COVID September 2020 Written answers
Question No: 2020/3060
Andrew Dismore
Have you assessed the likelihood and impact of a second wave of coronavirus infections on the Economy of London, not only on the arts and cultural sector, but also the culinary sector, education sector, and overall impact on jobs?
Coronavirus Second Wave [1]
The Mayor
Last updated: 21 September, 2020
GLA Economics has developed and recently updated medium-term macroeconomic scenarios for London – informed by the recent Bank of England’s and OBR’s projections for the UK – to examine the impact on London if these national scenarios came true.
Under the central scenario – where some restrictions and social distancing measures remain in place until late in 2021 but a gradual return to economic growth prevails -, London’s economy would contract by 10.5% this year before returning to growth in 2021. In terms of output, the worst-hit sectors this year would be Accommodation and food services (-30.1%); Arts, entertainment and recreation (-25.3%), and Education (-24.7%). The fall in London employment is expected to be only 1.7% this year due to the Government’s current support to businesses but employment will contract further next year and its recovery is projected to be significantly slower than outputs. A more serious second wave (leading to reintroduction of stricter lockdown measures) would worsen these impacts.
Question No: 2020/3061
Andrew Dismore
Have you assessed the impact a second wave of coronavirus would have on GLA services, especially the police, fire brigade and TfL, including the impact on their budgets?
Answer for Coronavirus Second Wave [2]
The Mayor
Last updated: 22 September, 2020
Officers are drafting a response
Rollout of Coronavirus Vaccine in London
Question No: 2020/3062
Andrew Dismore
Have you had discussions with the Government on how the rollout of a coronavirus vaccine (if and when it happens) will work?
Rollout of Coronavirus Vaccine in London
The Mayor
Last updated: 21 September, 2020
An effective and operational vaccine will be crucial to getting our economy fully back up and running, and allowing Londoners to go back to doing the things they love. PHE’s ‘Beyond the numbers report’ also signals how important it will be to ensure that those at higher risk from COVID are immunised as soon as possible if and when a vaccine becomes available.
To date I have not yet had any conversations with Government about the roll out of the vaccine. I look forward to working with Government and regional partners including PHE, the NHS and Local Authorities to ensure that the rollout of any vaccine is a success and reaches all the Londoners it needs to.
Question No: 2020/3110
Andrew Dismore
Nearly 7,000 Londoners have died of the Covid 19 virus Will you consider organising a memorial or ceremony to mourn those Londoners lost to the virus?
Answer for Memorial to Covid 19 victims
The Mayor
Last updated: 22 September, 2020
Officers are drafting a response
Learning from Exercise Cygnus (1)
Question No: 2020/3111
Andrew Dismore
Was improved wifi and audiovisual equipment provided for the Strategic Coordinating Group following this being flagged as an issue in the review of Exercise Cygnus?
Learning from Exercise Cygnus (1)
The Mayor
Last updated: 21 September, 2020
The arrangements for hosting and facilitating Strategic Coordinating Groups are constantly reviewed and worked upon to ensure that the meetings can be held virtually to maximise participation and ease of administration.
Wifi access at MPS Lambeth facility had been enhanced for visitors operating from that facility. The London Resilience Group issued personal portable devices to all its staff in late 2017 to enable administrative support to SCGs from any location. This capability has been proven during several recent responses where the administrative support has been provided remotely.
During the recent COVID response the SCG has utilised further enhancements in technology and now regularly runs its meeting through video conferencing applications and retains the ability to revert to teleconferencing facilities with more secure features if required.
Learning from Exercise Cygnus (2)
Question No: 2020/3112
Andrew Dismore
Was the excess deaths framework developed following the lessons of Exercise Cygnus suitable or adaptable for the covid-19 pandemic?
Learning from Exercise Cygnus (2)
The Mayor
Last updated: 21 September, 2020
The Excess Deaths Framework that was further developed following Exercise Cygnus was adapted and utilised for the COVID 19 pandemic and provided the basis for the initial mortality management response.
The frameworks in use by the Resilience Partnership are not focussed on, and only applicable to, a single risk cause. They provide the generic framework of options and likely issues to provide the responders with the tools to develop the specific plan applicable to the scenario they are faced with.
Learning from Exercise Cygnus (3)
Question No: 2020/3113
Andrew Dismore
During Exercise Cygnus, which “critical public services” did it become apparent would be “overwhelmed in the event of severe pandemic influenza due to capacity limitations or interdependencies across organisations and sectors”?
Learning from Exercise Cygnus (3)
The Mayor
Last updated: 21 September, 2020
Exercise Cygnus was a National Command Post Exercise, as such the focus was on procedural aspects and the mechanisms to coordinate the response between local and national levels, as opposed the going into such detail of organisational scenarios which would allow participants to fully examine their capacity limitations.
The response to a pandemic and the capacity of each organisation would be dependant on the varying infection rates, absenteeism and increased demand for service that a pandemic produces. The details of these potential realities were not provided in sufficient depth to determine if critical public services would have been overwhelmed.
It is the purpose of individual organisational pandemic planning to identify their internal capacity limitations and make plans for prioritisation of services and alternative service delivery to meet the needs of their critical public service delivery.
Question No: 2020/3053
Andrew Dismore
Have you had any discussions with the Government regarding the scrapping of PHE? If so have you emphasised that this is a kick in the teeth to the economy and provision of jobs in Barnet, given how many employees based in their Colindale centre are local residents?
Answer for Public Health England
The Mayor
Last updated: 22 September, 2020
Officers are drafting a response
Question No: 2020/3054
Andrew Dismore
Do you know how many A-Level students from London had grades downgraded?
A-Level Chaos [1]
The Mayor
Last updated: 21 September, 2020
Ofqual figures showed that 39.1% of the 718,276 teacher assessments for A-levels submitted in England were lowered by one or more grade during its standardisation process. There is no public data on the percentage of London students that were downgraded.
Statistics on the number of reviews of marking and moderation for GCSE, AS and A level are due to be published by Ofqual between December 2020 and January 2021.
Question No: 2020/3055
Andrew Dismore
What impact do you consider the A-Level results chaos will have on young people in London, and what is your message to them?
A-Level Chaos [2]
The Mayor
Last updated: 21 September, 2020
I’d like to congratulate students from across the capital who got their results this summer for their hard work. London’s young people, like many all over the country, have endured a dreadful year and have suffered further due to the chaos over A-level results. This confusion compounded the uncertainty young people were already feeling as a result of the pandemic at such a crucial juncture in their lives. On 13 August, I wrote to the Secretary of State for Education to raise my concerns regarding A-level results. This fiasco could have been completely avoided if the Government had taken action months ago.
As school leavers take their next steps this Autumn, we anticipate an increase in young people experiencing mental and emotional distress. We know that some issues emerge immediately, but others appear later, with the return of some kind of normality. It is important young people feel free to seek help without stigma or feeling embarrassed.
The Good Thinking digital mental health and wellbeing service, signposts to a wide range of online and voluntary sector support as well as clinical resources https://www.good-thinking.uk/
Question No: 2020/3056
Andrew Dismore
Have you had any discussion with London universities after the A-Level results chaos? What is their feedback? Have you raised this with the Government?
A-Level Chaos [3]
The Mayor
Last updated: 21 September, 2020
I welcomed the reversal in policy to Centre Assessed Grades, but this last minute change has placed enormous logistical pressures on London’s universities and caused significant unnecessary distress for young people. This matter has also been discussed by the London Transition Board Education subgroup, chaired by Cllr Peter John which includes representatives from London’s HE sector. Students are the number one priority for universities, and admissions teams have worked tirelessly to ensure as many students as possible can start their desired course. Unfortunately for some students, this will mean deferring till next year.
London Higher has rightly highlighted the logistical challenges faced by universities trying to accommodate additional students at short notice, while remaining Covid-secure. This disruption and the removal of temporary student number caps also raises new financial concerns for institutions whose financial modelling has been impacted. I am calling on government to ensure that adequate emergency support funding is in place for higher education institutions.
Question No: 2020/3057
Andrew Dismore
What discussions have you had with the arts sector regarding the financial stability of the arts and cultural sector in London? What was their feedback? Have you raised this with the Government?
Cultural Landmarks in trouble
The Mayor
Last updated: 21 September, 2020
Since March, we have liaised extensively with the sector and expanded our Culture at Risk Office, responding to over 630 cases since lockdown. My Deputy Mayor for Culture and Creative Industries, Justine Simons OBE, has been in close and continuous dialogue with the arts sector and has hosted a number of industry roundtables on the impact of the pandemic on creative workspace, freelancers and the self-employed and, night time business. Following evidence from industry that independent cinemas, grassroots music and LGBTQ+ venues and creative workspaces were at particular risk of imminent closure, we launched the £2.3m Culture at Risk Business Support Fund to help save them. This has supported 97 organisations and over 11,500 individuals to date.
We have collaborated with the Creative Industries Federation and Oxford Economics to publish evidence on the devastating financial impact of COVID-19 on culture. Our research shows that London could lose up to £16.5bn in 2020 and 151,000 jobs due to the pandemic.
I have repeatedly called on Government to provide targeted support for jobs by extending the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme for cultural and creative organisations that cannot operate sustainably, or at all, under continued social distancing requirements.
Question No: 2020/3058
Andrew Dismore
Have you received representations from London’s culinary sector on the current state of their industry? What was their feedback, particularly with regards to Eat Out to Help Out? Have you raised this with the Government?
Answer for Culinary sector in London
The Mayor
Last updated: 22 September, 2020
Officers are drafting a response
Face coverings on TfL services
Question No: 2020/3125
Andrew Dismore
Despite publicity, it is clear that some passengers are ignoring the requirement to wear face coverings on TfL services. What can you do to encourage better compliance? As some people appear to think that the rules don’t apply to tube station concourses and platforms, but put on coverings when boarding trains, will you improve the publicity to make clear the rules apply throughout stations as well as on trains and buses?
Answer for Face coverings on TfL services
The Mayor
Last updated: 22 September, 2020
Officers are drafting a response
