Covid-19: Local Restrictions

Lord Craig of Radley Excerpts

Friday 9th October 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

My Lords, I take exception to the noble Baroness’s characterisation of our approach. In fact, local planning and response are recognised as an essential part of our response to Covid, and are very much at the heart of the service. We want to have local outbreak control plans across the country. The development of local outbreak control plans is led by directors of public health; they are done on behalf of upper-tier local authorities, where the statutory responsibility for directors of public health sits, and are regularly reviewed by the local NHS, GPs, local employers, voluntary organisations and other community partners. There is also a link with local resilience forums, integrated care systems, combined local authorities and directly elected mayors as appropriate.

[Lord Craig of Radley (CB) [V]]

My Lords, this begs the question of whether local administrations in England might be given blanket parliamentary authority to make their own rules and guidance, as do devolved regions. Is that acceptable to the Government? What evidence do the Government have on whether these divergences in rules and guidance create public confusion, misunderstanding and breaches of them?

[Lord Bethell (Con)]

Our approach is based on the partnership between central and local government. Local government has a distinctive and unique role to play; local authorities work with employers, businesses and other relevant commercial groups to help prevent and control outbreaks, and their local outbreak plans will provide opportunities to build on that information best to support businesses and other local services to return to normal operations in a safe way. It is that partnership between national and local government that will build a successful response to the Covid epidemic.