3 bits of good news, 2 bits of bad news
And a couple of things that are just neutral news, I guess...
The NHS is in the midst of a large-scale set of reforms, as NHS England is abolished and its functions brought back in house to the Department of Health.
As always when this kind of thing happens, there’s lots of talk about greater transparency and empowering patients and all of that.
It’s on that basis that we’ve got some new league tables for the performance of NHS Trusts around the country.
There are three tables, for acute services, non-acute (often mental health) services, and for ambulance services.
Nationally its specialist trusts which do best, with Moorfields Eye Hospital the bets ranked.
However, Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is the best ranked non-specialist acute service in the country, at 9th place overall.
Also in the top 30…South Tyneside and Sunderland in 21st, North Tees and Hartlepool at 22nd, and Newcastle - whose CEO Sir James Mackey is currently seconded to NHS England to lead the transition - are 26th.
The North East’s two mental health trusts, which cover larger areas, do less well - out of the 61 nationally, Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys ranks 24th and Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear ranks 45th.
The North East Ambulance Service are mid-table, ranked 5th of 10 nationally.
North East businesses most generous
New research from the Charities Aid Foundation has found that the Norht East has the most generous businesses.
Across the country, they found that only 25% of businesses give to charity at all, but in the North East that’s 41%. They are also most likely to donate cash, at 31%.
Those bastards in the South East (outside of London) are the least likely to donate, with only 12% of businesses there giving at all and only 3% giving cash.
Reach redundancies
I read the above story first in The Journal, where the business team have spent years displaying reflexes akin to Keanu Reeves in the Matrix (not sure if he’s shouting about Trinity Mirror at the beginning) and dodging restructuring bullets.
Reach plc, who own the Chron, as well as the Manchester Evening News, Liverpool Echo etc, are making over 300 redundancies as they embrace AI and alter their business approach.
Hopefully the excellent journalists who work regionally manage to pull off their survival act again.
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An addendum to this…the excellent Rob Parsons is leaving his post running the Northern Agenda newsletter, which covers current affairs, policy and politics news in the North of England, to look after Reach’s team of Local Democracy Reporters.
The good news is Graeme Whitfield, editor of The Journal, will be taking that on. It’ll be nice to have the Agenda being set in the North East.
North East organisations call for two-child benefit cap to be scrapped
More than 90 organisations have called on the Chancellor to scrap the two-child benefit cap, in a joint letter led by the North East Child Poverty Coalition.
The analysis in the letter estimates there are 70,000 children in low income families being impacted by the policy in the North East, and that across the country 109 more children are pulled into poverty every day as a result of it.
Referencing the planned national child poverty strategy, the letter says:
“No credible national child poverty strategy would leave this policy in place – and a genuinely ambitious plan would scrap the two-child limit, in full and immediately.”
12 billion streams for North East artists
The North East plays host to the Mercury prize in October, as the ceremony comes to the Utilita Arena in Newcastle.
The Mercury Albums of the Year are being announced today and, ahead of that, the BPI (the trade body for the music industry) have analysed charts data and found that North East artists have accounted for 12 billion streams since 2014.
They list the big contributors as Sting, The Police, Pet Shop Boys, Dire Straits and Maximo Park, alongside Sam Fender and JADE.
Generator’s article, linked above, also highlights figures on the impact of the sector, with 700,000 visitors to the region in 2024, contributing £360 million to the regional economy.
Cabinet News
With Angela Rayner’s resignation, the Prime Minister took the opportunity to reshuffle the pack.
Tynemouth MP Alan Campbell, who was chief whip, is now Leader of the Commons. (The chief whip is responsible for making sure people turn up and vote the right way, you’ll have heard the phrase “voting against the whip”…the leader is responsible for organising the government’s business in the Commons.)
Redcar MP Anna Turley is now Labour Party Chair, and attending cabinet as minister without portfolio.
In the Labour Deputy Leader contest, Education Secretary and Sunderland MP Bridget Philipson has put her name into the hat.
It’s important to note that although Rayner was both deputy leader of the party and Deputy PM, those are separate things. David Lammy is Deputy PM, as that’s appointed by the Prime Minister, and whoever wins the contest would be deputy party leader.
North East Tech Quarterly
If you like tech and enjoy events, Software City’s quarterly tech forum is on 29th September, hosted at The Catalyst in Newcastle.
You can register for that here.
They’ll be talking ecosystem development and unlocking growth in tech, and then there’ll be a Q&A.
I’m going to be going along.
Getting in touch
You’ll find me on arlen@arlenpettitt.co.uk, or in the comments.