Asked by: Lord Scriven (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 rising energy costs on the budgets of NHS Trusts; and how they plan to address these cost pressures.
Answered by Lord Kamall
No formal assessment has yet been made.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, of the messages that Lord Bethell received from or sent to Abingdon Health on WhatsApp from his private mobile telephone while serving as a Minister, how many did officials from the Department of Health and Social Care (1) see, and (2) record.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The Department has conducted a search of communication records relating to Abingdon Health and found no record of WhatsApp messages between the former Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Lord Bethell) and any employee of Abingdon Health. The Department has found no record of officials having sight of any such messages. The Department’s engagement with Abingdon was led by officials and these communications have been retained.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many messages Lord Bethell reported to the Department of Health and Social Care that he had received from or sent to Abingdon Health on WhatsApp from his private mobile telephone while serving as a Minister.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The Department has conducted a search of communication records relating to Abingdon Health and found no record of WhatsApp messages between the former Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Lord Bethell) and any employee of Abingdon Health. The Department has found no record of officials having sight of any such messages. The Department’s engagement with Abingdon was led by officials and these communications have been retained.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many private companies offering COVID-19 PCR tests for those returning to England from abroad have been reported for failing to meet the two-day test result return requirement from November 2021 to date; and how many of these companies have since been removed from the Government website.
Answered by Lord Kamall
We closely monitor the performance of private providers, including delivery and testing services. Those providing inadequate services receive a warning allowing the company to demonstrate it has rectified its service or it is removed from the GOV.UK list. Private providers may be reinstated to the list once they have undertaken corrective action and provided the Department with such evidence.
The information requested on the number of companies which have failed to meet the two day requirement is not currently available, as this data is not yet centrally validated. No providers have been removed as a direct result of failing to meet the two-day test result return requirement alone. All providers have a legal requirement to report on a daily basis to achieve all minimum standards, which includes the returning of test results within two days.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what mechanisms they have in place, if any, to check that results from COVID-19 PCR tests provided by private companies for those entering England from abroad meet the public health requirement to return test results within two days.
Answered by Lord Kamall
We closely monitor the performance of private providers, including delivery and testing services. Those providing inadequate services receive a warning allowing the company to demonstrate it has rectified its service or it is removed from the GOV.UK list. Private providers may be reinstated to the list once they have undertaken corrective action and provided the Department with such evidence.
The information requested on the number of companies which have failed to meet the two day requirement is not currently available, as this data is not yet centrally validated. No providers have been removed as a direct result of failing to meet the two-day test result return requirement alone. All providers have a legal requirement to report on a daily basis to achieve all minimum standards, which includes the returning of test results within two days.