County leader praises Hertfordshire's "amazing community spirit" as key to getting through these "unprecedented times"

The leader of Hertfordshire County Council has publicly thanked council and NHS staff for their work that has been "nothing short of extraordinary".

David Williams also spoke about the ‘urgent COVID-19 report’ at the council’s Cabinet Meeting today (Monday).

He said:"These unprecedented times means all of us have a responsibility to do our bit in helping beat the worst effects of this pandemic, and a new volunteer network called Team Herts has already seen a wonderful uprising of people tapping in to an amazing community spirit at www.thvolunteering.org.uk.

"The council has a ‘key role’ in co-ordinating support for the extremely vulnerable in the county, through ‘Operation Shield’.

"It was a difficult but essential decision to close libraries on a temporary basis and that the county has already put in place an effective offer for key workers at schools in an incredibly short turnaround time."

The Cabinet report also outlined over 100 key measures that have already been delivered across a range of key services as well as a further 50 to follow. It also covered:

> The latest public health position in respect of the pandemic

> The existing public reassurance and co-ordinating the unprecedented volunteering offer

> The revised decision-making processes including social distancing and new digital meetings for county councillors

> The potential costs to the county council.

After the report was published, the Government confirmed grant funding of £26m for Hertfordshire - its share of £1.6bn made available to local authorities to help them respond to COVID-19 pressures across all the services they deliver.

This includes increasing support for the adult social care workforce and for services helping the most vulnerable.

For more information visit: www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/coronavirus.