Covid-19: 'We hope end of Plan B is the good news it seems'

The prime minister has announced an end to England's Plan B restrictions and measures from next Thursday. For businesses and organisations it means a change to how they have been operating for nearly two months but do they welcome the changes and what is next for them?

The end of Plan B measures is "fantastic news for venues like ourselves and really most importantly for everyone across the hospitality sector," said Jack Jay, from the Great Yarmouth Hippodrome in Norfolk.

"We were lucky that our capacity wasn't affected, we were a masked venue, but for places that were doing Covid passports, for what would normally be huge time of year Christmas was frankly was a disaster."

Mandatory face coverings in public places and Covid passports will both be dropped when the measures end, the government said.

Mr Jay, a producer at the circus venue, added: "I know it'll be so welcome to rebuild some of that confidence we are moving, we hope, out of Covid."

The venue has lost "well into the hundreds of thousands" during the pandemic, he said.

"The fact we were able to get to Christmas and have a show was a miracle. There are so many shows right the way across the county that were not able to operate.

"We really are hoping that this is the good news it sounds like.

"It's really important for our industry because things were looking perilous," he said.

The government has immediately dropped its advice for people to work from home, but Trevor Holden, managing director for Broadland District Council and South Norfolk Council, said not everyone will be coming back into the office.

"I think we're going to see something really exciting, which is the future of work evolve," he said.

About a quarter to a third of the two council's staff are working from home, but he is not "going to say everybody's got to be back in the office".

"What we are going to do is try and capture the very best things we've learnt with people working at home and advances in the use of technology and blend those with people working in the office.

"I genuinely hope we never go back to where we were because presenteeism has never been a good proxy indicator for productivity.

"We want, and need, to be competitive in the labour market to attract the very best talent and that includes embracing new ways of working."

Secondary school pupils will no longer have to wear face masks in classrooms and guidance on their use in communal areas would be removed "shortly", the government said.

Dan Steel, headteacher at the King John School, Benfleet in Essex, said: "Over the whole of pandemic we've really followed government advice, especially the advice of public health.

"So we'll be taking a very measured view on this."

Mr Steel said during the pandemic the school "learnt to be quite agile and adapt to some of the restriction that are in place".

"The staff have been fantastic, alongside the students, all the way through this and have really learnt to be flexible.

"We'll watch local cases just to make sure we are putting the right restrictions in place... just to make sure we are helping the staff and students in school.

"I'm definitely optimistic for the future but we have to keep measured and following the guidance."

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