Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what covid-19 related powers local authorities will retain after 19 July 2021 to manage any further covid-19 outbreaks; and if he will set out which of those retained powers local authorities will (a) exercise directly and (b) need to gain authority from Government before use.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) (No. 3) Regulations 2020 were extended from 18 July to 27 September.
The Regulations provide powers for local authorities to issue directions to place restrictions on or close businesses, events, and public outdoor places where they assess there is a serious and imminent threat to public health posed by COVID-19. We will keep these measures under continuous review to ensure that they are proportionate as part of the public health response to COVID-19. Local authorities must notify the Secretary of State when the powers are used but do not require authority from Government before use, with the exception of those related to ‘essential infrastructure’.
Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to assess the potential merits of covid-19 vaccine boosters for (a) people with blood cancer and (b) other people who are immunocompromised.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
To ensure ongoing protection for the United Kingdom’s population, particularly the most vulnerable, we are preparing for a potential booster vaccination programme. Whilst we are planning for several potential scenarios, final decisions on the timing and scope of the booster programme in terms of when to give boosters to which groups and with which vaccines will not be taken until later this year, in line with results from key clinical studies. Any decision on a booster vaccination programme will be informed by independent advice from the Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).
As part of the National Core Studies Immunity Programme (NCSi), UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is providing initial funding of £1.8 million for 12 months towards the OCTAVE study. The OCTAVE study will examine the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines in clinically at-risk groups and will help to inform planning for the booster programme. This includes COVID-19 vaccine responses in patients with certain immunosuppressed conditions, including those with inflammatory disorders, high risk cancer patient groups, blood cancer patients and patients with severe kidney and liver disease. Cancer patient groups include those with blood cancer (leukaemia, myeloma, and bone marrow (stem cell) transplants).
Studies into the specific effect of a COVID-19 booster vaccine on certain groups have not yet been established. However, as part of the NCSi, UKRI is providing £3 million in funding towards a new research call to support projects examining one or both of the following areas - the nature and quality of COVID-19 vaccine responses, the mechanisms of immune failure that lead to either COVID-19 re-infection or vaccine breakthrough. As the nation's largest funder of health and care research, the NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including on COVID-19 vaccination and immunocompromised individuals.
Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
What steps he is taking to tackle the cancer care and treatment backlog.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Cancer is a priority. As well as a £325 million investment in diagnostic machines, we have provided an additional £1 billion to the National Health Service to tackle the elective backlog,and ensure there is sufficient capacity in place to diagnose and treat the additional people coming into the system. To encourage patients to come forward to their general practitioner if they have symptoms, we launched the successful ‘Help us Help you’ campaign. NHS England also recently published Priorities and Operational Planning Guidance, highlighting that cancer recovery remains a priority for the NHS as a whole. Systems should meet the increased level of referrals and treatment required to address the shortfall in number of first treatments by March 2022.
Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of moving stem cell transplant recipients who have a non malignant blood disorder and who are clinically extremely vulnerable from covid-19 vaccine priority level six to four.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
People who have received a stem cell transplant more than six months ago are included within priority group six of phase one. People who have received a stem cell transplant within the last six months will be defined as clinically extremely vulnerable in which case they are included in priority group four. Both groups should now have been called forward for vaccination.
Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance he has published on what steps people in the first four covid-19 vaccine priority groups should take if they have not received a vaccination appointment letter by 15 February 2021.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The National Health Service has now offered the COVID-19 vaccine to everyone in the top four priority cohorts. Any health and care staff have been asked to contact their employer who is responsible for arranging their vaccination. Others in the initial priority groups one to four can arrange a vaccination through the national booking system by calling 119 or at the following link:
Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the Government next plans to publish details of a NHS multi-year funding plan for workforce and cancer diagnostic equipment.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
In order to prioritise the response to COVID-19, the Chancellor of the Exchequer conducted a one-year Spending Review. This provided an additional £260 million to continue to increase the National Health Service workforce. Full details on funding allocations towards NHS workforce budgets, including relating to the cancer workforce, in 2021-22 are subject to a detailed financial planning exercise and will be finalised in due course. The 2021-22 settlement included £325 million capital funding for NHS diagnostics, to replace over two thirds of imaging equipment that is over 10 years old.
Funding beyond 2021-22 will be decided at the next Spending Review, of which further information will be announced by HM Treasury in due course. This will be aligned with the development of a longer term plan for the NHS workforce. For diagnostics, this is in line with the Health Infrastructure Plan to improve hospitals and other health infrastructure.
Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many local authorities (a) have spent and (b) will have spent by the end of December 2020 the self isolation payment funds they have received; and whether he plans to provide additional funding to those local authorities.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government continues to work closely with the 314 local authorities in England to monitor payments made under the Test and Trace Support Payment scheme. Information on the payments made by local authorities will be published in due course.
The Government has provided additional funding and will continue to provide funding as necessary to local authorities. On the launch of the scheme in September 2020, the Government provided an initial £50 million to local authorities. To reflect rising incidence levels, the Government provided a further £20 million in January 2021 and increased funding by a further £39 million in February 2021. This will ensure local authorities can continue to make payments and support people on low incomes to stay at home and self-isolate when required to do so.
As announced on 22 February, the Test and Trace Support Payment Scheme will continue into the summer and will be expanded to cover parents who are unable to work because they are caring for a child who is self-isolating.
Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding he plans to allocate to local authorities to support them in carrying out mass covid-19 testing.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Funding available to local areas will be estimated based on the number of tests they aim to deliver. Total funding per test is set at a maximum of £14.00 for all local authorities participating in the community testing programme. However up to £6 of materials per test can be sourced from centrally procured arrangements in place. This funding per test is expected to cover all reasonable costs associated with the programme including site costs, workforce costs, personal protective equipment requirements, communication and marketing, logistic and other delivery costs.
Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of the £1 billion allocation in the 2020 Spending Review for tackling the patient backlog will be allocated to cancer diagnosis, care and treatment.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The arrangements for deployment of the dedicated £1 billion elective recovery funding will be set out shortly, including, where appropriate, details of any clinical prioritisation.
Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has in place to identify people who are defined as adult carers and therefore qualify for priority covid-19 vaccination; and whether individuals who think they qualify should notify their GP.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise the vital role that unpaid carers play and the Government is developing bespoke guidance for this group, set out in a Standard Operating Protocol (SOP) which has been developed in close cooperation with carers organisations and local authorities. This guidance will be published in due course. The SOP will provide guidance on the process to support the identification and vaccination of adult unpaid carers as part of the COVID-19 vaccination programme. It is intended to support local authorities, the vaccination programme, carers organisations and unpaid carers themselves to understand the actions they should take to ensure equitable access to and uptake of vaccination by eligible unpaid carers as per the advice of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.