NHS Dentistry: Recovery and Reform
Ben Everitt Excerpts(9 months, 2 weeks ago)
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Victoria Atkins
I thank my hon. Friend and fellow greater Lincolnshire MP for her question. In terms of the mechanics of this being delivered, the new patient premiums will come into force and patients can already look at the NHS website to see which practices have places available in their area. They can go there; they do not need to have had an existing relationship with that dental practice. We will also be setting out for constituents and Members of Parliament how, once the new premium comes in, people can get in contact and get the appointments we all want them to get.
Ben Everitt (Milton Keynes North) (Con)
More dentists, more appointments, more incentives for NHS work and a focus on underserved areas—this is exactly what Milton Keynes needs. I would like to thank the Secretary of State and, in particular, her dental Minister and my constituency neighbour, my right hon. Friend the Member for South Northamptonshire (Dame Andrea Leadsom), for all the work they have done, and in particular for listening to me banging on about dentistry in Milton Keynes for so long. I seek just one more clarification, please. Will the mobile dentist vans be serving hard-to-reach rural areas, such as my beautiful market towns and villages in Milton Keynes North?
Victoria Atkins
I join my hon. Friend in his praise for our right hon. Friend the Member for South Northamptonshire (Dame Andrea Leadsom). As I say, we are having to apply strict criteria to the dental vans. We want to get them out as quickly as possible to the most underserved areas, but we do not want dental vans to be the limit of our ambitions. The idea behind them is very much to revitalise those parts of the country that do not have NHS dental practices within a reasonable distance, and we are convinced that dental vans are just one of the levers by which we will achieve that.
Milton Keynes Women’s and Children’s Hospital: New Hospital Programme
Ben Everitt Excerpts(10 months ago)
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Ben Everitt (Milton Keynes North) (Con)
I am hugely grateful to have been granted this Adjournment debate, on a matter that means so much to me, my constituents in Milton Keynes North and those of my hon. Friend the Member for Milton Keynes South (Iain Stewart).
My constituency and the whole of Milton Keynes is growing all the time—it is one of the fastest growing cities in the UK. More and more folk with families, as well as young couples looking to start a family, are moving to Milton Keynes. Our freshly minted city, which is 57 years old this week, is a wonderful place to build and grow a family. People want to build their families in Milton Keynes because there is opportunity there, including highly skilled jobs, good schools and green neighbourhoods for children to grow up in. Milton Keynes is the place to be.
However, a growing city brings challenges, particularly for our healthcare infrastructure. More people means a need for more healthcare capacity, in both the short and the long term. I thank the Government for their efforts so far to meet that challenge head-on.
For those reasons, I am delighted about the investment we have seen since I became an MP in 2019. For example, the community diagnostic centres, backed by £2.3 billion of Government funding, are making a significant impact in reducing the covid-19 backlogs and delivering an extra 6 million vital tests, checks and scans to date. There are two such diagnostic centres in Milton Keynes, with one up and running at the Whitehouse Health Centre and one coming soon in Lloyds Court in central Milton Keynes.
The Maple Centre is another important step in the right direction, helping to provide same day emergency care, meaning patients can get the treatment they need without being admitted to hospital. That has reduced pressure on the main emergency department at Milton Keynes University Hospital, ensuring that patients are treated in the environment that best meets their healthcare needs. In its first year, the centre treated over 20,000 patients, so I offer my thanks to staff at the centre who work really hard to provide the best quality care for their patients.
I also welcome the Government’s urgent and emergency care plan, alongside an investment of over £1 billion to deliver 5,000 more hospital beds. That will free up beds for patients needing urgent and emergency care, and, ultimately, reduce pressures on hospitals. This includes a £3 million investment in Milton Keynes University Hospital, where we have a new 22 bed ward with extra clinical space. I am also delighted that the Government are funding a new breast cancer screening unit at Milton Keynes University Hospital.
Milton Keynes University Hospital serves not just the people of Milton Keynes, but communities in the surrounding areas, acting as a cornerstone in the region. Work must continue to safeguard the healthcare needs of future generations.
Iain Stewart (Milton Keynes South) (Con)
My hon. Friend makes an important point that the hospital is there for Milton Keynes, but it is also there for the surrounding areas, including towns such as Buckingham and Winslow and the villages around them. Does he agree that the important partnership between the medical centre at the University of Buckingham and the hospital has driven up clinical standards? When I was first elected in 2010, standards at Milton Keynes University Hospital were not good. They are now among the best in the country. That should be cherished and it bodes well for future investment.
Ben Everitt
I agree wholeheartedly; in fact, I remember campaigning with my hon. Friend to get that partnership up and running back in 2015. It really is a virtuous circle: because it is now a teaching hospital, people want to go there to learn, and standards go up. It is one of the best places to work in the region, with fantastic staff and fantastic management.
One of the best measures we have for a healthcare system is its capacity to provide everyone with the specialist care they need. That is why I was very pleased when the construction of a women and children’s hospital, which is the subject of the debate, was agreed in principle. It is part of the new hospital programme, and getting it on to the list of 40 new hospitals and keeping it there has been quite a journey. With covid, build cost inflation, and concrete rot being found in other hospitals, which bumped them up the priority list, it has been hard work to keep our hospital on the list. I sincerely thank my hon. Friend for his hard work, and Professor Joe Harrison at Milton Keynes University Hospital.
On the list we are! The Treasury has confirmed the funding and we are a go. Our new hospital will act as the home for paediatric and maternity care in Milton Keynes, while increasing surgical capacity. Through the new hospital programme, the new hospital and the existing hospital will be able to utilise the latest technological developments to create smarter hospital facilities. That means more up-to-date systems and devices, leading to greater efficiency and better care across the whole hospital estate. Another point, which might be overlooked, is that moving maternity and paediatric care to the new hospital will free up capacity in the existing hospital for other clinical requirements. Often, building new hospitals is not just about new facilities, which are of course important; it is also about improving existing facilities and care. MK University Hospital will be able to move forward with its own expansion plans. In that sense, we can begin to unlock the full potential of our healthcare infrastructure in Milton Keynes.
Having seen the architect’s impressions of the new hospital, I can only be excited. With it, we have a brilliant future ahead of us. It is clear that the hospital will act as a symbol of how far our city has come, but I also feel that it will act as a symbol of the new hospital programme overall, and of the benefits of the Government’s ambitious levelling-up agenda. Of course, having a new hospital focused on women and children is not just about the additional treatment; it is about creating the right environment for that care to take place—an environment in which women feel comfortable talking about their health without distress or worry, and children feel that they are cared for in their own setting.
The integration of maternity and paediatric care is key. Having those services all under one roof will make life easier for nurses and doctors, as well as for families. The health of our women and children is fundamental. We must therefore keep pushing for the new hospital to be built as soon as possible, to ensure that Milton Keynes can provide the best care for our young families and is the best place possible to respond to the challenges of population growth. With funding having been announced last May, I hope that the funds can be released soon, so that we can get the plans finalised and get on with the construction work. I know that many back in MK are itching to get the green light and get on with the project, so I would welcome any updates on the hospital, and where we are on the timeline.
Delivering the 40 new hospitals by 2030 is key to meeting our manifesto commitments from 2019. Getting this hospital up and running as soon as possible will demonstrate in no uncertain terms that the Government are more committed than ever to that target.
New Hospitals
Ben Everitt Excerpts(1 year, 6 months ago)
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Steve Barclay
Again, I pay tribute to my hon. Friend’s campaigning work, as well as the work he did in his local hospital as a volunteer during lockdown, which was extremely well received. It is why he has campaigned—along with my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Eddisbury and my hon. Friend the Member for Congleton —to make the case for this investment. I am very happy to have further discussions with him as liaison with the trust on the next steps moves forward.
Ben Everitt (Milton Keynes North) (Con)
I am sure the Health Secretary has become absolutely sick of the sight of me campaigning for Milton Keynes’ new women’s and children’s hospital, both in his current role and his previous role at the Treasury. In the event that he is not sick of the sight of me, would he like to come up to Milton Keynes and look at the site, and where we can keep our foot on the pedal and get some enabling works going? We are going to hit that 2030 target, but there is no reason why we cannot get cracking and get started straightaway.
Steve Barclay
It is always a pleasure to see my hon. Friend whatever the issue, but he is right that he has assiduously raised the case for Milton Keynes, as has his neighbour, my hon. Friend the Member for Milton Keynes South (Iain Stewart)—they worked very effectively as a team to make that case. I look forward to having further discussions with him as we take the plans forward.
Reforms to NHS Dentistry
Ben Everitt Excerpts(1 year, 7 months ago)
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Ben Everitt (Milton Keynes North) (Con)
I thank the hon. Member for Bradford South (Judith Cummins) and my hon. Friend the Member for Waveney (Peter Aldous), and of course the Backbench Business Committee, for securing this important and necessary debate—the third in this trilogy of dentistry debates; and, we hope, the last.
My constituents tell me that dental care in Milton Keynes is failing to meet demand and the complex needs of many families dealing with challenging circumstances. That is, quite frankly, unacceptable. For instance, an unpaid carer with three disabled children told me that her local NHS dentist would no longer be able see children for NHS treatment. In her case, the alternative is to pay £4.75 a month per child for their dental plans; doing the maths, that works out at £171 a year. The only other option for her family is an NHS dentist over 12 miles away from their home. She explained how the children require one-to-one support and can therefore not access family appointments, so in effect this option would mean going to and from the dentist three times every six months. Factoring in fuel costs and other things, is either option more favourable than the other? The last thing that people caring for three children with disabilities need is further pressure on the family budget and schedule. Many families such as hers are faced with similar difficult choices.
Access to NHS dental care should not be determined by a postcode lottery. Another constituent told me a similar story. They moved to Milton Keynes recently and inquired as to their nearest NHS dentist, but were told that the closest NHS dentist was in Bedford. Once again, their only alternative would be private dental care.
Dental care in Milton Keynes, not for a lack of policy and plans from the Government, is on the rocks—mainly, as Members have said, due to the contractual situation dating back decades. For too many, dental care is out of reach and too difficult to access. Without serious change, the consequences for patients and our health system are severe. In fact, when we talk about policy reform, we often forget to pair the reform of the material improvements with our infrastructure and capacity. As a result, the good work that we in Parliament do to reform the system can fail to have an impact on the situation on the ground in the way that we want. What makes this debate so important for me is that it speaks to that wider, broader constellation of dental care reform issues that remain overlooked. I have touched on that previously with the Minister in regard to a different healthcare area.
In my constituency, the Labour-Lib Dem coalition that runs Milton Keynes City Council has given developers permission to build thousands of extra houses as part of the MK East development. Those in surrounding towns such as Newport Pagnell and Olney are already seeing more traffic and more pressure on their public services, including GP surgeries and dentists. I will continue to hammer away at that issue. Who thought about the impact on local services and on people who struggle even now to get dentist appointments for themselves and their children? That level of incompetence makes it difficult for Government reforms to have the desired impact. Let me be clear: it is always expansion before infrastructure when it comes to Milton Keynes City Council—short-term wins instead of planning for the longer term. This is why we plan and have planning departments. We should always put infrastructure before expansion.
I am convinced that there was little to no foresight of the effect on vital public services such as dental care, which are already spread dangerously thin. Ultimately, the knock-on effect of that ill-thought-out planning and reckless over-expansion is a significant and long-term problem for my constituents. We are already seeing the consequences. Yet by getting the infrastructure right, we can make dental reform far more effective.
I welcome the fact that the Department of Health and Social Care will publish a plan for dentistry in the coming months, and I look forward to seeing how it will help my Milton Keynes constituents. I hope that, with the right changes, we can create a system to ensure that the most vulnerable families can access dental care without having to make costly travel arrangements. I am keen to see dental care access improve across my constituency and across England, and I am in no doubt that many others across the House feel the same.
Children’s Mental Health
Ben Everitt Excerpts(2 years, 9 months ago)
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Ben Everitt (Milton Keynes North) (Con)
Sadly, the impacts of this pandemic have been wide reaching and they will be long lasting. While we are no longer under lockdown, and our physical health may be recovering, the impact of those restrictions on our mental health is still being felt, especially by the youngest in our communities. Of course, there is no doubt that children are robust. However, they have faced real challenges during the pandemic, and it is right that we use this debate to recognise that. While adults were more able to rationalise the changes that we faced in our everyday lives, children were suddenly having to cope with drastic changes such as not being able to go to school, where they both learn and socialise all at once. The structure of the school day, along with the discipline, the routine and the predictability, are so important to children’s development, especially those children from more disadvantaged backgrounds who do not necessarily have those things at home, and the impact of losing them is profound.
NHS surveys show that there has been a sharp increase in the number of children experiencing mental health problems, with one in six children now having a probable mental health disorder. That is up from one in nine. We know that this can be improved on, and we know we can change children’s lives for the better, but only with the right support. I am pleased to say that that support is already coming from the actions of this Government. We are expanding access to community-based mental health services, we are boosting mental health funding by over £2 billion, and we are targeting our support to where it is needed most, through the new £500 million mental health recovery action plan.
Most importantly, it is this Government who are supporting our children’s mental health by keeping them in school. It is worrying to think about where we would be now if we had listened to the Opposition on this and how much worse off our children would be. While they were calling for schools to close, it was this Government who were prioritising children’s and young people’s mental health by opening schools as soon as it was safe to do so. Schools are more than just places to learn. The structure and support that school brings to children is second to none. As a father of three, I know how hard home schooling was, and I am sure I am not alone in feeling grateful that I was excused from doing that, doing this job—[Interruption.] Even doing this job.
Beyond the school walls, there is an excellent, and quite simple, way to support children’s mental health. It is something that I am passionate about, and it is something that we already have in Milton Keynes, through our access to green spaces. The benefits of exercise and our beautiful green spaces are well known. In fact, research from a Danish study has shown that growing up near green spaces reduces the risk of developing mental health problems later in life. If this Government are serious about supporting children’s mental health, which I believe we are, it is important that access to green spaces should be maintained and improved.
Milton Keynes is the perfect example of a town with access to green spaces at its core. We have 15 lakes, over 11 miles of canals and 5,000 acres of parks, woodlands and rivers. That means that no one is ever more than half a mile away from a park. This alone has been a real lifeline for many of my constituents during the pandemic, and hopefully as we move forward, it will be something that remains important throughout their lives.
Milton Keynes is a perfect example of what our cities and towns could be like if they were designed with practicality and our mental health in mind, and I would encourage others to follow our example. Our children and young people are far more resilient than we give them credit for, but if we truly want them not just to survive but to thrive, beyond our current investments, we must also invest in our green spaces.
Several hon. Members rose—
Oral Answers to Questions
Ben Everitt Excerpts(3 years ago)
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Maggie Throup
The Department of Health and Social Care and the NHS keep the covid-19 vaccine programme under constant review in order to ensure that there is sufficient capacity across the country. There are more vaccination sites than ever before in England, including hundreds of walk-in centres. A lot of planning goes into ensuring that those sites are distributed to meet the level of demand, and there are measures in place to ensure that boosters are accessible for all in West Dorset, but I will look into this matter further on behalf of my hon. Friend.
Ben Everitt (Milton Keynes North) (Con)
The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Sajid Javid)
The UK’s covid-19 vaccination programme has been a recognised success story. It is the largest vaccination programme ever undertaken by the NHS. We are working at speed to get people their covid-19 booster vaccines. Our vaccination programme is making great progress, with over 15.3 million people across the UK already having taken their covid-19 booster or third jab.
Ben Everitt
It is great to hear about the uptake of the booster vaccine nationally. I have seen some data to suggest that in Milton Keynes, uptake is slightly below the national average. We have some great advertising campaigns—MKFM, for example, has been really good on this—but what more can we do to encourage people who need to take the booster to protect themselves and protect the NHS over the winter?
Sajid Javid
I think my hon. Friend might be wearing a booster badge, because I understand that he has taken his own boost this morning. What more encouragement would the people of Milton Keynes want than their very own Member of Parliament getting boosted? I can tell him that the Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes clinical commissioning group is in regular dialogue with Healthwatch and the local authority to see what more it can do to encourage local people to take up their booster jabs, and the national “Boost your immunity” campaign is helping to encourage more and more people to come forward, not just for their booster jab but for their vital flu jab.
Menopause (Support and Services) Bill
Ben Everitt ExcerptsFriday 29th October 2021
(3 years ago)
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Nickie Aiken (Cities of London and Westminster) (Con)
Is it me or is it warm in here? That is one of the issues we have to raise to get rid of the taboo of the menopause. How many of us have gone around saying that most days in the last few years?
I welcome the Bill of the hon. Member for Swansea East (Carolyn Harris). As a fellow Welsh woman, I know that no one should ever mess with a Welsh woman. I thank her for the support that she has given me since I arrived in this place. One of the first conversations we had was when I said to her, “I’m having a nightmare menopause. I don’t know what to do.” Since, she has been a great support to me and I have missed our menopausal women exercise classes on a Tuesday; we need to bring them back.
It is a serious and timely debate—the second on the menopause during Menopause Awareness Month, which is an achievement in itself. It is time for us—men and women—to talk about the menopause. As I have said before, my hon. Friends the Members for Totnes (Anthony Mangnall), for Eastleigh (Paul Holmes), and for Hazel Grove (Mr Wragg) have been supportive in talking about it to me personally, which makes a huge difference to us women. We have to do more of that. I also pay tribute to the Health Secretary who spoke earlier. I spoke to him last week and earlier today. He absolutely supports our wish to break down the taboos of the menopause and do more for women.
From my experience, GPs need better training on the menopause. I went to my GP several times before I could access HRT, and even then, it took six months to get access to an HRT clinic. In that time, I felt so alone, because HRT would work at some times in the month, but at other times it would not. I came off it after a year, but the symptoms became so bad again that I felt I had to go back on it. I have been fortunate that it has worked the second time, but the menopause can be a very lonely place, which is why there needs to be more education for GPs.
There also needs to be more education in the workplace. The hon. Member for Swansea East is right to say that we need to discuss the menopause in the workplace. As the Member for the City of London, I pledge to do all I can with the financial services industry to ensure that it takes it seriously.
Ben Everitt (Milton Keynes North) (Con)
I join all hon. Members in thanking the hon. Member for Swansea East (Carolyn Harris) for bringing the subject to our attention and for bringing the Bill to the House. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Cities of London and Westminster (Nickie Aiken) for the workplace education that I am receiving today on this important issue. I hope that she agrees that we need to talk about it more openly, and today’s debate is a good place to start.
Nickie Aiken
My hon. Friend makes several good points. This is a good workplace in which to bring the menopause to the forefront.
We have to start a public health campaign on the menopause. We have to ensure that it is not just women in their late 40s and early 50s who understand it but women who are younger who will reach it eventually and men. It is important that our partners, our sons and our daughters understand what we are going through. I pay tribute to my wonderful husband Alex who has been so supportive of me in the last three or four years. As we all know, it can be hell for us and for those around us.
Turning quickly to prescription charges, as I raised in the House last week—I have discussed this with the Secretary of State for Health and the Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, my hon. Friend the Member for Lewes (Maria Caulfield)—I think the NICE guidelines are very clear. However, we have to make sure that GPs are aware that, after the first three months of a woman being on HRT, they can put us on an annual prescription, which would be £18.70, or whatever, once a year. If we could really ensure that GPs understood that, it would be a saving of about £200. That would make a huge difference to women, and I declare an interest because I obviously pay for my own prescriptions.
Finally, I again thank the hon. Member for Swansea East for introducing this. I thank the celebrities—Davina, Penny and Meg—and all the other brilliant women, and also sites such as pausitivity.co.uk, with brilliant women who are really bringing Know Your Menopause to the front. People should get on that website and learn as much as they can about the menopause. I am part of the MenoRevolution, and I am absolutely proud to be a menopause warrior.
Covid Security at UK Borders
Ben Everitt Excerpts(3 years, 9 months ago)
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Ben Everitt (Milton Keynes North) (Con)
It is a pleasure to be called, Madam Deputy Speaker. I believe they call this the headline slot, so thank you very much.
I am old enough to remember the Labour party’s position on free movement, so I am excited to speak in this Opposition day debate on our borders. The motion calls on the Government to
“immediately introduce a comprehensive…quarantine system for all arrivals into the UK”,
which does not seem to fit entirely with the free movement of people that we know and love from Labour policy.
There are two things that I want to major on in the short time I have to address the House tonight: the practicalities and the politics of the motion before us. I will start with the practicalities. Milton Keynes, as the House will know, was host to one of the coronavirus repatriation centres when, almost this time last year—time has flown—repatriations were taking place for British nationals and their dependants from Wuhan over to the UK. Quite frankly, it is a bit of a palaver getting people into converted hotel accommodation safely, given what we knew then and what we know now about the virus. I wonder whether Her Majesty’s official Opposition have clearly thought through how we get arrivals from overseas into hotel accommodation in the UK safely and in a covid-secure manner, because what they are suggesting is quite a logistical exercise.
Moving on from the practicalities, I turn to the politics. I mentioned that I was old enough to remember Labour’s last policy on borders, and I am old enough to remember the last time that an inadvertent policy position threatened the Northern Ireland protocol. Perhaps the Opposition Front Benchers might want to clarify how the common travel area between the UK and Ireland would be affected by their proposals. Would this be another EU diplomatic incident moment? Are they riding roughshod over the Northern Ireland protocol?
Quite frankly, I think we have some of the strictest measures in the world to prevent new strains of coronavirus from entering the UK. We have pre-departure testing, passenger locator forms, quarantine on arrival for at least 10 days, and a complete ban on flights from the highest-risk countries. What are the Opposition offering that is better than that?
Covid-19
Ben Everitt Excerpts(3 years, 10 months ago)
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Ben Everitt (Milton Keynes North) (Con)
It was less than two weeks ago that I stood here and described the nightmarish data that was coming out of Milton Keynes University Hospital. The situation was grim then, and it is clear today that we are yet to turn the tide on the latest rise in cases. There are some dark days ahead. This lockdown will be different from the last. The nights are longer, the days are colder, and many people will have gone for months without seeing friends and family.
As ever, I think about the amazing staff at Milton Keynes University Hospital. Day in, day out, they go to work knowing that there is a killer virus in their workplace, worrying about not only their own safety but taking the virus home to their loved ones. Now they face the disgraceful prospect of encountering conspiracy theorists and anti-vaxxers protesting and shouting abuse as they enter their workplace. Their service to our country is invaluable. We are right to be proud of our NHS and all those who work so hard for us.
There are a very difficult few weeks ahead. Every day brings news that nobody wants to hear—news of more people falling ill, news of more people admitted to hospital and the most tragic news of all: news of people losing their lives. In these dark times, even as our nation grows weary of the restrictions and each day carries news that more families have lost a loved one, there is hope. We heard today from the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care that more than 2.3 million people across the United Kingdom have received the vaccination.
The speed at which the vaccine is being rolled out is amazing. It is an example of what we do best as a country. The hope offered by these vaccines is thanks to our public sector and our private sector pulling together. It is thanks to the knowledge and dedication of our world-class universities and the dynamism of our pharmaceutical industry. The hope is due to the expertise of our armed forces, the selflessness of our volunteers and the tireless dedication of health workers. We will make it through these dark days. Our victory over this pandemic will be yet another example of the strength and resolve of our nation and what we can achieve when we pull together.
Oral Answers to Questions
Ben Everitt Excerpts(3 years, 10 months ago)
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Stephen Morgan (Portsmouth South) (Lab)
Ben Everitt (Milton Keynes North) (Con)
Holly Mumby-Croft (Scunthorpe) (Con)
Matt Hancock
I am really delighted to highlight that news and I am also glad that, as the hon. Gentleman has just demonstrated, this is a national effort that we can all play our part in. The cross-party support that we and the NHS have received for the vaccination effort is incredibly welcome, and I know that the NHS team on the ground will really appreciate the hon. Gentleman’s support. The kit will be delivered on time—over 98% of vaccines have been delivered on time. Of course, in a very large logistical exercise there is always the occasional hiccup, but I will get back to the hon. Gentleman and make sure that the Minister for covid vaccine deployment, my hon. Friend the Member for Stratford-on-Avon (Nadhim Zahawi), gets back to him with the precise details of when the kit will arrive at his local hospital.
Ben Everitt
It is fantastic news that 2.3 million people across the whole of the UK have already received the first dose of this vaccine. Businesses and venues across Milton Keynes are queuing up to offer their support for the vaccination programme, including the wonderful ECG Training, where I went for a covid test last week—I passed by the way, Mr Speaker. Can the Secretary of State tell us what the plan is for accepting these kind offers of help and support with the vaccination programme?
Matt Hancock
I am really delighted that ECG Training is involved in hosting some of the testing centres. We have had amazing offers of support in the form of places that are now being used as testing centres and as some of the 1,000-plus vaccination centres across the country. We have been working since the summer with some sites to ensure that they were ready to be vaccination centres. We are always open to further offers of support, but I would say that we have been working on this for some time. It is also important that, for infection control reasons, testing centres and vaccine sites that are put in the same place are kept separate, not least because we want to make sure that when an octogenarian goes for a vaccine, they are kept safe in the process of getting that vaccine. The thing to do is raise this specific offer of support with the Minister responsible for vaccine deployment, my hon. Friend the Member for Stratford-on-Avon.