Hospitality industry fears jobs at risk from plan to give mayors powers to impose ‘tourist tax’

The sector is concerned by reports that there won’t be a cap on the levy that can be imposed by mayors

And here are some more headline numbers from today’s NHS England performance figures,

Waiting lists in England went up in July, reaching their highest level for nine months. The Press Association says:

An estimated 7.33m treatments were waiting to be carried out at the end of July, relating to 6.21 million patients, according to NHS figures.

This is up from 7.27m treatments and 6.15 million patients at the end of June.

Long waits for NHS hospital treatment in England have also increased. PA says:

An estimated 111,379 people had been waiting more than a year to start routine treatment at the end of July, up from 105,711 at the end of June.

Some 1.52% of people on the list for hospital treatment had been waiting more than 52 weeks in July, up month on month from 1.45%.

A total of 79.3% of patients in England urgently referred for suspected cancer were diagnosed or had cancer ruled out within 28 days in July. “This is up slightly from 79.0% in June but is below the target of 80%,” PA says.

The proportion of patients who began their first definitive treatment for cancer in July within 62 days of an urgent referral or consultant upgrade was 71.2%, up from 69.9% in June. “The government and NHS England had set a target of March 2026 for this figure to reach 75%,” PA says.