Credit: Marcin Nowak Almost three years after the Domestic Abuse Bill was promised, the return of the legislation to parliament has been widely welcomed and ‘urgently’ needed, as the Coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated domestic abuse across England. What will the Bill do The flagship Bill aims to improve the national response to domestic abuse across housing, health, social care and the court’s system to better tackle and prevent abuse. A new statutory definition of domestic abuse that doesn’t just consider physical abuse, but also emotional, coercive or controlling and economic abuse will be introduced. More duties will be placed on English local authorities to provide…
Author: Aida Fofana
A “landmark” reform to mental health laws was announced last week, with aims to tackle discrimination and give more autonomy to individuals care and treatment. Credit: Gary Brigden via CommunityCare Reforms will give more control to the individual over their care and treatment over being detained. Currently under the act people with mental health issues can be detained if they are deemed to be a threat to themselves or others. Decisive action on disproportionate impact The balance of power aims to tackle disparities for those who access mental health services, particularly people of colour. The use of the act saw…
Credit: Christopher Bill via Unsplash The Labour party is using its Opposition Day, later today, to force a House of Commons vote against government plans to cut the £20 a-week Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit increase. Calls for the government to reconsider the ‘temporary scheme’ have been echoed by the liberal Conservativism think tank, Blue Bright. Deprivation is on the rise New analysis reveals the “exacerbating regional inequality in England” as a result of the pandemic. ‘Left behind’ industrial communities and coastal towns have experienced high rises in Universal Credit claims, undermining the governments ‘level up’ scheme, the analysis…
Credit: Nipotan via Flickr A Birmingham supermarket will be the first in the country to facilitate instore Covid vaccinations The first supermarket in the country to facilitate instore Covid vaccinations will be a Birmingham branch ASDA store. ASDA CEO and president, Rodger Burnley, celebrated the news saying “We are incredibly proud to provide this service and are keen to do all we can to help the NHS and Government accelerate the rollout of the vaccination programme.” He added: “We have an extensive nationwide logistics network that could support the storage and distribution of the vaccine and our highly-trained pharmacy colleagues…
Credit: Andy Zurich via Flickr Amid the second lockdown, 32% of small business owners were concerned about the impact of the pandemic on their mental wellbeing. As the nation enters the second week of lockdown, Birmingham based KTREW tattoo studio owners Ivy Trewartha-Bustamante and Kirstie Trewartha-Bustamante express how lockdowns have impacted them. “Real ups and downs. I think it’s been the stop and start that has been really difficult on the business and mental health as well.”Kirstie “The stopping and starting hasn’t been easy, because when we do go back, I don’t know about Kirstie, but I’m twice as nervous.”Ivy…