Latest waste service update

Wednesday 8 July

All scheduled household waste and garden waste collections have been made.

We were unable to collect all recycling from parts of Heworth and Old Earswick due to capacity issues. This missed recycling will be collected this evening, Wednesday 8 July. Please leave your containers out for collection.

We’ve recollected all outstanding garden and recycling waste from Tuesday 7 July.

Coronavirus York updates; 8th July 2020

Deaths and test results

Good news today with no more hospital deaths and no new positive COVID 19 test results.
The number of hospital deaths remains at 214 (7/7/20). It has remained at this figure for over 3 weeks.

The cumulative number of positive tests results remains at 902 (7/7/20). The last positive result was announced on Saturday.

National announcements on housing and hospitality

  • a £1,000 bonus for each worker that companies bring back from furlough and employ through to January next year;
  • a “kickstart scheme” to directly pay firms to create jobs for 16 to 24-year-olds;
  • cash for businesses to take on trainees and apprentices;
  • an eight-month temporary cut in stamp duty, with no charge on property transactions below £500,000;
  • larger grants for improved energy efficiency in homes.
  • a cut in VAT on food, accommodation and attractions from 20% to 5% until 12 January;
  • an “Eat Out to Help Out” discount of up to £10 per head to get Britons back to restaurants, cafes and pubs

Audit report raises concerns about York Council data security

A report due to be considered by a Council committee next week reveals continuing concerns about the security of personal data held by the Council.

The auditor says,

Whilst good progress continues to be made (on Information Security & GDPR) , further improvements are required to ensure compliance with the council’s policies for handling and storing personal and confidential information. There are also a number of issues still outstanding, relating to actions agreed in July 2019, following a GDPR readiness audit. These actions relate to policies, guidance, contract clauses; the information asset register; privacy notices; mandatory data protection training; management information on data security incidents”.

No further details are provided and the level of vulnerability of Council customers to data breaches is not explored.

On the impact of Coronavirus on the Councils activities the auditor is similarly vague. He says,

This opinion is however qualified, in light of the current coronavirus pandemic and the impact of this on the council. The opinion is based on internal audit work undertaken, and substantially completed, prior to emergency measures being implemented as a result of the pandemic.

These measures have resulted in a significant level of strain being placed on normal procedures and control arrangements. The level of impact is also changing as the situation develops.

 It is therefore not possible to quantify the additional risk arising from the current short term measures or the overall impact on the framework of governance, risk management and control”.

NB. Another report, to the same meeting, claims to address the impact of the health crisis on the Councils activities. Unfortunately, it adds little to what has already been published and singularly fails to quantify the exposure that the Councils projects and revenue finance actually face.

Latest waste service update from York Council

Tuesday 7 July

All scheduled household waste collections have been made.

We were unable to collect all recycling waste from parts of Acomb and Bishopthorpe due to capacity issues. We’ll return for collections by Wednesday 8 July. Please leave your containers out for collection.

We were unable to collect all garden waste from some properties in Heworth due to a vehicle breakdown. We’ll attempt to collect this on the evening of Tuesday 7 July. Please leave your green bin out for collection.

We have collected all outstanding missed recycling and garden waste from Monday 6 July.