Local Government Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic in the UK: A Thematic Review

Gore, Tony; Bimpson, Emma; Dobson, Julian; Parkes, Stephen

doi:10.7190/cresr.2021.6172521344

Cited by 15 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 32 publications

(37 reference statements)

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“…This governance framework has permitted country divergences in the duration, timing and breadth of lockdown with differing policies for hospitality, leisure, mask wearing and recommendations for home working. Not only this, but as UK lockdown stringency changed through time, central government in England and Scotland applied geographically differentiated restrictions to cope with spatial hotspots of infection (Gore et al, 2021). The prime example of this is the use of restriction tiers in the Autumn and Winter of 2020−2021 with different parts of Scotland and England in various lockdown levels (Brown & Kirk‐Wade, 2021).…”

Section: Review Of Pandemic Responsesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Not going out during the Covid‐19 pandemic? A multilevel geographical analysis of UK Google Mobility Reports, February 2020–December 2021

Shuttleworth¹,

Gould

2023

Population Space and Place

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The analysis reported in this paper uses Google Mobility Reports to understand subnational trends in population spatial immobility/mobility in the United Kingdom during 2020 and 2021. Using multilevel modelling, it analyses how spatial mobility changed through time in response to the strictness of government lockdown and the annual seasonal cycle of public holidays, and between places in terms of their population composition as measured by the shares of the highly-educationally qualified and the self-employed. The results show that there are no consistent differences between the nations of the United Kingdom; that time spent at home increased with the severity of lockdown; that the share of highly qualified was also a good predictor of staying at home; and that there were major effects from public holidays. The analysis did not explain all the variation between places and dates; it is suggested that this is because of randomisation of the data by Google and unmodelled factors such as tiered restrictions.

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Section: Review Of Pandemic Responsesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Not going out during the Covid‐19 pandemic? A multilevel geographical analysis of UK Google Mobility Reports, February 2020–December 2021

Shuttleworth¹,

Gould

2023

Population Space and Place

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“…Upper-tier local authorities (UTLAs) are county councils, which are responsible for services such as education, social services, highways and transport, and waste management, among others. One of the responsibilities of the UTLAs is to uphold public health, where they are responsible for providing health services, such as immunisation programs and health education 15 . There exist 317 UTLAs in England.…”

Section: Summary Of Covid-19 Decision-making In Englandmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The closure of schools has also had a significant impact on children's education and development. Most importantly for the scope of this article, the policies have disproportionately affected various sections of the population, highlighting the importance of incorporating the demographic factors which might determine the effectiveness of public healthcare policies 15,16 .…”

Section: Summary Of Covid-19 Decision-making In Englandmentioning

confidence: 99%

Demographic Influence on the Effectiveness of England's SARS-CoV-2 Policies

Dhada

Montes

2023

Preprint

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Health data is key for the development of medicinal drugs, treatments, and policy-planning to control the spread of infectious diseases. However, the collection, curation, and interpretation of health data is often biased. This paper discusses England-wide impact of public policies to control the spread of SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) infections, based on the recorded per-capita infection cases between July 2020 to January 2023. The analysis presented herewith highlights the disparities across the upper local tier authorities, in the number of Covid-19 cases recorded in response to the policies. This paper further presents the correlation between the Covid-19 cases count and demographic factors, thus identifying the key factors determining the effectiveness of the NHS policies. This in turn highlights the need for incorporating demographic imbalance in the policy planning process. It is concluded that the upper local tier authorities comprise of three clusters of low, mid, and high prevalence of Covid-19 infections. Where the regions with high prevalence of Covid-19 cases are associated with relatively higher proportions of Black/ Mixed racial groups, amongst a mid-range and low internal Migrations.

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“…Between March and October 2020, English local authorities received £4.61 billion emergency funding based on the severity of local lockdown restrictions, per capita and adult social care spending, and a relative needs formula accounting for deprivation and the cost of delivering services. Gore et al (2021) argue that although this central government funding was significant, an underlying ambivalence towards local authorities in England (not present in the devolved nations) was displayed by locking them out of testing and contact tracing services.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

UK local government experience of COVID-19 Lockdown: Local responses to global challenges

Machin

2023

Local Economy: The Journal of the Local Economy Policy Unit

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Local authorities in the United Kingdom played an integral role in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. During a time of unprecedented crisis, local authorities acted quickly to strengthen local governance arrangements and to deliver frontline services. The public health emergency created unparalleled challenges for local authorities. This paper reflects on the experience of Nottingham City Council, a local authority in the East Midlands of England. It draws on an in-depth interview with the then Deputy Leader of the authority and the chair of the Outbreak Control Engagement Board, and the publicly available minutes from this committee. This paper places the specific experiences of this local authority in a broader context reflecting on emergency planning, best practice, and legacy. It contributes to understanding the national impact of COVID-19 on local government. Four key themes emerge from this analysis: first central government was too slow in responding to the emerging crisis and communication with local government was poor, second the local authority quickly moved online but there has subsequently been a return to pre-pandemic working practices, third local government played a critical role in supporting vulnerable citizens despite huge budgetary pressures, and finally relationships between partners was crucial in achieving positive outcomes.

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Local Government Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic in the UK: A Thematic Review

Cited by 15 publications

References 32 publications

Not going out during the Covid‐19 pandemic? A multilevel geographical analysis of UK Google Mobility Reports, February 2020–December 2021

Not going out during the Covid‐19 pandemic? A multilevel geographical analysis of UK Google Mobility Reports, February 2020–December 2021

Demographic Influence on the Effectiveness of England's SARS-CoV-2 Policies

UK local government experience of COVID-19 Lockdown: Local responses to global challenges

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