ENGLANDS NHS prescription charges will be frozen for the 1st time in 12 years to help with the cost of living. Charges usually increase in line with average inflation. This year; in a move not seen for over a decade; the cost for prescriptions will remain the same to help ease cost of living pressures and ensure prescription medication remains accessible.

This means people in England who pay prescription charges are saving £17 million overall. Charges for prescriptions will remain at £9.35 for a single charge or £30.25 for a 3 month prescription prepayment certificate (PPCs). 12 month PPCs will remain at £108.10 and can be paid for in instalments, meaning people can get all the medicines they need for just over £2 a week.

In addition to the freeze on charges, the NHS Low Income scheme offers help with prescription payments, with free prescriptions for eligible people within certain groups such as pensioners, students, and those who receive state benefits or live in care homes.

Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid said:- "The rise in the cost of living has been unavoidable as we face global challenges and the repercussions of Putin's illegal war in Ukraine. Whilst we can't completely prevent these rises, where we can help; we absolutely will. This is why I am freezing prescription charges to help ease some of these pressures and put money back in people's pockets."

The Government and NHS is working to tackle the covid backlogs while reforming routine care services, ending long waits and improving patient care. The Pandemic has put huge pressure on health and care services and over the next three years, a record £39 billion will be invested through the Health and Care Levy, so the NHS has the funding it needs. The NHS is opening new surgical hubs and 160 community diagnostic centres so patients have easier access to tests closer to home; with 88 already open, delivering over 800,000 scans.

In addition, the Health and Care Bill received Royal Assent last month, enacting the most significant health legislation in a decade into law. It marks an important step in the Government's ambitious health and care agenda, setting up systems and structures to reform how health and adult social care work together, tackle long waiting lists built up during the Pandemic, and address some of the long-term challenges faced by the country including a growing and ageing population, chronic conditions and inequalities in health outcomes.

The Government is listening to people's concerns and targeting support at the lowest paid in society, with measures worth over £22 billion in 2022 to 2023 to help with the cost of energy bills and to ensure people keep more of their money. This includes raising the threshold at which people start to pay National Insurance to £12,570, providing a £330 a year tax cut to 30 million workers in July 2022. The National Living Wage has risen to £9.50 per hour; an extra £1,000 a year for a full time worker, and taxes have been cut for the lowest paid workers on Universal Credit, so they can keep more of what they earn.

Mayor Steve Rotheram to host 1st Liverpool City Region Active Travel Summit

ON Tuesday, 24 May 2022, Mayor Steve Rotheram will host the Liverpool City Region's 1st Active Travel Summit, bringing together advocates, activists and policymakers to discuss the future of walking and cycling in the Region.

The half day event will be held at the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority's offices at Mann Island, just moments from Liverpool's iconic waterfront and on the Strand which has recently been upgraded with new best in class segregated walking and cycling routes.

Mayor Rotheram and the Combined Authority have already committed more than £40m to build the first walking and cycling routes of a planned 600km network which will cover all 6 boroughs of the Liverpool City Region:- Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral; with a further £200m pledged from the City Region Sustainable Transport fund for schemes which support active travel.

The inaugural Liverpool City Region Active Travel Summit will feature panels and presentations from leading figures in Active Travel and passionate local advocates including:-

► Chris Boardman MBE, Olympic Gold Medal Winning Cyclist and Interim Commissioner of new national walking and cycling body Active Travel England

► Simon O'Brien, BAFTA award winning Actor and Presenter and Liverpool City Region's Active Travel Commissioner

► Rosslyn Colderley, North of England Director of leading sustainable travel advocacy charity Sustrans

► Ibe Hayter, founder of Cycle of Life; a grassroots organisation based in Toxteth who aim to support cycling amongst the community

Alongside the main summit at Mann Island, representatives from walking and cycling advocacy charity Wheels 4 All will be hosting a guided ride and the Liverpool BID will be holding an all day fringe event in the Liverpool's business district focusing on encouraging more people to cycle in the City Centre.

The Summit spin off will feature a range of stalls and stands dedicated to cycle safety skills, bike repair and maintenance and electric bike demonstrations.

► Main summit (1 Mann Island, L3 1BP):- 9.30am to 1.30pm.

► Wheels 4 All Guided Ride (1 Mann Island, L3 1BP):- 2pm to 4pm.

► Liverpool BID summit business district event (Exchange Flags, L2 3YL):- 8am to 3pmm

Bill Esterson MP urges Government to provide funding for rebuild of "crumbling" Lydiate Primary School

BILL Esterson MP has again written to the Government to request funding be made available for a "crumbling" Merseyside School. Mr Esterson, MP for Sefton Central, told Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi that Lydiate Primary School is damp, the roof leaks and parts of the building are unsafe. The ceiling of the Headteacher's office recently collapsed. Sefton Council has made a bid to the Government's School Rebuilding Programme requesting the funds for a full renovation.

Mr Esterson wrote to Mr Zahawi, on Monday, 16 May 2022:- "Lydiate Primary School in my constituency is in desperate need of a rebuild. Staff at the School do an excellent job, but the building is damp, the heating system needs constant repairs, the roof leaks and parts of the building are unsafe. The damp conditions are a health hazard and resulted in the ceiling of the headteacher's office recently collapsing. The latest survey showed a significant deterioration in conditions since the previous survey was carried out. Lydiate Primary was hoping to receive funds from the Government's School buildings fund but the School was not selected among the 1st 100 Schools. Sefton Council has submitted a bid for Lydiate Primary to be beneficiaries in the next round of funding in the highest priority category. Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the School System Baroness Barran told me in a letter dated 31 March 2022 that 300 more Schools will be provisionally selected for redevelopment later this year. It is imperative that the Schools are selected and informed of the department's decision without delay. Please could you therefore let me know when a decision is going to be made and confirm that you accept the seriousness of the situation which faces children, parents and staff at Lydiate Primary School."

After sending the letter, Mr Esterson said:- "The Government must not drag its feet in making the decisions around which Schools will benefit from the next round of funding. Our children deserve better than this. For the headteacher to arrive at her office one morning to find the ceiling has fallen in is completely unacceptable and it is on the Government's watch that the School and so many others like it has been starved of the funding they need to stop the building from falling into this level of disrepair. No child should have to go to School in a building that is crumbling."

It was reported over the weekend that some School buildings in England are now in such disrepair they are a:- "risk to life."

Bridget Phillipson MP, the shadow education secretary, said in response:- "The Conservatives have failed a generation of children by slashing investment in our Schools over their 12 years in power. Their negligence is now putting lives in danger, but still the secretary of state can't persuade the chancellor to act. Labour would build a Britain where children come first, but the Tories are standing by as England's Schools are falling down."

She wrote on Twitter that Conservative ministers were failing to support children's recovery from the Pandemic, were failing to ensure the safety of School buildings, and were failing to address the cost of childcare. She said:- "Time and again, the Tories are failing our children."