Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference the NHS England's vaccination strategy, published on 13 December 2023, what steps she (a) has taken and (b) plans to take to help ensure that NHS England is able to monitor (i) vaccine uptake and (ii) vaccine performance across England after vaccination commissioning and performance monitoring is delegated to Integrated Care Boards.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Following any delegation, integrated care boards (ICBs) would still be expected to meet and report on national performance standards for uptake and coverage, and national data for uptake and coverage of vaccinations will continue to be published. The national vaccination strategy also suggests that this is enhanced by introducing additional requirements for understanding performance in communities that are currently underserved by vaccination services, and NHS England will be working with the UK Health Security Agency, ICBs and other partners to develop this further.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to NHS England's vaccination strategy, published on 13 December 2023, what guidance Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) and NHS regional bodies will receive to ensure that vaccine monitoring is (a) comparable with other ICBs and (b) collated at a national level to monitor England’s vaccine performance, after they become responsible for monitoring vaccine performance.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Guidance for integrated care boards (ICBs) on this issue is yet to be developed. NHS England will develop guidance on this issue at the time of any delegation and in consultation with the Department. ICBs would still be expected to meet and consistently report on national performance standards for uptake and coverage, and national data for uptake and coverage of vaccinations will continue to be published following any delegation.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to NHS England's vaccination strategy, published on 13 December 2023, what guidance her Department plans to provide to Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) to ensure that vaccinators are trained to consider people with blood cancer who have received stem cell transplants when determining who has access to re-vaccination programmes, once ICBs become responsible for training vaccinators.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Eligibility for vaccination programmes is determined by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) rather than the National Health Service or individual vaccinators. NHS England or JCVI may issue guidance on administering vaccines to certain groups and individuals including those who are immunocompromised. Training standards in vaccine administration will continue to be set by the UK Health Security Agency, and employers will be responsible for training their staff in accordance with these standards. In line with the vaccination strategy, NHS England will consider which national training and workforce management tools would support integrated care boards and employers to drive innovation in vaccination delivery including ways of supporting different eligible groups.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to NHS England's publication entitled NHS vaccination strategy, published on 13 December 2023, whether she plans to issue guidance to Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) on the best practice for administering vaccinations for individuals with weakened immune systems.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Eligibility for vaccination programmes is determined by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) rather than the National Health Service or individual vaccinators. NHS England or JCVI may issue guidance on administering vaccines to certain groups and individuals including those who are immunocompromised. Training standards in vaccine administration will continue to be set by the UK Health Security Agency, and employers will be responsible for training their staff in accordance with these standards. In line with the vaccination strategy, NHS England will consider which national training and workforce management tools would support integrated care boards and employers to drive innovation in vaccination delivery including ways of supporting different eligible groups.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the water quality in the River Tame between Johnson Brook and Wilson Brook.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The section of the River Tame between Johnson Brook and Wilson Brook comprises designated waterbodies River Tame – Swineshaw Brook to Mersey (GB112069061112) and Wilson Brook (GB112069061280). Johnson Brook is not a waterbody in its own right but forms part of GB112069061112. These water bodies were assessed for water quality classification by the Environment Agency (EA) in 2021/22. The next classifications are expected next year. Details of the current assessment of these water bodies can be found on the EA’s Catchment Data Explorer: GB112069061112 and GB112069061280.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council’s PFI academisation process.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The department can confirm that officials are already engaged with the local authority and are providing assistance with the issues affecting the academisation process in the borough.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will encourage the Chief Executive of Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council to respond to correspondence from the hon. Member for Denton and Reddish on (a) Denton Community College academisation, (b) Tameside Children’s Services scorecard data and (c) Denton Christmas lights.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Councils are independent, democratic bodies accountable to the communities they serve and responsible for managing correspondence.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what guidance his Department provides to local authority chief executives on responding to correspondence from Rt hon. and hon. Members.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Councils are independent, democratic bodies accountable to the communities they serve and responsible for managing correspondence.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department is taking steps to ensure that private finance initiative contracts are not used to prevent the statutory academisation of schools following relevant inspection findings.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The department routinely works with local authorities to address issues which arise in the context of the academisation of private finance schools.
Officials are happy to work with the hon. Member to address any specific cases you may wish to discuss.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her Department's estimated timescale is for the completion of the academisation of Denton Community College.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
An academy order was issued to the governing body of Denton Community College and Tameside local authority on 22 March 2023. The Regional Director for the North West then agreed for the Northern Education Trust to be the academy trust match for the school in July 2023.
Project planning meetings between the school, trust and local authority take place regularly and these meetings form the basis for discussions on timescales. The current agreeable date for conversion is estimated to be June 2024. This is reliant on Tameside Council’s Cabinet Board approving the school’s Private Finance Initiative agreement.
The Regional Director’s office have been asked to contact the honourable Member for Denton and Reddish to keep him updated on progress.