Asked by: Lord Turnberg (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 changing costs of medical litigation; and what steps they are taking to address such costs.
Answered by Lord Bethell
In 2017 the National Audit confirmed that developments in the legal market are amongst the biggest factors influencing costs, rather than any detectable decline in patient safety.
The Department is working with the Ministry of Justice, other Government departments and NHS Resolution, to address this issue. The Government will publish a consultation on the next steps in 2021.
Asked by: Lord Turnberg (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that Durham County Council may lose up to £14 million in its annual budget following the implementation of the Fair Funding Review.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Government announced in April that it would not proceed with the implementation of the Review of Relative Needs and Resources, and wider local government finance reform, in 2021-22. This decision was taken in the interest of creating stability for local authorities and has allowed both government and councils to focus on meeting the immediate public health challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. As the pressures of the pandemic recede, we will work with local government to understand the lasting impact it has had on both service demands and revenue raising. We will then revisit priorities for reform of the local government finance system, taking account of wider work on the future of business rates and Adult Social Care. No decisions have been taken from which to make assessments of how individual local authorities will be affected, and any final decisions will be taken in the context of this year’s Spending Review.
Asked by: Lord Turnberg (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the Fair Funding Review on the budgets of local authorities with high levels of deprivation; and what estimate they have made of the expected average change to the annual budgets of local authorities with high levels of deprivation following the implementation of the Fair Funding Review.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Government announced in April that it would not proceed with the implementation of the Review of Relative Needs and Resources, and wider local government finance reform, in 2021-22. This decision was taken in the interest of creating stability for local authorities and has allowed both government and councils to focus on meeting the immediate public health challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. As the pressures of the pandemic recede, we will work with local government to understand the lasting impact it has had on both service demands and revenue raising. We will then revisit priorities for reform of the local government finance system, taking account of wider work on the future of business rates and Adult Social Care. No decisions have been taken from which to make assessments of how individual local authorities will be affected, and any final decisions will be taken in the context of this year’s Spending Review.
Asked by: Lord Turnberg (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by the Covid Recovery Commission Paper One: Levelling up communities, published on 11 October; and what metrics they have developed to judge the success of their ‘levelling-up’ agenda.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Government is focusing on levelling up economic opportunity across the whole of the United Kingdom and considers a wide range of evidence in developing levelling up policy. The Spending Review will agree priority outcomes and metrics with departments which will be published. Strong local leadership is a key pillar of our levelling up agenda, and the English Devolution and Local Recovery White Paper will set out our plans for further devolution in England in due course.
Asked by: Lord Turnberg (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to increase collaboration with Israel with regard to (1) medical devices, (2) remote care, and (3) cutting-edge medical technology, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The British Embassy in Israel has brought together numerous UK/Israel expertise exchanges covering vaccine development, testing and surveillance. Both sides continue to look to one another as new science developments are made. We have distributed widely to UK colleagues a brochure outlining many Israeli technologies and R&D projects related to COVID-19, of which several have already been followed up by both NHS England and NHSx.
Asked by: Lord Turnberg (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to extend COVID-19 antigen testing to the entire population.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Anyone with COVID-19 symptoms can get a free test and must get tested as soon as their symptoms develop. The swab test takes less than a minute, is pain free and results from test sites are received within a day of the test being administered.
The Government has put in place the largest network of diagnostic testing facilities created in British history. The programme achieved the capacity to deliver 100,000 tests a day by 30 April, 200,000 tests a day by 30 May and is now capable of delivering more than 300,000 tests a day. We are committed to increasing this capacity to 500,000 by the end of October.
Asked by: Lord Turnberg (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the proposed White Paper on social care will address the case for social care to be closely integrated with the NHS, as has been achieved in some areas like Salford.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Promoting integrated care is a priority for the Government and the recent NHS Long Term Plan highlighted integration of services as a key aim - making sure that everyone can receive high quality care that is coordinated around their individual needs.
Putting social care on a sustainable footing, where everyone is treated with dignity and respect, is one of the biggest challenges that our society faces. There are complex questions to address, to which we want to give our full considerations in light of the current circumstances.
Asked by: Lord Turnberg (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to reports of limited home testing for COVID-19, what plans they have to simplify the requirements involved in taking a test.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Everyone with symptoms of COVID-19 is eligible for a test, but we know that certain groups or individuals may find access more difficult or be less likely to want to access a test or feel unable to self-isolate. This could be for a combination of reasons, from capability through to personal circumstance.
We are working on a number of policies to address these barriers, such as:
- the NHS 119 call centre uses the Language Line interpreter service and staff are trained to manage language barriers, including through use of this service;
- we have opened new ‘walk in’ local testing centres to make it easier for people without cars to get a test; and
- we are also conducting a targeted evaluation of asymptomatic workers in several high contact professions. In a number of these occupations such as taxi drivers, cleaners and retail assistants, there is high representation of black, Asian and minority ethnic groups. This evaluation is intended to help us learn more about who may be at higher risk from COVID-19 and how to help keep people in professions that come into greater contact with others safe.
We have also created a home testing programme that provides access to testing to anyone, anywhere in the United Kingdom. We are continuously improving the service so that testing is accessible to all. This includes working with a diverse range of organisations to help us making home as easy to access and as user friendly as possible. For example, we are currently working with the Royal National Institute of Blind People to make home testing services more accessible for the visually impaired.
Asked by: Lord Turnberg (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that the proposed White Paper on social care will include greater support for the care home work force than has previously been available.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Government has put in place increased support for the social care workforce, including funding to support those needing to isolate, wellbeing assistance and initiatives to attract more people to social care roles. We will continue to review this support as we develop long-term plans for supporting our vital social care workforce.
The Government’s priority for adult social care is for everyone who relies on care to get the care they need throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
We are committed to bringing forward a plan for social care to ensure that everyone is treated with dignity and respect and to find long term solutions for one of the biggest challenges we face as a society. There are complex questions to address and it is important that we give these issues our full consideration in the light of current circumstances.
Asked by: Lord Turnberg (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to encourage the United Nations to renew the sanctions on Iran when they are due for review in October.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK remains committed to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA), a reciprocal deal that lifts sanctions in exchange for tough nuclear limits. Iran has broken the nuclear limits in the JCPoA and we are working to bring Iran back into compliance through the deal's Dispute Resolution Mechanism.
UNSCR 2231, which underpins the JCPoA, includes a number of clauses designed to allow sanctions to expire on fixed dates: the UN travel ban and the UN conventional arms embargo are due to expire in October 2020. E3 Foreign Ministers made clear on 19 June that the planned expiry of the UN conventional arms embargo would have major implications for regional security and stability. We share concerns about Iranian proliferation, and have repeatedly set out concerns about Iranian destabilising behaviour. We are working closely with remaining JCPoA parties to address these issues, as well as with other members of the UN Security Council.
There are also other sanctions regimes which restrict Iranian ability to proliferate weapons in the region that will remain in place after the arms embargo expire. These include UNSCRs 1540, 1701 and 2216, which prohibit the proliferation of weapons to Lebanese Hizballah and the Houthis. The EU arms embargo and UN ballistic missile restrictions on Iran will also remain in place until 2023. There is an independent EU Iran human rights sanctions regime, which places trade restrictions on specified goods and technology which may be used to repress the civilian population of Iran and on specified goods and technology which may be used for interception and monitoring services in Iran. These EU trade restrictions do not have an expiry date.