The current average waiting time for an orthodontist in Cheshire is two and a half years, and just over two years in Wirral. Not all referrals to an orthodontist will be eligible for National Health Service treatment. NHS orthodontic treatment is free for people under the age of 18 years old with a clear health need and assessed as meeting the criteria for NHS treatment.

This information is not held centrally.

The provisional Local Government Finance Settlement for 2022-23 makes available an additional £3.5 billion to councils, including funding for adult social care reform. This is an increase in local authority funding for 2022-23 of over 4% in real terms, which will ensure councils across the country have the resources they need to deliver key services.

In total, we expect Core Spending Power to rise from £50.4 billion in 2021-22 to up to £53.9 billion in 2022-23.

The Government is providing around £1.6 billion additional grant in 2022-23. This includes additional funding for Supporting Families and Cyber Resilience, which will be distributed outside of this Settlement.

We are allocating most of that funding through the provisional Settlement, including through a one-off 2022-23 Services Grant, which gives local authorities an additional £822 million of funding for all services.

Local authorities can also make use of over £1 billion of additional resource specifically for social care in 2022-23

For Wirral Council, this represents an increase in cash terms of up to 7.4% compared to last year, worth £21.8 million. This is above the average cash increase across England of 6.9%.

Hygiene and social distancing measures are vitally important for reducing the transmission risk of COVID-19. We know that the virus spreads readily in any indoor environment where members of different households and/or support bubbles spend time together, so the transmission risk in indoor settings, such as gyms, remains high.

We recognise the efforts that have been made to reduce risk across a range of venues. As decisions are based on a number of factors, it is possible for variation to exist between different local authority areas.

During this period of national lockdown, schools should allow only vulnerable children and young people and the children of critical workers to attend. All other pupils and students should not attend and should learn remotely until February half term.

Every school will have a different number of children of critical workers who need to attend. It is important that on site provision is provided for these pupils, and there is no limit to the numbers of these pupils who may attend. Schools should not limit attendance of these groups.

Limiting attendance does not suggest that schools and colleges have become less safe for young people. Instead, limiting attendance is about supporting the reduction of the overall number of social contacts in our communities. Overall social contact across areas and the country is being reduced, rather than individually by each institution.

The new variant appears to affect all ages, but we have not seen any changes in the severity of the disease among any age groups, including children and young people. Most children and young people have no symptoms or very mild illness only. As cases in the community rise, there will be an increase in the number of children with COVID-19, but only very rarely will they require admission to hospital.

Under the national lockdown, the expectation is that everyone should work from home where possible. School leaders are best placed to determine the workforce that is required in school, taking into account the updated guidance for those staff who are clinically extremely vulnerable. The expectation is that those staff not attending school will work from home where possible.

For vulnerable children and young people, the children of critical workers, and their teachers who should still attend school or college, as they did in March to July, the system of protective measures means that any risks are well managed and controlled.

The Department publishes national level data on pupil attendance weekly: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/attendance-in-education-and-early-years-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak. Data relating to the current school term will be published on 19 January.

During this period of national lockdown, schools should allow only vulnerable children and young people and the children of critical workers to attend. All other pupils and students should not attend and should learn remotely until February half term.

Every school will have a different number of children of critical workers who need to attend. It is important that on site provision is provided for these pupils, and there is no limit to the numbers of these pupils who may attend. Schools should not limit attendance of these groups.

Limiting attendance does not suggest that schools and colleges have become less safe for young people. Instead, limiting attendance is about supporting the reduction of the overall number of social contacts in our communities. Overall social contact across areas and the country is being reduced, rather than individually by each institution.

The new variant appears to affect all ages, but we have not seen any changes in the severity of the disease among any age groups, including children and young people. Most children and young people have no symptoms or very mild illness only. As cases in the community rise, there will be an increase in the number of children with COVID-19, but only very rarely will they require admission to hospital.

Under the national lockdown, the expectation is that everyone should work from home where possible. School leaders are best placed to determine the workforce that is required in school, taking into account the updated guidance for those staff who are clinically extremely vulnerable. The expectation is that those staff not attending school will work from home where possible.

For vulnerable children and young people, the children of critical workers, and their teachers who should still attend school or college, as they did in March to July, the system of protective measures means that any risks are well managed and controlled.

The Department publishes national level data on pupil attendance weekly: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/attendance-in-education-and-early-years-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak. Data relating to the current school term will be published on 19 January.

During this period of national lockdown, schools should allow only vulnerable children and young people and the children of critical workers to attend. All other pupils and students should not attend and should learn remotely until February half term.

Every school will have a different number of children of critical workers who need to attend. It is important that on site provision is provided for these pupils, and there is no limit to the numbers of these pupils who may attend. Schools should not limit attendance of these groups.

Limiting attendance does not suggest that schools and colleges have become less safe for young people. Instead, limiting attendance is about supporting the reduction of the overall number of social contacts in our communities. Overall social contact across areas and the country is being reduced, rather than individually by each institution.

The new variant appears to affect all ages, but we have not seen any changes in the severity of the disease among any age groups, including children and young people. Most children and young people have no symptoms or very mild illness only. As cases in the community rise, there will be an increase in the number of children with COVID-19, but only very rarely will they require admission to hospital.

Under the national lockdown, the expectation is that everyone should work from home where possible. School leaders are best placed to determine the workforce that is required in school, taking into account the updated guidance for those staff who are clinically extremely vulnerable. The expectation is that those staff not attending school will work from home where possible.

For vulnerable children and young people, the children of critical workers, and their teachers who should still attend school or college, as they did in March to July, the system of protective measures means that any risks are well managed and controlled.

The Department publishes national level data on pupil attendance weekly: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/attendance-in-education-and-early-years-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak. Data relating to the current school term will be published on 19 January.

Legal Aid services are commissioned and delivered through procurement areas, rather than local authority areas. For the housing and debt categories of law (which are contracted together), England and Wales is split into 134 procurement areas. In this instance the Wirral procurement area corresponds with Wirral Borough Council.

In the housing and debt categories, the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) aims to have at least one provider in each procurement area. There are currently no legal aid housing providers in the Wirral procurement area. This has been the position since March 2020 and although contracts were recently put out to the market, the LAA received no bids in this area. The LAA will continue to take steps to place services in this area.

There are housing advice services available for residents in Wirral via Civil Legal Aid (CLA), which provides housing and debt legal advice via telephone and email. There are also five legal aid housing and debt providers delivering services through eight offices in the neighbouring procurement area of Liverpool, and it is open to residents of Wirral to access these services. Additionally, there is a Housing Possession Court Duty Scheme (HPCDS) in Birkenhead Court, which provides “on-the-day” emergency advice and advocacy to anyone facing possession proceedings.

Nationally there are currently 12 procurement areas which do not have access to a face-to-face housing and debt legal aid provider. These are listed in the table below, with the corresponding local authorities. The Ministry of Justice does not hold data which would allow us to estimate what proportion of the population in England and Wales live in a local authority area in which there are no housing and debt legal aid providers.

The LAA regularly monitors capacity and availability of access to services, and takes action where it identifies gaps in services or where demand is greater than the available supply. We have recently concluded a housing and debt tender and will continue to take steps to place services in these areas.

In the meantime, residents in the procurement areas that do not currently have a housing legal aid provider can contact Civil Legal Aid (CLA), which provides housing advice via telephone and email, and/or can obtain advice from a legal aid housing provider in a nearby procurement area.