Government urged to produce new rural strategy ahead of Brexit
Press release FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Friday, 1 March 2019 Rural services providers call on Government to seize opportunity to end “rural mainstreaming” Rural services providers and community organisations across England are today calling on the Government to produce an urgent comprehensive strategy for rural areas in preparation for Brexit, in light of a warning that […]
How to reduce rural ambulance waits
An article from the BBC discusses how the NHS is promising to reduce the gap between how long it takes to get a 999 response to critically injured patients in rural and urban areas. A BBC News investigation into the highest-category callouts has found rural areas waited over 50% longer. That equates to four minutes […]
Department for Education finds rural schools struggle to recruit
Tes reports this week on a new study from the Department for Education that finds even ‘successful’ small rural primary schools are still struggling to overcome financial difficulties, and facing challenges recruiting staff and delivering a broad curriculum. The research was carried out to identify good practice for small rural primary schools using a sample […]
Minister pledges tax on online retail
Northern Powerhouse and high streets minister Jake Berry MP has pledged to extend the future Digital Services Tax to include a two per cent tax on online retail, according to Retail Week. The tax would be used to level the playing field between bricks and mortar shops and online retailers, who often have the upper […]
New funding burdens to be reviewed by Government
The MJ this week reports that the issue of new funding responsibilities placed on councils was raised by the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee. The Committee questioned Local Government Minister Rishi Sunak on extra costs that councils are facing such as Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC). He replied: ‘Coming up to the Spending Review, we […]
MPs urge Ofcom to hold operators to account on rural 4G
CityA.M. reports that the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Rural Business has raised concerns about how Ofcom’s commitments for 500 new mobile masts and 90 per cent 4G geographic coverage across the UK will be monitored. Ofcom has agreed to lower costs for mobile operators to build new masts, but MPs are worried because operators […]
Pressure on to not close rural bank branches
Nationwide is to pile pressure on high street rivals with a marketing campaign promising it will not leave towns deserted according to an article in This is Money The building society is pledging that it will not close any of its 650 branches if they are the last in town, and vowing to stick to […]
