Asked by: Clive Efford (Labour - Eltham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the NHS dentist provision in Eltham constituency.
Answered by Will Quince
No specific assessment has been made. However, in September we announced ‘Our plan for patients’, which outlines how we will meet oral health needs and increase access to dental care, including in Eltham.
The plan includes improvements to ensure dentists are renumerated fairly for more complex work, allowing greater flexibility to reallocate resources and to utilise dentists with greater capacity to deliver National Health Service treatment, whilst enabling full use of the dental team. The plan also includes streamlining processes for overseas dentists and holding the local NHS to account for dentistry provision. In addition, Health Education England is also reforming dental education to improve the recruitment and retention of dental professionals.
Asked by: Clive Efford (Labour - Eltham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help improve access to NHS dental services in Eltham constituency.
Answered by Will Quince
No specific assessment has been made. However, in September we announced ‘Our plan for patients’, which outlines how we will meet oral health needs and increase access to dental care, including in Eltham.
The plan includes improvements to ensure dentists are renumerated fairly for more complex work, allowing greater flexibility to reallocate resources and to utilise dentists with greater capacity to deliver National Health Service treatment, whilst enabling full use of the dental team. The plan also includes streamlining processes for overseas dentists and holding the local NHS to account for dentistry provision. In addition, Health Education England is also reforming dental education to improve the recruitment and retention of dental professionals.
Asked by: Clive Efford (Labour - Eltham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
What discussions he has had with relevant stakeholders on the effectiveness of passive technology in reducing the transmission of airborne microbes in enclosed spaces.
Answered by Maggie Throup
Through the UK Health Security Agency we have worked with academic experts and businesses, to explore the most suitable air cleaning technologies to be used in enclosed spaces and further commissioned research projects, studying their effectiveness at reducing transmission rates of airborne microbes, including those for COVID-19.
As part of managing these important studies officials continue to have discussions across government and with relevant stakeholders for which we will publish results in due course.
Asked by: Clive Efford (Labour - Eltham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if any outbreaks of newcovid-19 variants have originated from people in quarantine in hotels having just arrived from abroad; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This information is not held centrally. However, the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies’ Environmental Modelling Group Transmission sub-group is currently reviewing the evidence on the risk of transmission in hotels, including mobile quarantine facilities. This will be published by autumn 2021.
Asked by: Clive Efford (Labour - Eltham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with (a) NHS England and (b) SAGE on the potential risk of outbreaks of new variants of covid-19 originating from people who are in quarantine in hotels having recently arrived from abroad; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
There have been no specific discussions with NHS England or the Scientific Advisory Group on Emergencies.
However, Public Health England has risk assessed guest journeys and advised the Managed Quarantine Service on the public health mitigations which should be applied. This is regularly reviewed.
Asked by: Clive Efford (Labour - Eltham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of vaccinating workers in hotels being used to quarantine people who have recently arrived from abroad; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
In line with the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’s advice, workers in hotels used as managed quarantine facilities are being called for vaccination according to their age and clinical risk along with the rest of the population. They will not be prioritised based on their occupation. The vaccination programme is currently on track to offer a first dose to all adults over 18 years old by the end of July.
Asked by: Clive Efford (Labour - Eltham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with NHS England on the rate of (a) covid-19 vaccination and (b) supply of vaccines in London compared to the rest of England; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Department has regular discussions with NHS England on the vaccination programme and the supply of vaccines, including in particular locations, such as London. Specific data on uptake is being monitored to drive and improve the national deployment plan. This is shared daily with local authority directors of public health to enable them to see emerging trends and act quickly to any developing inequalities locally. This is the case for all areas across England.
The Government is in close contact with vaccine manufacturers and remains confident that the supply of vaccines to the United Kingdom will not be disrupted. We remain on track to offer a vaccine to all adults by the end of July.
Asked by: Clive Efford (Labour - Eltham)
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 ensure a consistent supply of vaccines to those areas in London on the watch-list for the Delta variant of covid-19; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Vaccines are supplied on a consistent basis to all regions within England on a weekly basis and have been throughout the programme. Each integrated care system works with borough management teams and local Directors of Public Health to allocate the supply to sites, considering a number of factors, including infection rates. An additional 92,000 Pfizer vaccines were made available to the region and 60,000 doses were allocated to North West London, which had high rates of infection/surge testing.
Asked by: Clive Efford (Labour - Eltham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the level of risk to disabled people of infection with covid-19 from domiciliary care workers who visit multiple homes.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In July Public Health England published the results of a study of infection with COVID-19 among domiciliary care workers in England which is available at the following link:
Asked by: Clive Efford (Labour - Eltham)
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 ensure domiciliary care workers are regularly tested for covid-19.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Asymptomatic testing for domiciliary care workers (also known as home care workers) is guided by the results from the Public Health England prevalence study into domiciliary care. This study found that COVID-19 prevalence among domiciliary care workers was similar to prevalence in the general population. Regular testing for the domiciliary care workforce is was not advised unless recommended by local risk assessments or in response to local outbreaks. Symptomatic staff should continue to access priority testing via the pillar 2 testing service. We are currently reviewing the implications of increased infection rates for asymptomatic testing in domiciliary care.