Quick thread...
I said yesterday that it appeared Govt didn't have a full strategy ready to go for activating local lockdowns.
Nothing I've seen since has changed my view.
#leicesterlockdown

This is alarming given notion of localised lockdowns was mentioned as far back as March... Govt should have had in place a strategy ready to be activated with clear plans for engaging local leaders meaningfully and making available resources for local systems promptly.

Understandable frustrations expressed by @CityMayorLeic about delays in sharing of detailed, local testing data underline a system that is heavily centralised and lacking flexibility. Access to full testing data (postcodes) would have supported local public health team...

...in analysing and developing an understanding of why spike in cases was occurring. Remember, strength of local public health teams is about evidence and data-led work matched with a nuanced, social understanding of local communities...

... a vital combination in seeking to understand nature of local disease spikes (I know as a previous Public Health lead working closely with a DPH on a previous disease outbreak in Leicester). Delay in sharing testing data has clearly been a key problem, which needs explanation.

Added to this the Sec of State's statement last night suggested an incredibly over-centralised approach to managing local outbreaks and interventions. See @jesstud observations on this.

Clear from #leicesterlockdown experience, local decision-makers need to be part of the conversation much sooner and be fully integrated into decision-making. @MattHancock outlined a national decision-making structure last night, it wasn't clear where local leaders fit into that

This all needs serious reflection given possibility of local lockdowns in other areas: there needs to be a transparent policy framework against which decision on local measures will be taken and a genuine willingness (formalised) to involve local leaders in decision-making.

Added to that, there's no clarity yet on how Govt's economic support package will be adapted for local lockdowns. Forward planning around this should have happened meaning prompt answers for worried local businesses in Leic today.

#Leicesterlockdown and possibility of other local lockdowns means there won't be a national economic recovery so to speak - different areas will move at different paces. HMT needs to show agility in responding to that, quickly adapting national packages of support.

An instinctively over-centralised approach and system won't work for local outbreaks in different places at different places. Govt needs to quickly rethink and develop a flexible, agile approach which properly involves local leaders at every stage...

...and which makes available all local testing data (and wider data) available to local public health teams in real-time to support locally-informed analysis and understanding as part of the decision-making.
/ends
#Leicesterlockdown