Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government why COVID-19 has been placed in the same Office for National Statistics reporting group as influenza; and, given that decision, why the provision of COVID-19 vaccinations is being treated differently to the provision of influenza vaccinations.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Noble Peer’s Parliamentary Question of 29 March is attached in the answer.
The Rt Hon. the Lord Mendelsohn
House of Lords
London
SW1A 0PW
31 March 2023
Dear Lord Mendelsohn,
As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking why COVID-19 has been placed in the same Office for National Statistics reporting group as influenza; and, given that decision, why the provision of COVID-19 vaccinations is being treated differently to the provision of influenza vaccinations (HL7017).
In answering this Parliamentary Question, we have answered under the assumption that you are referring to our Influenza and other respiratory viruses pilot study, Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey, UK: October 2022 to February 2023 [1] release of 27 March 2023.
The Covid-19 Infection Survey published its final release on 24 March 2023 as the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) works to confirm its approach to infection surveillance. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) plans to work with existing survey participants to continue gathering valuable insight into the experiences of COVID-19, long-COVID and other respiratory infections. In the immediate future this will gather data such as symptoms that people are experiencing but will not include testing for infectious diseases.
From October 2022 to February 2023, the ONS used a small sample from the Covid-19 Infection Survey to pilot the feasibility of testing participants for other respiratory infections and its report was published on 27 March 2023. This pilot study separately reported experimental results on the number of participants who tested positive for influenza and Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) while the latest Covid-19 infection results were reported in the regular statistical bulletin (released on Fridays at noon) [2].
The ONS has announced no plans on the future reporting of data on respiratory infections. In terms of the provision of COVID-19 vaccinations, this would fall under the remit of the UKHSA who are responsible for vaccination policy in the UK.
Yours sincerely,
Professor Sir Ian Diamond
[1] https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/healthandlifeexpectancies/articles/influenzaandotherrespiratoryvirusespilotstudycoronaviruscovid19infectionsurveyuk/october2022tofebruary2023
[2] https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/bulletins/coronaviruscovid19infectionsurveypilot/24march2023
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people who are immunocompromised or immunosuppressed have died due to COVID-19 in England since 2 September.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have, therefore, asked the Authority to respond.
Professor Sir Ian Diamond | National Statistician
The Lord Mendelsohn
House of Lords
London
SW1A 0PW
22 November 2021
Dear Lord Mendelsohn,
As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking how many people who are immunocompromised or immunosuppressed have died due to COVID-19 in England since 2 September (HL4024).
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes statistics on deaths registered in England and Wales. Mortality statistics are compiled from information supplied when deaths are certified and registered as part of civil registration. National Records for Scotland (1) and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (2) are responsible for publishing statistics on deaths registered in Scotland and Northern Ireland respectively.
The mortality statistics published by the ONS are based on the causes of death provided by the certifying doctor (or in some cases coroner). The death certificate lists only those health conditions or circumstances which led directly to the death or otherwise contributed to it but does not include any other health conditions the deceased suffered from if the certifier did not consider them relevant to the death. Immunosuppression can arise directly from a diagnosed health condition or from the side-effects of treatment, and there is no definitive list of causes of death linked to immunosuppression. Therefore, we are able to provide the number of deaths due to COVID-19 where certain health conditions commonly associated with immunosuppression were also mentioned on the death certificate, but this does not provide a comprehensive count of all deaths due to COVID-19 where immunosuppression might have been involved.
Table 1 shows the number of deaths registered due to COVID-19, where diseases of the blood and blood-forming organs and certain disorders involving the immune mechanism were mentioned on the death certificate, in England and Wales between 2 September to 5 November 2021.
Yours sincerely,
Professor Sir Ian Diamond
Table 1: Number (3) of deaths (4) registered (5) due to COVID-19 where diseases (6) of the blood and blood-forming organs and certain disorders involving the immune mechanism (7) were mentioned on the death certificate, England and Wales, 2 September to 5 November 2021 (8).
Due to COVID-19 | Of which, diseases of the blood and blood-forming organs and certain disorders involving the immune mechanism mentioned |
| 114 |
Source: Office for National Statistics
(1) https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/
(2) https://www.nisra.gov.uk/
(3) Figures are provisional.
(4) Deaths for England and Wales exclude non-residents.
(5) Based on date a death was registered rather than occurred.
(6) The International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Edition (ICD-10) definitions are as follows: coronavirus (COVID-19) (U.071, U.072, U.099, U.109) and Diseases of the blood and blood-forming organs and certain disorders involving the immune mechanism (D50 to D89).
(7) Deaths where diseases of the blood and blood-forming organs and certain disorders involving the immune mechanism were mentioned includes deaths that have these causes mentioned on the death certificate but not as the underlying cause of death.
(8) These figures are calculated using the most up-to-date data we have available to get the most accurate estimates.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of section 113(7) of the Public Contract Regulations 2015; and what plans they have, if any, to amend that legislation to tackle issues relating to reporting and non-compliance.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
Section 113(7) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 requires contracting authorities to publish their performance against the 30 day obligation to pay their suppliers within 30 days, together with details of interest payable/paid where they fail to do so. It does not place any obligations or responsibilities upon external auditors in the event of a reporting failure.
The Cabinet Office has included proposals in its Green Paper on Procurement Rules Reform to strengthen the reporting requirements of Section 113(7).
The proposals include legislating to align public and private sector reporting requirements and publishing public sector payment performance in a single location which will allow greater scrutiny and challenge of public sector payment performance.
The outcome of the consultation will be published in due course.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what reporting obligations and responsibilities are placed on external auditors by section 113(7) of the Public Contract Regulations 2015 in the event of a reporting failure.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
Section 113(7) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 requires contracting authorities to publish their performance against the 30 day obligation to pay their suppliers within 30 days, together with details of interest payable/paid where they fail to do so. It does not place any obligations or responsibilities upon external auditors in the event of a reporting failure.
The Cabinet Office has included proposals in its Green Paper on Procurement Rules Reform to strengthen the reporting requirements of Section 113(7).
The proposals include legislating to align public and private sector reporting requirements and publishing public sector payment performance in a single location which will allow greater scrutiny and challenge of public sector payment performance.
The outcome of the consultation will be published in due course.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government why National Health Service Trusts and English Local Authority Councils are allowed to be signatories to the Prompt Payment Code given the reports about failures to pay promptly and make the relevant disclosures under section 113(7) of the Public Contract Regulations 2015.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
The Office of the Small Business Commissioner administers the Prompt Payment Code (the Code) on behalf of BEIS. The Office of the Small Business Commissioner is an independent public body set up by Government under the Enterprise Act 2016. The Code is a voluntary code of practice which any private or public sector organisation may sign up to. If an organisation chooses to sign up to the Code, they must demonstrate they meet the Code standards.
However, public sector organisations in scope of Reg 113 of the PCRs 2015 are required to meet payment standards as set out in legislation. This requires contracting authorities to include contractual provisions to make payments due to a contractor no later than 30 days from the point it is declared valid and undisputed, and for that verification to take place in a timely fashion and without undue delay.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the budget of the National Cyber Security Centre in (1) 2016/17, (2) 2017/18, (3) 2018/19, and (4) 2019/20; and what is it for 2020/21.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
The National Cyber Security Strategy supported by a £1.9 billion investment through the National Cyber Security Programme, is delivering transformational change, building new capabilities and intervening to protect the UK from cyber attacks.
We established the National Cyber Security Centre in October 2016 as part of the National Cyber Security Strategy to bring together our best intelligence and expertise into a single national technical authority, driving improvements in detection, defence and incident management.
Our manifesto committed to investing more in cyber security, embracing new technologies and legislating to make the UK the safest place in the world to be online.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to make additional resources available to the National Cyber Security Centre to address any rise in cybercrime linked to COVID-19; and, if so, what those resources will be.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is deploying its full range of capabilities in tackling the cyber threat during the Covid-19 crisis.
The NCSC, National Crime Agency and partners in the UK and overseas are working together to tackle cyber threats, publishing guidance and identifying and removing malicious sites. This includes working closely with the NHS to keep their systems and the healthcare sector safe as we see a greater demand on their services during this period. We are able to draw upon these resources, because of the implementation of the 2016 National Cyber Security Strategy.
The Covid-19 crisis means that the UK is now more reliant on home working and online services than ever before. In April, the NCSC, alongside Cabinet Office, DCMS and Home Office relaunched the Cyber Aware campaign, which advises the public of the simple steps they can take to protect themselves online.
We recognise the importance of not losing momentum on our response to cyber security and of continuing to build on the capabilities we have developed; this will be considered as part of the Government's next Spending Review.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether it remains their policy that any supplier who bids for a government contract worth more than £5 million per annum must demonstrate that they pay 95 per cent of invoices within 60 days or be excluded from delivering the contract; and if so, how many such bidders have been excluded from delivering contracts on those grounds.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
From September 2019, any supplier who bids for a Government contract above £5m per annum will be expected to pay 95% of invoices in 60 days across all their business. Any supplier who is unable to demonstrate a fair and responsible approach to the payment of their supply chain may be excluded from bidding.
A small number of suppliers have been excluded to date for not achieving the expected standards. However, our aim is to drive improvement in performance and ensure subcontractors are paid promptly.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many Government consultations there have been in each of the last five years; and to how many of those they published a formal response within 12 weeks of the consultation closing.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
All public government consultations are uploaded onto GOV.UK where they can be filtered by many criteria, including date of publication, official document status and department. Granular information on consultations across all individual departments is not centrally held in the form requested, as individual departments are responsible for their consultations. The Cabinet Office is responsible for the Government Consultation Principles, which provide departments with guidance on conducting consultations. That guidance sets out that consultations and any response to them should be published on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Young of Cookham on 5 February (HL13233), whether they will publish the results of spot checks carried out by the Public Procurement Review Service this financial year including (1) how many contracting authorities were compliant with their duty to publish payment performance, (2) how many were non-compliant, (3) what percentage of invoices were paid within 30 days, (4) what was the total interest liability owed for late payment, and (5) what was the total interest liability paid.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
A summary of the findings from spot checks conducted by the PPRS team will be included in the PPRS Progress Report, which we are committed to publishing on Gov.uk later this year.