Almost all accommodation providers in Devon, Somerset and Torbay have stayed shut over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend.
On March 23 the Government announced that, with very few exceptions, all hotels, bed and breakfasts, hostels, holiday rentals, campsites and boarding houses must stay closed until further notice.
Last week Trading Standards appealed to owners to follow the lockdown rules to stem the spread of coronavirus.
And despite the weekend being one of the warmest of the year so far, trading standards officers have confirmed that most accommodation...
There has been a big increase in the number of Devon families applying for a primary school place this September.
Figures published today (Thursday 16 April) reveal that 7,580 applications were made across the county. That's 310 more than last year.
Despite the big jump in numbers, 98.3 per cent of families have been offered a place at one of their three preferred schools.
The new figures show that 94.6 per cent of the families who applied to Devon County Council for a place in a county primary have got their first preference.
The experience of family carers during the COVID-19 pandemic will be explored in a series of weekly interviews conducted over the next 3 months.
The “Caring through Coronavirus” study will seek to understand how family carers are coping during the pandemic and explore whether changes in policy, legislation, and health and social care provision are impacting their wellbeing and caring responsibilities. Nearly nine million Britons provide unpaid care for family members and friends with long-term illnesses and disabilities, including those most vulnerable to the virus. Many carers...
As lots of businesses and services have come to a standstill, McClure Solicitors saw this coming and prepared for action. They would normally be seeing over 800 clients for face-to-face appointments per month but with the Government’s advice to stay at home that is exactly what their staff has done – gone home armed with laptops and mobile phones. Andrew Robertson, Managing Director of McClure says “We are worried like everyone else about the immediate future, but we still have clients who want to talk to us so we decided we would continue to operate as best as we could with the majority...
Leading housebuilder Persimmon Homes has today announced a “volunteer army” to help the NHS and local communities during the Covid-19 crisis.
The business has encouraged hundreds of staff to register for the Persimmon Voluntary Programme to help the country through the difficult weeks ahead.
In order to protect the health of its employees, Persimmon has taken the decision to undertake an orderly shut-down of work and temporarily close its sales offices across the country.
All Persimmon staff currently not working their usual pattern remain on full pay. It is...
NHS hospital teams across Devon are reassuring local people that emergency services are there for them if they are unwell and need help.
Doctors are concerned that some people who should be getting medical help for non-COVID-19 illnesses are staying away from hospital and not seeking help due to fears they might catch the virus.
Attendances have fallen by more than a third at emergency departments across Devon, in line with national trends. Some of this may be because people are acting responsibly and getting advice from other healthcare settings. However, at all...
A charity at the heart of a Devon community’s response to the Coronavirus crisis has launched an urgent fundraising appeal to help it continue its vital services.
The Estuary League of Friends - based in Topsham and a lifeline for many in the town and surrounding areas - needs £60,000 to continue its essential work.
In recent weeks Estuary’s staff and volunteers have been delivering groceries, medicines and essential supplies, cooking and delivering hot meals, taking people to urgent medical appointments and making telephone calls to vulnerable people who are self-...
The CBI have urged even more businesses in region to join the ‘battle’ to produce protective equipment for the NHS and front-line workers. The organisation have organised a webinar for companies and CBI Deputy Regional Director Ben Rhodes welcomes all those interested to sign up.
The organisation are urging firms with the skills or expertise that could be harnessed to get involved, as well as those who have skills that could be useful for the fight, including the suppliers, lawyers, logistics and others needed to make this critical endeavour happen.
Medicine students who opted to graduate early to accelerate becoming junior doctors in the COVID-19 crisis fashioned home-made mortarboards to take part in the University of Exeter ’s first virtual graduation.
Ninety five final year students chose to graduate three months early so that they can join NHS colleagues in Exeter and the South West in fighting the disease.
While a physical graduation is impossible in lockdown, the University honoured the students in its first ever virtual ceremony. Many of the students fashioned home-made mortarboards in lieu of traditional...
