Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have identified any shortages in the supply chain that provides chemicals and equipment that have adversely affected the COVID-19 testing capacity.
Answered by Lord Bethell
As part of our concerted national efforts to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak, we are doing everything we can to ensure patients continue to have access COVID-19 test equipment and chemicals such as reagents and raw materials in all scenarios.
The Department has well-established procedures to deal with shortages and works closely with industry, the National Health Service and others in the supply chain to address supply disruption events that arise, regardless of the cause.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the level of smoking amongst the population in England during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Public Health England (PHE) has produced an online monitoring tool ‘Wider Impacts of COVID on Health’ which is designed to allow users to explore the indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the population's health and wellbeing. The tool presents a range of health and wellbeing metrics, including bringing together several indicators on smoking and alcohol consumption in England over the pandemic period.
Data from PHE’s latest summary on the Wider impacts of COVID-19 on health published 24 September 2020 suggest considerable volatility in smoking behaviours.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the level of alcohol consumption amongst the population in England during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Public Health England has published an online monitoring tool to track behavioural changes, including alcohol consumption. The findings on alcohol consumption throughout the COVID-19 pandemic are that intake across the population as a whole remained about the same during lockdown. Those aged 18 to 34 were more likely to report consuming less alcohol each week than before and those aged 35 to 54 were more likely to report an increase. There was an increase in the proportion of ‘high risk’ drinking between February and June 2020.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of campaigns to encourage people to walk more.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Government supports various campaigns to encourage people to walk more, including the Walk to School programme delivered by Living Streets, and local programmes delivered by local authorities under the Department for Transport’s £20 million per annum Access Fund. The effectiveness of these and other campaigns is considered in the first Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy Report to Parliament published in February 2020.
Public Health England’s One You campaign launched the free Active 10 brisk walking app designed to encourage adults to undertake more physical activity by simply going for a brisk 10-minute walk. The app was relaunched in December 2019 to align with the new United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers’ guidelines that every minute of physical activity counts and provides health benefits.
Decisions on future funding for future campaigns will be a matter for the Spending Review in the autumn.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how they involve members of both Houses of Parliament in their decisions to instigate to instigate local lockdowns in their constituency in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord Bethell
We have encouraged local authorities to discuss with local hon. Members proposals for changes to restrictions applying in their areas. Our Contain Framework sets out how we will work with local authorities to respond to local outbreaks. Local authorities now have powers to give directions, in particular to close premises, to protect residents from the threat of coronavirus, and we will report on use of these powers to Parliament. Where more serious restrictions are needed, those would be implemented through regulations laid before and, in due course, debated in Parliament.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the quality of service provided by optometrists; and what plans they have to review regulations regarding the provision of such services online and on the high street.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Optometrists in England are regulated by the General Optical Council (GOC). The GOC also regulates some optical businesses. We are aware that as part of the GOC’s current Strategic Plan, they are undertaking a project to consider reform of business regulation. The aim is to offer more consistency of regulation of businesses, both online and on the high street, across the United Kingdom and greater control of the quality of optical care delivered in the UK, which may lead to a request for legislative reform.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether the supply chain is sufficiently robust enough for non-medical face coverings in the UK.
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 PPE - note for House of Lords which is attached, due to the size of the data. A copy has also been placed in the Library.