Far more people will be cycling and walking thanks to plans to boost greener, active transport, launched today (9 May 2020) by Transport Secretary Grant  Shapps .

Pop-up bike lanes with protected space for cycling, wider pavements, safer junctions, and cycle and bus-only corridors will be created in England within weeks as part of a £250 million emergency active travel fund – the first stage of a £2 billion investment, as part of the £5 billion in new funding announced for cycling and buses in February.

Following unprecedented levels of walking and cycling across the UK during the pandemic, the plans will help encourage more people to choose alternatives to public transport when they need to travel, making healthier habits easier and helping make sure the road, bus and rail networks are ready to respond to future increases in demand.

The government will fund and work with local authorities across the country to help make it easier for people to use bikes to get around – including Greater Manchester, which wants to create 150 miles of protected cycle track, and Transport for London, which plans a “bike Tube” network above Underground lines.

Fast-tracked statutory guidance, published today and effective immediately, will tell councils to reallocate roadspace for significantly-increased numbers of cyclists and pedestrians. In towns and cities, some streets could become bike and bus-only while others remain available for motorists. More side streets could be closed to through traffic, to create low-traffic neighbourhoods and reduce rat-running while maintaining access for vehicles.

Vouchers will be issued for cycle repairs, to encourage people to get their old bikes out of the shed, and plans are being developed for greater provision of bike fixing facilities. Many more will take up the Cycle to Work scheme, which gives employees a discount on a new bike.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said:

During this crisis, millions of people have discovered cycling – whether for exercise or as a means of safe, socially-distanced transport. While there is no change to the ‘stay at home’ message today, when the country does get back to work we need those people to stay on their bikes and be joined by many more.

Otherwise, with public transport’s capacity severely restricted at this time, our trains and buses could become overcrowded and our roads gridlocked – holding up emergency services, critical workers and vital supplies.

We know cars will continue to remain vital for many, but as we look to the future we must build a better country with greener travel habits, cleaner air and healthier communities.

An updated Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy will be launched by the Prime Minister in the summer, with further measures to transform cycling and walking to deliver the government’s aims to double cycling and increase walking by 2025 – including:

• the creation of a national cycling and walking commissioner and inspectorate
• higher standards for permanent infrastructure across England
• getting GPs to prescribe cycling and exercise
• creating a long-term budget for cycling and walking similar to what happens for roads

The government will also be launching a campaign to encourage more people to look at alternative ways to travel, to walk or get on a bike for their commute instead of public transport. Today, riders from Team Ineos, including Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas, will be telling people to #GetPedalling.

Sir Dave Brailsford, Team Principal of Team INEOS, said:

If ever there was a good time to get on your bike, it’s now. You will be helping take pressure off public transport. You will be looking after your health. You will be looking after the health of others and you will be helping the environment. Let’s all get pedalling and help Britain on the road to recovery.

E-scooter trials will also be brought forward from next year to next month to help encourage more people off public transport and onto greener alternatives. Originally set to take place in 4 Future Transport Zones, the trials of rental e-scooters – which will now be offered to all local areas across the country – will allow government to assess the benefits of e-scooters as well as their impact on public space, with the potential to see rental vehicles on UK roads as early as June.

Andy Street, the Mayor of the West Midlands said:

The West Midlands is proud to be leading the way on future transport development, and I am pleased the government has put its faith in us again with this new and innovative trial of e-scooters.

This trial will help bring more flexibility, choice, and greener travel solutions for the region, at a time when we are facing a climate emergency and urging people to leave the car at home.

We will also use the trial to look at the current transport challenges the coronavirus pandemic has presented us with and explore how e-scooters could be used to help tackle them.

No region is better equipped than the West Midlands to test, review, and implement trials such as these at pace and scale, and that is testament to the hard work and innovation of those working in our future transport sector.

As the government aims to encourage people to choose greener forms of travel when the coronavirus restrictions are lifted, a further push is being made to encourage drivers to purchase an electric vehicle. An extra £10 million – double the current funding amount – is being committed to the on street residential chargepoint scheme which will allow local authorities to install up to 7,200 devices, making it more convenient to charge and own an electric vehicle.

Further efforts to encourage drivers to make the switch include the upcoming launch of a consultation which hopes to make charging electric vehicles just as easy as filling up a traditional petrol or diesel car. It will explore measures such as requiring rapid charging points – which are fundamental for longer journeys – to offer contactless payment, improving transparency on pricing and giving drivers better access to information about the chargepoints available on their journey.

The government is also working alongside the tech sector to see how technology could be used to help commuters stagger their journeys and advise on alternative modes of travel.  Leading transport tech experts including Google, Zipabout and Trainline met this week at a roundtable chaired by the Transport Secretary, to explore how technology could help ease overcrowding and reduce the risk of a second spike in coronavirus cases.

Potential solutions could include mobile phone apps warning when public transport is particularly busy or advising on a quieter time to travel, allowing people to flex their hours and prevent the transport network from being overburdened.

• Companies including Amazon, the Royal Mint and Jaguar Land Rover have stepped up to get more PPE to healthcare workers
• Support follows the government’s call-to-arms for businesses to use their manufacturing or procurement power to aid the coronavirus response
• More than a billion items of PPE already delivered to frontline, with millions more expected over coming months thanks to businesses ramping up production

NHS and social care staff in the UK are set to receive millions of items of personal protective equipment (PPE) over the coming months thanks to new, innovative collaborations with a number of organisations, the government has announced.

Companies including Amazon, the Royal Mint, Jaguar Land Rover and eBay are supporting the government’s ongoing efforts to get PPE to the hardworking frontline staff, at no additional cost to the taxpayer.

This follows a call-to-action from the government for UK businesses to use their existing manufacturing power and expertise to meet the growing demand for protective equipment. 

More than 200 potential manufacturers have been identified and many have been contracted to make over 25 million items of PPE and deliver 12 million square metres of PPE fabric to produce items like gowns, gloves and aprons.

Deliveries have already started, including contracts for 2.5 million aprons and 50,000 bottles of hand sanitiser a week. Firms will be supported through the regulatory, testing and procurement process in less than a month to get PPE to the frontline as quickly as possible.

Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock said:

“In continuing to tackle this global pandemic we outlined the need for a great national effort to ensure our frontline NHS and social care continue to have all the equipment they need.

“The support from businesses who accepted this challenge has been phenomenal.

“International demand for PPE has never been so high, and we are now working with over 1,000 businesses and establishing a British manufacturing base, which will see tens of millions of extra items of PPE delivered to the frontline in the coming weeks alone.

“I want to thank Lord Deighton for his work leading this national effort, and everyone who has stepped up to the plate.”

Lord Paul Deighton, adviser to the Secretary of State on PPE, said:

“It’s been fantastic to see so many companies come forward and offer their support for this vital undertaking. We are working tirelessly to look at all offers and are currently engaging with over a thousand different companies.

“However, there’s still more that can be done and I encourage any company with the capacity to step up and join the response. I look forward to seeing what future partnerships we can produce and what they can bring to the table to get healthcare workers the PPE they need.”

Examples of some of the support that has been accepted includes:

• the Royal Mint will be providing over 1.9 million face visors over the next 6 months, with 54,000 being delivered a week
• a partnership with Amazon allows us to harness their global sourcing expertise
• eBay has provided a new platform, jointly developed with Clipper Logistics, that will allow primary, social and community care providers to order from a range of PPE directly – the orders are then fulfilled by Clipper and shipped directly via Royal Mail
• Survitec, a life-saving product technology company, will begin producing gowns as soon as the beginning of June
• DTR Medical will be providing 1.3 million visors, with the first delivery expected next week
• Bollé Safety, who manufacture protective eyewear, will make 6.5 million visors over the course of the pandemic
• Jaguar Land Rover is now manufacturing 14,000 visors a week for healthcare staff
• Don & Low will be manufacturing 12 million metres squared of fabric for gowns over the next 6 months, with the first delivery expected later this month
• Burberry is manufacturing non-surgical gowns at its factory in Castleford and sourcing masks through its supply chain. To date, the company has donated over 100,000 pieces of PPE to the NHS and healthcare charities
• Ineos is delivering around 174,000 bottles of hand sanitiser a week to NHS hospitals

The partnerships will help to bolster existing measures the government has implemented to increase the supply of PPE to the NHS and social care sector, as set out in the government’s national PPE plan published in April. This includes the creation of a PPE distribution network with the NHS, industry and armed forces, and a 24-hour NHS-run helpline to report any shortage of supplies.

These collaborations are only the latest in a growing list of successful partnerships with companies across the UK and the world since the beginning of this crisis. 

A batch of new ventilators from the Government’s Ventilator Challenge has arrived in the UK this week to continue supporting NHS patients with coronavirus.

150 devices, made up of the Vivo65 and the Nippy4+ ventilators from Breas Medical, arrived this week from Sweden.

The new ventilators are existing designs, already approved by regulators, and the Cabinet Office has assisted the Swedish company Breas Medical, who also operate in Stratford-Upon-Avon, to ramp up the production of their ventilators, by supporting new production lines, negotiating with suppliers to source critical components and expediting shipments of key parts from around the world.

The existing products have proven to be clinically excellent in a number of different settings. The Government has ordered 2000 of the devices, with hundreds expected to arrive over the coming weeks.

The Vivo65 and the Nippy4+ ventilators join the Penlon Prima ESO2 and the Smiths paraPAC models as Ventilator Challenge devices which are available to the NHS.

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Michael Gove said:

The arrival of the Breas Medical devices further underlines the Ventilator Challenge’s success in stepping up the number of ventilators in the UK.

These devices are well suited to helping patients in intensive care and will complement the two other Ventilator Challenge devices currently on the NHS frontline.

We are also hugely grateful to those companies that will not be progressing further in the Ventilator Challenge. They can be proud of the part they played in the national effort to protect the NHS and save lives.

A further 449 Ventilator Challenge devices are now available to the NHS frontline, with hundreds more arriving over the coming weeks. Government efforts to increase ventilator capacity have already seen an additional 2,600 mechanical ventilators made available to the NHS since the start of the pandemic. The UK now has over 11,000 mechanical invasive ventilators available in total.

During the coronavirus pandemic, everyone who has required a ventilator has had access to one, but the Government will continue to increase capacity through its three pillar strategy: procuring more ventilators from overseas, scaling up the production of existing or modified designs and working to design and manufacture new devices.

Today the Cabinet Office has also confirmed that, following re-assessment from a panel of expert clinicians, the department is ending support for the following devices:

• Piran Vent, made by Swagelok
• Veloci-Vent, made by Cambridge Consultants Ltd and MetLase
• CoVent, made by TTP and Dyson
• Sagentia Ventilator, made by Sagentia
• AirCare, made by BAE Systems

All five designs have made exceptional progress since the start of the Ventilator Challenge, with a number of devices having been assessed as having viable designs by expert clinicians. However they would require further development before they would be ready for clinical testing, and they are not currently required to meet immediate demand. Companies may continue to develop their designs, including for CE-marking.

Director, Medical Devices Testing and Evaluation Centre, Dr Tom Clutton-Brock said:

Having tested all of the new devices in the Ventilator Challenge, it’s fantastic to see that so many designs have come a long way in such a short period of time. Designing and testing ventilators usually takes years and it’s a testament to the perseverance and ingenuity of the companies involved that so much has been accomplished. While some of the new designs are no longer being supported, several designs are very close to being clinically viable pandemic ventilators.

As set out last week, the Government will continue to provide support to the following devices:

• Penlon Prima ESO2
• Smiths paraPAC
• Breas Medical Nippy 4+ & Vivo65

In addition, two devices are subject to ongoing review to ensure that they continue to meet the needs of the NHS:

• Zephyr Plus, made by Babcock
• Gemini, made by OES Medical

The Government recently announced that 15,000 Penlon Prima ESO2 ventilators have been ordered, the first newly-adapted device to receive regulatory approval in the Ventilator Challenge, with production set to ramp up in the coming weeks. Smiths paraPAC ventilators, an existing device, are also being manufactured at speed and at scale as part of the Ventilator Challenge.

Devices that have been selected to continue as part of the Ventilator Challenge have been selected based upon expert clinical and technical advice. This includes feedback from rigorous testing of the ventilators by clinical experts to ensure that they meet the necessary standards for patient safety and effectiveness of treatment, which is of vital importance for any new ventilator design. This selection criteria also takes into account projections for ventilator demand, the availability of other devices which already have regulatory approval, the performance and clinical usefulness of each device and the progress to date on each device’s overall development.