Asked by: Baroness Jolly (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to provide guidance about (1) employment rights, and (2) COVID-19-related health and safety issues, to all employees and employers in the UK from 1 August.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government’s guidance on work and financial support in relation to coronavirus includes information about employment rights as well as other key issues such as how to access financial support, safe working and childcare. This can be found on the GOV.UK website.
Acas also offers guidance and advice for employers and employees. This can be accessed through the Acas website or by calling the Acas helpline on 0300 123 1100.
The Government has also provided clear and comprehensive safer workplaces guidance for employers and employees. This guidance has and will integrate, where appropriate, the Department for Health and Social Care’s guidance on protecting people who are clinically extremely vulnerable from COVID-19. The safer workplaces guidance is non-statutory but does not change existing obligations relating to health and safety, employment, or equalities. Employers have a duty under UK law to protect the health and safety of their workers and other people who might be affected by their business. This includes considering the risks that COVID-19 represents.
The Health and Safety Executive website also has specific guidance on the risk assessment process and the steps businesses should take.
Asked by: Baroness Jolly (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how COVID-19 testing capacity will be prioritised when they reach their target of 200,000 daily tests.
Answered by Lord Bethell
To provide a more comprehensive response to a number of outstanding Written Questions, this has been answered by an information factsheet Testing – note for House of Lords which is attached, due to the size of the data. A copy has also been placed in the Library
Asked by: Baroness Jolly (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to balance COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 care and treatment; whether those steps include making systemic and consistent testing available for patients and staff; and if not, how they plan to ensure the provision of all care and treatment without such testing.
Answered by Lord Bethell
To provide a more comprehensive response to a number of outstanding Written Questions, this has been answered by an information factsheet Testing – note for House of Lords which is attached, due to the size of the data. A copy has also been placed in the Library
Asked by: Baroness Jolly (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, if a reliable COVID-19 antibody test is found, (1) which, (2) when, (3) how, (4) by whom, and (5) with what frequency, people will be tested.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Antibody testing is a key part of the Government’s testing programme and will play an increasingly important role as we move into the next phase of responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A positive antibody test result indicates that a person has previously had the virus and developed some form of immune response. However, we do not currently know how long an antibody response to the virus lasts, nor whether having antibodies means a person cannot transmit the virus to others. Our understanding of the virus will grow as new scientific evidence and studies emerge.
Asked by: Baroness Jolly (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many women are (1) in receipt of, and (2) entitled to, Pension Credit; and when they last ran a campaign to raise awareness of Pension Credit to women of an eligible age.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
We estimate 1.3 million women were in receipt of Pension Credit and 2.2 million women were entitled to Pension Credit, based on data for 2017/18. These figures are made up of both women who claim as part of a couple or claim alone. These figures are derived from official statistics on the take-up of income-related benefits at Great Britain level, including Pension Credit, which can be found in the latest ‘Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up in 2017 to 2018’ publication, which is available online at Gov.uk.
The Government wants to make sure that all eligible pensioners can claim Pension Credit. That is why in February this year we launched a targeted twelve-week nationwide campaign, to raise awareness of Pension Credit.
Part of the campaign was to dispel some of the misconceptions that people might have about Pension Credit eligibility. We wanted to make it clear that even a small award of Pension Credit can provide access to a range of other benefits such as help with rent, council tax reduction schemes, heating costs and for those aged 75 or over, a free television licence.
We continue to work with stakeholders to help spread the key messages from the campaign because we know that often the best ways to reach eligible pensioners is through trusted stakeholders working in the community. Our online Pension Credit toolkit has been updated to help older people understand how they could claim Pension Credit.
In May this year we also launched an online claim service for Pension Credit to supplement the existing telephone and postal claim services. The new online service provides an additional claim facility and enables pensioners to apply for Pension Credit at a time that suits them.
Asked by: Baroness Jolly (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the COVID-19 test and trace system on easing the lockdown.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The NHS Test and Trace service forms a central part of the COVID-19 recovery strategy, which seeks to return life to as close to normal as possible, for as many people as possible, in a way that is safe and protects the National Health Service and social care.
Our ability to go further in easing restrictions, or the need to reintroduce further restriction measures, will depend on a range of factors, including most critically whether people following social distancing guidance and regulations. The more people follow the instructions, the safer we will be, and the faster we can safely lift the lockdown.
We are continuously assessing the impact of NHS Test and Trace and making improvements to the system. On 11 June, we published data on the first week of operation of the contact tracing element of the system, and we will be updating this on a weekly basis.
Asked by: Baroness Jolly (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve access to COVID-19 testing for key workers.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Anyone with symptoms can now get a test, regardless of whether they are an essential worker. Essential workers still have a dedicated access route through the essential worker self-referral portal and are able to access testing through multiple channels such as regional test sites, home testing, mobile testing units, and through the care home portal if they are care home members of staff.
Asked by: Baroness Jolly (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce systematic regular COVID-19 testing of all NHS and care staff and patients.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Current clinical advice is that asymptomatic testing can be conducted in any setting where clinically appropriate, for outbreak investigation and infection control. For example, we are testing all emergency admissions to hospital, and all care home residents before they are discharged into a social care setting.
For staff, for example, an asymptomatic staff member could be tested when a patient they had been treating unexpectedly tests positive for COVID-19, in order to reduce the risk of spreading infection in healthcare organisations.
It is not always appropriate to routinely test asymptomatic staff, and so we currently suggest a more strategic and specific approach. These decisions are made by local decision makers.
Asked by: Baroness Jolly (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, following the reduction of Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency services due to COVID-19, what steps they are taking to support people over the age of 70 to renew their driving licences by post.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The quickest and easiest way to renew a driving licence at the age 70 and over is to use the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA)’s online service.
If drivers are unable to use the online service they should submit a paper application in the normal way. However, paper applications will take longer to process in the current circumstances. Some drivers may be able to continue to drive while their application is being processed, provided they have a valid licence and they have not been told by a doctor or optician not to drive.
The department is considering what can be done to help drivers who are unable to use the DVLA’s online service, and will provide more information when available.
Asked by: Baroness Jolly (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of COVID-19 on people’s ability to see a doctor to confirm their fitness to drive, and thereby to fulfil the criteria of section 88 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 so they can continue driving.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
It is a driver’s responsibility to ensure that they meet the criteria for driving under the provisions of Section 88 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 while their application is being considered.
While there is no specific requirement to visit a doctor for these purposes, if a driver has been told not to drive by a doctor or optician, they should not do so.