Gove

• Record numbers of people are living in temporary accommodation in England, according to the UK government’s latest reported figures.
• Statistics on statutory homelessness show that in March 2023, 104,510 households – including over 131,000 children – were living in hotels, hostels, B&Bs and the like.
• There is an insufficient supply of available and affordable housing in the UK, with more than 1.2 million households on social housing waiting lists in England alone.

The English housing lottery

• In May 2023, prospective tenants interviewed by the Evening Standard testified to the extent to which demand has outstripped supply in London.
• They described how looking for a place to rent – and facing discrimination in the process – was affecting their mental health.
• The local housing allowance – the rate used to calculate housing benefit available to people – has been frozen since 2020.
• This will compound the housing issues facing those living in rural areas – tourism and the second home boom is affecting rural and coastal property markets, making housing even more unaffordable for local people and driving hidden homelessness – homelessness not accounted for in official statistics.

Housing precarity among young people

• Where there is a lack of affordable housing and a lack of rental housing, there will be more homelessness.
• Data collated by charities, including Homeless Link and the New Horizon Youth Centre, in 2022 showed that 129,000 young people had sought help with housing from their local authority.
• These young people often stay with friends for short periods or live in precarious conditions.
• At national level, however, the single most vital ingredient is the political will to actually deliver properly affordable housing.

• The further ceremonial title of Lord Mayor was conferred by royal letters patent on the leaders of the nation’s biggest cities.
• Metro mayors– of which there are now nine – are voted in by residents of all the local authorities of a combined authority.
• Our new book, Devolution in Greater Manchester and Liverpool City Region, asks if the metro mayors amount to a constitutional revolution in English local government or a limited and temporary experiment.

Personality matters

• Along with his ten council leaders, he criticised the imposition of tier-three restrictions as discriminatory.
• Working with the council leaders or directly elected mayor of each local authority in the region, no matter their political allegiance, is crucial to metro mayors’ success.
• As are relationships with the political parties and interest groups and, ultimately, the electorate – none of which are static.
• Although metro mayors hold devolved powers distinct from those of local authorities, these do not automatically translate into the ability to get things done.

Transactional politics

• Quite how though varies depending on the combined authority.
• Greater Manchester was the only combined authority to have health and social care included in its first devolution deal in 2014.
• But Burnham and Rotheram went ahead regardless, effectively expanding their role beyond what the government’s deal had laid out.

Lack of power

• He has developed the Opportunity Pass, to provide free bus travel for 16-18 year olds, along with free access to various culture and leisure facilities.
• Since November 2018, Liverpool too has provided free bus travel, for apprentices aged 19-24.
• But our interviewees expressed frustration at setbacks related to a lack of power and resources which have made policy wins hard to achieve.
• On the question of HS2, the power that central government retains has been evident.

• Loyal , the preferred digital health platform for improved care utilization by the nation's leading health systems and hospitals, announced today that Matt Gove has joined the company as Senior Advisor.
• At Loyal, Gove will work directly with CEO Chad Mallory to provide strategic counsel as the company continues to expand its platform and become the partner of choice for forward-thinking, consumer-centric healthcare organizations.
• “Matt has a unique skill set and has done as much as anyone to push the healthcare industry to elevate the consumer digital experience.
• “Over the past few years, Loyal has grown from a best-in-class provider of point solutions to a true platform company.

• The rate of pot restarts at Kitimat picked up in the fourth quarter and Boyne smelter cell recovery efforts continued.
• Unplanned maintenance was required at Kennecott in the fourth quarter of 2022 in our anode furnaces leading to extended downtime and continued poor anode production, likely to result in weak cathode production in the first quarter of 2023.
• Production constraints related to nationwide electrical power loadshedding at RBM were experienced in the fourth quarter.
• Successful deployment of the Rio Tinto Safe Production System (SPS) at the concentrator was completed in the year, with record performance metrics achieved in the year, including monthly records for concentrate production and total material moved in the second quarter.