Up Front
Mayor calls for urgent support to protect businesses The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has met with firms to highlight the urgent action needed to protect their future in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. With current estimates indicating that one third of the retail and hospitality workforce could potentially be made redundant by the end of this year, the mayor has written to the Prime Minister with eight proposals that would help secure firms’ future survival. These include: • An extension to the business rates holiday, which is due to end in March, or a discount for businesses in the central London area for the next year, guaranteed now • A direct financial aid scheme for hospitality, retail, leisure and cultural businesses in central London • Targeted support for jobs and the extension to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme for retail, hospitality, leisure, and creative businesses • Extended support for freelancers and the self-employed • Overhaul of business rates • A support scheme for SMEs that are struggling to meet their rent bills due to coronavirus
• Increased investment in NHS Test and Trace and more support for hospitality businesses to implement systems • Other measures which might increase public confidence, such as making face coverings compulsory in the busiest public spaces (as has been done in Paris), and further scientific research into the efficacy of such measures Sadiq Khan said: “For decades, central London has been the economic engine of the UK, a cultural powerhouse, and a gateway for global tourism to the UK. It now faces a real existential threat from the COVID-19 pandemic. “In the face of a perfect economic storm, our businesses need urgent and sustained support from government to ensure they can survive this pandemic. This must include extending the business rates holiday beyond next March, in addition to a comprehensive package of new financial support.”
Funding gives skills boost to 15,000 young Londoners
More than 15,000 young Londoners benefited from an additional £2.1million investment by the mayor Sadiq Khan in activities and projects over the summer, to boost skills, improve mental health and steer young people away from becoming involved in violence. The funding helped 85 youth organisations across the capital at a crucial time, as London emerged from lockdown and ahead of the new school year. City Hall research, backed up by a UK Youth report on the impact of COVID-19, shows that lockdown has had a significant impact on young people’s mental health, wellbeing, loneliness, activity levels and future opportunities, and continues to have a disproportionate impact on the most vulnerable, those from disadvantaged backgrounds, and those from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, who are likely to suffer the
worst effects of the recession. The research also reveals evidence of a link between poor mental health, poverty and deprivation, and young people becoming involved in or becoming victims of serious violence. The Mayor of London and London’s Violence Reduction Unit invested an extra £2.1 million to support projects which are dedicated to improving the wellbeing and opportunities of young people aged up to 25 across London, including some of the most vulnerable young people and their families. Sophie Linden, deputy mayor for policing and crime, said:
“The mayor’s funding is supporting some of the city’s most vulnerable young people, providing crucial activities – sports and creative programmes – that help build skills, relationships and resilience. They also provide early-intervention opportunities to prevent young people from being involved in or a victim of crime.” Since the launch of the mayor’s Young Londoners Fund in May 2018, it has supported more than 300 projects that will help more than 110,000 young people fulfil their potential, particularly those who are at risk of getting caught up in crime.
Council calls on businesses to help stamp out racism Southwark Council has written to local businesses to ask them to join the council in standing together against racism and injustice, and to work with the council to take positive action to ensure equality of opportunity and a fairer future for all. Cllr Johnson Situ, cabinet member for growth and planning, is leading a new, proactive approach in this area of work under the Southwark Stands Together initiative. The initiative forms a clear, threepart focus on ways in which the community can identify, listen, learn, and tackle racism and inequality in the borough. It includes an anti-racist audit of the borough to identify statues and street names that do not reflect the borough’s diversity, especially anything with links to slavery or the country’s colonial past, and to identify positive opportunities for the celebration of more diverse figures which truly reflect the foundation on which Southwark stands. Running parallel is a listening exercise with communities across the borough, partner organisations, and council staff, to hear their concerns. The aim is to explore the plethora of ways racism creates barriers to BAME people achieving true equality, from jobs and prospects, to housing, safety and health. With this increased knowledge, the council hopes to identify solutions to address entrenched and persistent racism and injustice. It has now written to businesses and organisations in the borough, inviting them to get involved in the initiative. Councillor Situ said: “Nobody should ever feel that society has placed a glass ceiling on their ambition. Our promise of a fairer future for all is committed to ensuring no person in Southwark should feel that there is no hope, and that nothing will change. In the borough, and as a society, we must actively do better to address the structural inequalities that still hold black people back.”
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