Neil O'Brien debates involving the Department of Health and Social Care during the 2019 Parliament

Mon 8th Jun 2020
Medicines and Medical Devices Bill (First sitting)
Public Bill Committees

Committee stage: 1st sitting & Committee Debate: 1st sitting: House of Commons
Mon 16th Mar 2020
Mon 9th Mar 2020
Coronavirus
Commons Chamber
(Urgent Question)

Covid-19 Update

Neil O'Brien Excerpts
Monday 5th October 2020

(3 years, 8 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Matt Hancock Portrait Matt Hancock
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Yes. We put an extra £10 million into the local authorities in the north-east to support contact tracing and we are also stitching together the data feeds between the national system and each of the individual local authorities in the north-east. We will keep working hard on that project. I will keep listening to the needs of the local authorities in the north-east and across the rest of the country.

Neil O'Brien Portrait Neil O’Brien (Harborough) (Con)
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It is good that we are now testing more than other countries and good that we have a quarter more testing capacity than we had in August, and we are very grateful to the staff of the mobile testing centres that we now have in Oadby and Wigston, but what is my right hon. Friend doing to further drive up testing capacity so that we can stay ahead of this?

Matt Hancock Portrait Matt Hancock
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That is the subject of a huge amount of Government effort, working with the NHS and with the private sector on both the current technology and the new technology. I will just make a point about Oadby and Wigston in my hon. Friend’s constituency. People say, “Where is a local lockdown having an effect?” Well, the answer is in Oadby and Wigston, where the case rate has come down because the good people of Oadby and Wigston have followed the locally applied rules and that has brought the virus back under control. I am very grateful to my hon. Friend for the leadership that he has shown there, along with the leaders of the county council and of the district council, who have worked really hard together to make this happen.

Medicines and Medical Devices Bill (First sitting)

Neil O'Brien Excerpts
Jo Churchill Portrait Jo Churchill
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As I said, I am willing to write to the Minister for Asia and the Pacific to explore this matter further, but I am afraid at this point that is all I can commit to.

Neil O'Brien Portrait Neil O'Brien (Harborough) (Con)
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The hon. Member for St Helens South and Whiston made a hugely important and impassioned point, and I strongly support her. Will the Minister undertake to circulate her letter to members of the Committee?

Jo Churchill Portrait Jo Churchill
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Yes, of course, I will be happy to inform the Committee when I write to the Minister for Asia and the Pacific, if hon. Members would find that helpful. We heard from the hon. Member for St Helens South and Whiston, and I am sure we all read the pack she sent at the weekend about the trade in human organs, which is truly heinous.

Covid-19

Neil O'Brien Excerpts
Monday 16th March 2020

(4 years, 3 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Matt Hancock Portrait Matt Hancock
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Of course, volunteers have a huge role to play in doing jobs that work for their skillset, but an incredibly high set of skills are needed to support some people—for instance, the people with disabilities that the hon. Member mentions. Supporting those people to get the social care they need is a critical part of our response to this virus.

Neil O'Brien Portrait Neil O’Brien (Harborough) (Con)
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What steps are the Government taking to increase the availability of high-quality masks and other protective equipment for NHS workers?

Matt Hancock Portrait Matt Hancock
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We are distributing personal protective equipment across the NHS from the stockpiles and supplies that we have in place for this purpose, but we are also seeking to enhance the production of these items because it is clear that we are going to need a lot.

Coronavirus

Neil O'Brien Excerpts
Monday 9th March 2020

(4 years, 3 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.

Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.

This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record

Matt Hancock Portrait Matt Hancock
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I am working very closely with the Work and Pensions Secretary to address this exact point.

Neil O'Brien Portrait Neil O’Brien (Harborough) (Con)
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Over the weekend, Leicestershire had its first confirmed case of coronavirus, while a number of European countries moved to ban large public events. Will the Secretary of State explain why the timing of such social distancing measures is so crucial, and at what point and on what basis he will decide if they are necessary?

Matt Hancock Portrait Matt Hancock
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The first question we must ask is, “How effective is this measure—is it effective?”, and the second is, “Are we going to get unintended consequences from people acting differently in a way that actually hinders the overall effort?” It is for the scientists best to explain the reason why they have scientifically come to this advice. But it is clear that there are other measures that we can take that are more effective and have fewer negative side-effects.