he said in a debate on Fire Safety in Brent's tower blocks:-

"In terms of people with special needs, we will try and relocate the residents if necessary".

The cabinet said they would review their position on retrofitting sprinklers in the 8 South Kilburn tower blocks (including William Dunbar House), once the result of the South Kilburn resident's ballot is known but they seem to have forgotten to have the review.

I have to remain in my block for several years without any sprinklers, even after the London Fire Brigade  said they could only say a high rise is safe, if they have sprinklers installed in them.

I also checked my most recent Fire Risk Assessment for my block---William Dunbar House over evacuation which says:-

"Physically disabled people should be relatively safe in their own abode should a fire occur elsewhere in the building".

Our rating is 'moderate' which says "in a serious fire there are llikely to be some deaths but not too many".

So if some will die in a serious fire, I have a feeling it is most likely to be me, or another disabled person living in my block.

Just to add, the Brent Housing officers who were dealing with me through email have stopped replying to me.  They have not responded to my Stage 1 complaint either, even though it has gone past their 20 days waiting time before they are supposed to respond.

 So this pensioner with very limited mobility and extreme deafness is left without a Personal Emergency Plan, that is required by law, on the 5th floor of a block without sprinklers or an alarm system that he can hear and with his request for relocation refused. On top of that his Stage 1 complaint made in order to get some sort of hearing has not been responded to within the required 5 days and a further 20 to find a solution. The complaint was made 38 days ago.

Is it any surprise that he feels desperate, ignored and sick with worry?

 From CPRE London on behalf of the More Natural Capital coalition

In the run up to the elections on 6 May we urge you to ask all the candidates for Mayor of London and the London Assembly to support the More Natural Capital proposals and encourage your family and friends to do likewise. Details of the election candidates can be found here: https://www.londonelects.org.uk/im-voter/candidates

More information about all the issues in the More Natural Capital manifesto and the groups involved can be found on the Wildlife and Countryside Link website here: https://www.wcl.org.uk/london-mayoral-election-blogs.asp

You can find out more about CPRE London's Ten New Parks campaign here https://www.cprelondon.org.uk/news/lets-create-ten-major-new-parks-for-london-now/

You can find out more about Ramblers initiative to promote six new green walking routes in London here: https://www.ramblers.org.uk/news/latest-news/2021/april/london-ramblers-launch-greenways-map-in-bid-for-six-new-green-walking-routes.aspx

 From Brent Council

On Sunday 25 April, the Carabao Cup Final will be held at Wembley Stadium (kick-off 16.30pm). This is the second of three pilot events at the Stadium, which are part of the Government’s Events Research Programme.

We have been working closely with the Football Association, as well as the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) in preparation for bringing spectators safely back to the Stadium.

There will be 8,800 fans in attendance – the majority being local key workers and residents. Everybody in attendance will be asked to show evidence of a negative Covid-19 test taken 24 hours prior to the event.

We will be carefully reviewing the data that the government collects as part of their Research Programme and this will inform planning for the Euro football tournament in June and July.

We are expecting the testing centre at Brent Civic Centre to be busy on Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 April with ticket-holders, and ask that anyone who is not attending the event to use alternative testing sites nearby. For alternative sites and to book, go to:brent.gov.uk/covidtesting  

We would also ask those not attending the event on Sunday to be mindful of the fact the area around Wembley Stadium will be busy.

Event Day Parking rules will not apply, but residents in the event zone should ensure their permits are up-to-date in time for the next Event Day on 15 May.

For information on other testing sites, please visit: brent.gov.uk/covidtesting

The Brent Council AGM was moved from May 19th to April 29th without any explanation. This moved the largely ceremonial meeting into the pre-election period (purdah) when contentious policy decisions or initiatives that could be of advantage to a political party are banned.   Councillors will be reminded of this requirement before the meeting

However, today's Labour Group AGM, might want to discuss an item that is on the Council AGM Agenda. This is one that involves increased delegated powers for Cabinet members and the CEO following advice from Luke Hall MP, Minister of State for Regional Growth and Local Government that once the Covid regulations expire that they use existing power to delegate decision making to reduce the number of meetings required.  

Brent Council Leader Muhammed Butt has agreed to such action.  This raises the issue for me that a mainly one party council with power already concentrated by the Cabinet model, will have even less scrutiny from backbench councillors and the public.

The extent of these delegated powers can be seen in the document below (click bottom right for full page view):

 From the National Education Union - a brilliant initiative

 Today, the National Education Union formally endorses Are Vaccines Safe? and will promote the tools to its membership. As the largest education union in Europe, this is a major next step. 

The Runnymede Trust, a leading independent think tank on issues of race equality, is also supporting the materials.

• The Stephen Hawking Foundation has launched free critical-thinking learning tools for schools to support discussion around the topic of vaccinations.
• This school assembly and lesson plan has been developed in collaboration with schools, leading research institutions and community representatives.
• As a critical thinking teaching aid, the tools focus on the COVID vaccine and tackle head on conspiracy theories that have led to limited uptake in some communities.
• Today, the National Education Union adds its support to these vital materials. The NEU will be promoting them directly to its 450,000 members. Think-tank the Runnymede Trust is also supporting the teaching aid.

Available here as a PowerPoint, and over the course of 46 slides, Are Vaccines Safe? provides teachers and school leaders with accurate, up-to-date scientific information on a range of frequently asked questions about the vaccination programme. It has been structured to allow school age students to engage fully in a conversation about any uncertainties or concerns they may have. Staff who lead the assembly or class are provided with additional notes and references.

The Stephen Hawking Foundation is named after one of the most respected thinkers in modern science, who died in 2018. The Foundation has worked with staff at Morpeth School, London, who initially devised these materials for assemblies and classrooms, as a continuation of Hawking’s belief in critical thinking and public engagement with science.

The tools have now been further developed with Queen Mary University of London and the Vaccine Confidence Project at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) with the help of school-age students, teachers, scientists, science communicators and community representatives. The resources will continue to be subject to regular revision over the coming months, in order to keep pace with the science, the news agenda and the public conversation.

Are Vaccines Safe? was the brainchild of Ed Stubbs, a secondary school teacher at Morpeth School in Tower Hamlets, East London. He told us: “As a teacher previously working in inner-city Liverpool, and now in London, I have noticed students becoming increasingly fearful of vaccination. Some of my students and their families refuse their school vaccinations. I hear incorrect, and 'conspiracy' information shared in my classroom. I fear that students' real and fictional concerns increase UK vaccine hesitancy. The charged and often accusatory debate about vaccination choices can make young people feel hesitant about voicing their concerns and seeking help in debunking false information. They fear critical judgement over their doubts. I decided to create a set of unbiased resources for use in schools.”

The learning materials (PowerPoint file, Teacher's notes and PDF) can be downloaded free from the Stephen Hawking Foundation website. The public-facing link is www.stephenhawkingfoundation.org/vaccines. 

Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said:

“As a former science teacher myself, I know that school is absolutely the right place for this conversation to be held. Young people have many questions about COVID and the vaccine, and this is not surprising when they themselves have been so frequently at the centre of its news coverage. These brilliant tools are accessible and robust, tackling many of the myths which can build so easily online and within communities. We are sure that our members will find them a fantastic resource.”

Dr Halima Begum, chief executive of the Runnymede Trust, said:

“Young people are faced with conflicting information about vaccines at a time when we are all trying to cope with and manage a public health crisis like never before. Enabling young people to ask questions about vaccines and their efficacy, as well as build good public health and science understanding, will help with building their confidence in taking the vaccine and making an informed decision, supported by teachers.

"This will have a particularly positive effect on young people from BME groups who are often in households where their grandparents and parents rely on good advice from their children, as a result of various cultural barriers in accessing community health support.”

Lucy Hawking, chair of the Stephen Hawking Foundation's Trustees, said:

"We are delighted to have the endorsement of two organisations with such strong dedication to schools and their communities. Working on these tools has been one of the most timely and impactful projects the Stephen Hawking Foundation has ever run. This is essential educational outreach at a critical time, and we greatly appreciate the efforts of everyone involved throughout its development.

"Initial feedback shows a warm reception by educators in the UK and as we hoped, is a useful and productive resource for schools to give students a chance to explore issues around vaccination through asking questions and providing accurate, scientific answers. We hope more schools, families and students will have the chance to access this resource.” 

Professor Heidi Larson, director of the Vaccine Confidence Project, said: 

"I feel teachers are ideally placed to combat the UK’s falling vaccination rates. This programme has been carefully calibrated to include the insights of some of the leading scientists in this field but to make the information accessible to people of all ages and communities.”

The tools have also been developed with and supported by science communicator Dr Emily Grossman, who said:

“In a world full of fake news and dangerous misinformation, it’s so important that the young people of today can find out the truth about the COVID vaccine.

"This set of resources is so valuable, not only because it communicates simply and effectively the science behind how vaccines work, how effective they are and how safe they are; but also because it allows young people to ask questions and it allays concerns they might have from reading confusing, conflicting and at times frightening reports on the internet. The more widely this resource pack is distributed, the better informed this generation will be. Not only will that allow them to make better decisions based on solid science, it will also give them the tools they need in order to analyse information more critically in the future.”

 From Inside Housing

Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing (MTVH), which owns and manages around 57,000 homes including much of the Chalkhill Estate in Wembley, has committed to offering all new shared owners 990-year leases following a policy review.

Existing shared owners, of which MTVH has around 8,700 through its SO Resi brand, will be offered the chance to extend their lease to 990 years from June 2021 for a cost based on the size of their equity share.

The changes will only apply to schemes where MTVH is the freeholder.

It will also scrap ground rents for all new sales on schemes where MTVH is the freeholder, effective immediately.

Marriage value – the property value increase following the lease extension – will no longer be considered when calculating extension costs.

From April 2022, all 6,500 MTVH leaseholders will see ground rents phased out on properties where the association is the freeholder, as well as being given the option to buy a 990-year lease extension without marriage value costs.

MTVH said the changes are intended to improve security and cut costs for its shared owner

From Brent Trades Council