Week Ahead: Coronavirus Bill to give Government sweeping new powers

CRISIS MEASURES

The Government is expected to be granted sweeping new powers this week as emergency legislation to deal with the Covid-19 crisis is rushed through the Commons on Monday.

The Coronavirus Bill – totalling 329 pages – enables action to increase the available health and social care workforce, ease the burden on frontline staff, slow the spread of the virus, manage the deceased with respect and support people through the crisis, which has already claimed thousands of lives around the world.

The legislation, which was published last Thursday, gives powers to the police to detain people suspected of having coronavirus and send them for testing.

People who fail to do so could be fined up to £1,000.

Other measures include powers for Ministers to write to an operator of a port requiring their operation be suspended and for events or gatherings to be cancelled.

Food suppliers would also have to provide information to the appropriate authority if all or part of a food supply chain is being disrupted or is at risk of disruption.

The legislation, which is time-limited for two years, also modifies current laws to enable coroners to conduct an inquest without a jury for anyone whose death was caused by Covid-19.

Local authorities will also be given the power to decide what happens to dead bodies and their disposal to ensure excess deaths do not overwhelm the system, and funeral directors acting on behalf of a family will be able to register a person’s death.

TECH SUPPORT

With millions more people working from home or staying away from friends and family in a bid to reduce the spread of the virus, internet service providers are braced for major increases in traffic.

As part of the preparations, YouTube has joined Netflix in agreeing to limit video stream quality in an effort to ease pressure on providers. The measures will last for an initial 30 days.

The scheme to ease the strain on providers has come from the European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services, Thierry Breton, who urged platforms to help infrastructure handle any potential usage increase.

WINDRUSH SCANDAL

Parliamentary business is still continuing and on Tuesday legislation covering compensation payments to victims of the Windrush scandal is due to go through its next stage.

The progress of the bill to ensure the Windrush Compensation Scheme is underpinned by the necessary Parliamentary financial authority comes after an official report last week found members of the Windrush generation had been “caught in the net” of the Government’s hostile environment policy designed to push illegal immigrants to leave the country. It instead resulted in people with a legal entitlement to be in the UK being targeted and in some cases wrongly deported.

In April 2018 it emerged that some immigrants who arrived in the UK between the late 1940s and early 1970s were facing deportation and being denied access to healthcare due to paperwork issues.

SUMMER ON THE WAY

At what has been an incredibly bleak time for the country and indeed the world, there is one small piece of news that should hopefully provide a small amount of cheer. Next Sunday marks the beginning of British Summer Time as the clocks move forward one hour overnight.

It will be later sunsets and hopefully be accompanied by improved weather that will allow people to make the most of their gardens and walks in the park at safe social distances during the ongoing pandemic. The changing of the seasons will also hopefully be something of a symbolic reminder for us that better days lie ahead.