Politics

The new Communications Services framework has proved extremely popular with suppliers, resulting in a number of small businesses signing up to work with government for the first time.

The Government Communications Service (GCS) published the list of communications agencies that have been selected to help deliver ground-breaking government and public sector campaigns over the next 4 years earlier this month.

Of the 67 agencies selected for the new framework, 69% are small or medium-sized businesses, 22 are based outside of London and 44 are new to government business. These companies will now be eligible to bid and play key roles in cutting edge campaigns on topics ranging from public health to armed forces recruitment and promoting apprenticeships.

The Communications Services framework complements the Campaign Solutions framework announced in December.

Designed to to help public bodies tap into the very best expertise and talent in the communications industry, the 2 frameworks provide a flexible approach to working collaboratively with agencies to design and deliver innovative solutions for your campaigns.

Campaign Solutions offers a choice of 27 agencies, half of which are SMEs, who will be able to design, plan and deliver entire campaigns.

David Skinner, Crown Commercial Service’s Director of Corporate Solutions said:

A wide variety of innovative, exciting and talented agencies are now on the framework, including many small businesses.

This will provide public sector bodies with the tailored, specialist and flexible advice they need to develop cutting edge campaigns.

Both frameworks were developed in conjunction with GCS. GCS involved around 600 agencies and ran 5 events across the country to shape the new frameworks in a way that will work better for everyone and benefit UK citizens.

In this financial year the GCS is expected to deliver around 100 campaigns.

The government supports investment in the transport network given the benefits it provides to the economy. That is why we are providing substantial funding for the Mersey Gateway Bridge scheme in Halton.

In addition, the government is delivering a number of transport improvements in and around Halton. These include:

• the Halton Curve which will enable passenger services from North Wales and West Cheshire to directly access Liverpool city centre and Liverpool John Lennon airport
• Warrington Waterfront transport infrastructure scheme, a package of highway investment, including a bridge over the River Mersey, which opens up commercial land and alleviates congestion to the south of Warrington town centre
• the Omega J8 (M62) Highway Improvements to support the rapid and significant expansion of the Omega employment site now employing over 5,000 people
• access Improvements to Knowsley Industrial Park and A5300 Knowsley Expressway improvements, highway investments to support access to one of the major employment sites in Liverpool city region

As part of the Department for Transport’s Road Investment Strategy, Highways England (HE) will deliver the M56 J11a scheme to provide a new junction with the Mersey Gateway Bridge which will support the Daresbury Enterprise Zone, key to the knowledge economy in the north-west.

In 2015 the government announced it would look at the feasibility of extending Mersey Gateway bridge toll discounts to residents of Cheshire West & Chester and Warrington. The department has undertaken detailed work and evaluated options for how this could happen, what the costs would be and what this would do to the contracts already signed by Halton Borough Council to deliver the scheme and the tolling infrastructure.

The feasibility work, considered the legal position and the costs to the taxpayer and concluded that free tolling will not be extended beyond Halton Borough Council.

The government has already provided £86 million to Halton to develop the scheme, to pay for land and to deal with land contamination. Once the scheme opens, the government will also be providing a further substantial contribution of £288 million to help fund both the cost of the bridge and also to increase the funds available to enable residents of Halton to use the bridge for free.

It is government policy that users of estuarial crossings should help pay for the benefits they receive. The Mersey Gateway is no different. As is the case with the Dartford Crossings, an exception is to be made for residents of Halton given that the existing Silver Jubilee Crossing is the only road link between the two halves of the borough. Other users will have a range of frequent user discounts available to them to use a crossing that will deliver considerable congestion and journey time improvements to boost the region’s economy.

In evaluating the options open to the government we have considered a number of issues. On the legal side, the feasibility work showed there would be a significant risk of a successful legal challenge to a decision to extend free tolling to some local Councils and not others. On the cost side extending free tolling to only a handful of local Councils would still be at a substantial cost to the taxpayer. An extension of user discounts to not just Cheshire West & Chester and Warrington, as originally suggested, but also to the other 3 authorities that neighbour Halton (Knowsley, Liverpool City Council and St Helens), would be at an estimated cost of £604 million to the public purse. If, as is the case with Halton, the cost was to be split between the government and local authorities, £377 million would fall to the 5 local Councils. For all these reasons we have taken the decision not to extend free tolling beyond Halton.

The Mersey Gateway Bridge is on target for opening in autumn 2017 which is a great testimony to the hard work that all parties including Halton Borough Council have put into this scheme.

With only half the adult population knowing their blood pressure, Public Health England (PHE) is encouraging all adults over the age of 40 to get it tested as part of the NHS Health Check, a simple measure that could save their life. If found to be at risk, high blood pressure can be managed and reduced by making simple lifestyle changes.

PHE’s latest edition of Health matters – a resource for local authorities and health professionals – which has been launched today (24 January 2017) outlines the actions that can be taken to combat high blood pressure.

Often dubbed the ‘silent killer’, as it rarely causes symptoms, high blood pressure affects more than 1 in 4 people in England and was responsible for around 75,000 deaths in 2015.

Evidence summarised in Health matters shows:

• the NHS Health Check helps diagnose a new case of high blood pressure in every 27 checks
• despite being largely preventable, diseases caused by high blood pressure cost the NHS over £2.1 billion a year
• if the population as a whole reduced their average blood pressure by 5mmHg this could save the NHS, social care, and local authorities £850 million on health and social care costs
• £120 million in savings could also be achieved just by increasing the number of adults who have high blood pressure diagnosed by 15%
• over 10 million people, aged 40 to 74, have been invited for an NHS Health Check since it launched in 2013 but just under half (46%) actually took the offer up

Professor Kevin Fenton, Director of Health and Wellbeing at PHE, said:

It is a serious problem when a disease that is largely preventable, like high blood pressure, is one of the leading causes of premature death and ill-health in the country.

We all memorise important numbers in our lives, whether it’s our PIN and telephone numbers or the latest football scores. Knowing your blood pressure number is an easy step to take that has the potential to save your life.

GP Dr Matt Kearney, NHS England’s National Clinical Director for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention, said:

High blood pressure is currently placing an unnecessary, heavy burden on the NHS. Earlier detection and improved treatment of high blood pressure would have a big impact in preventing heart attacks and strokes, and would save large amounts of money in health and social care.

Catherine Kelly, British Heart Foundation (BHF) Director of Prevention, Survival and Support, said:

5.5 million people in the UK are living with undiagnosed high blood pressure which puts them at a much higher risk of suffering a potentially deadly heart attack or stroke. For a condition which is so easily detected and managed, this figure is simply unacceptable and we need an urgent improvement in the number of people diagnosed with this silent killer.

As well as funding £25 million of research into high blood pressure over the past 5 years, the BHF is also working alongside partners on a range of innovative projects which enable individuals and health care professionals to better prevent, diagnose and treat high blood pressure.

High blood pressure, and its effects such as heart disease, stroke and vascular dementia, can be improved or prevented by making simple lifestyle changes. These include maintaining a healthy weight, having an active lifestyle, reducing your salt, saturated fat and alcohol intake, and knowing your blood pressure numbers.

PHE has a number of tools to help people lead a healthier lifestyle such as the new free Be Food Smart app by Change4Life. This shows how much salt, saturated fat and sugar is in the food and drink they consume, making it easier to choose low salt and saturated fat options.

PHE’s One You quiz is an easy way to assess your current lifestyle, including diet, physical activity, smoking, and alcohol consumption, and receive free personalised information, apps and tools to help prevent or improve high blood pressure and achieve a healthier you.

People over the age of 30 years old are also encouraged to access the NHS Choices and BHF heart age tool, which will provide users with a heart age plus advice about improving your heart health.