Government progress fixing crumbling schools and hospitals

Around 30,000 children are able to go to school safe in the knowledge that their classroom isn’t crumbling around them any more, thanks to the government’s investment to remove RAAC from schools

Also this week, thousands of patients and staff across England will be better protected in safer hospitals as the government confirms 7 more sites have eradicated RAAC, including Churchill Hospital, Oxford. A further 12, including Royal Hampshire County Hospital, Winchester and St Mary’s Community Hospital, Portsmouth, are set to be completed by the end of March 2026.

Homes to be better protected from floods this winter as Taskforce boosts nation’s resilience

Communities up and down the country continue to benefit from increased flood protection thanks to the Government’s Floods Resilience Taskforce which convened this week.

Floods Minister Emma Hardy said: “I know first-hand the disruption that flooding has on people’s lives and the unexpected costs it causes. Since being established last year, our Taskforce has helped ensure communities have the protection they need from the dangers of flooding. Under our Plan for Change, we are investing billions to build new flood defences, which will protect homes and businesses across the country.”

New defence growth deals created to boost local economies under major sector plan

Working families across the country will benefit from opportunities thanks to the Defence Industrial Strategy, from highly skilled engineering positions to apprenticeships for young people starting their careers, ensuring that the defence dividend is felt in communities across the UK.

Defence Secretary, John Healey MP said: “The Defence Industrial Strategy will make defence an engine for growth across the UK, backing British jobs, British industry and British innovators. We want to make the UK the best place in the world to start and grow a defence firm and will put Britain at the leading edge of innovation.”

First neighbourhood health services rolling out

Millions of people are set to benefit from improved care closer to home, as the government begins to roll out new neighbourhood health services. With general practice as the cornerstone, these will draw together a range of professions to develop a neighbourhood health team consisting of community nurses, hospital doctors, social care workers, pharmacists, dentists, optometrists, paramedics, social prescribers, local government organisations and the voluntary sector. They will initially focus on supporting people with long-term conditions such as diabetes, arthritis, angina, high blood pressure, MS or epilepsy. There are 43 places in wave 1, including East Berkshire and Slough, Portsmouth, East Kent, East Surrey, Buckinghamshire and East Sussex in the South East.

New remote face scanning tech to monitor offenders and cut crime

As part of a new pilot, offenders will have to answer to remote check-in surveillance on their own mobile devices. This is in addition to their tough licence conditions, like GPS tags and in person appointments with their probation officer, to make our streets safer.

Lord Timpson, Minister for Prisons, Probation and Reducing Reoffending, said: “This new pilot keeps the watchful eye of our probation officers on these offenders wherever they are, helping catapult our analogue justice system into a new digital age. It’s bold ideas like this that are helping us tackle the challenges we face. We are protecting the public, supporting our staff, and making our streets safer as part of our Plan for Change.”