Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many engineers there were in post in the (a) Royal Navy, (b) Army and (c) RAF in each year since 2010.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
This information is being withheld as it would prejudice the capability, security and effectiveness of UK Armed Forces, and could provide tactical advantage to hostile forces.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the required domestic capacity for vaccine production in the event of a pandemic.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
As we saw in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring that the United Kingdom’s population has ready access to pandemic vaccines as soon as they are available is critical to our ability to respond to and recover from any future pandemic. Whilst it is not possible to predict the cause of a pandemic in advance, the Government is investing in a range of capabilities to support the development and manufacture of pandemic vaccines when needed. These capabilities include:
¾ an advance purchase agreement with CSL Seqirus, which guarantees the UK’s population access to over 100 million doses of a pandemic influenza vaccine, entirely manufactured in the UK; and
¾ a partnership with Moderna, which aims to bring mRNA vaccine production capability to the UK and build resilience in the event of a new health emergency by investing in mRNA research and development.
In addition to these specific contractual arrangements, the Government is committed to making the UK one of the best places in the world to develop and manufacture new and innovative medicines, including vaccines. This is underpinned by broader support for the life sciences sector, including through the Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund, which is a capital grant fund of up to £520 million over five years, from 2025 to 2030, to support UK health resilience and help ensure a robust response to potential future health emergencies.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many vaccine doses have been purchased for this year’s Flu campaign; and where they were sourced from.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
Information on the number of doses procured by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is commercially sensitive.
The UKHSA secures sufficient volumes of flu vaccines for the children’s flu programme, to ensure that eligible children aged less than 18 years old who present for vaccination can be offered an appropriate vaccine. General practitioners and community pharmacists are directly responsible for ordering flu vaccines from suppliers, which are used to deliver the national flu programme to all other eligible groups.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, which Departments were involved in discussions with Astra-Zeneca on the expansion of the vaccine production plant at Speke Merseyside.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
A cross-Government approach is taken to support the UK’s Life Sciences sector. This was the case for Government’s work to explore AstraZeneca’s potential investment in Speke, which involved No10, HM Treasury, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Business and Trade.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Widnes and Halewood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 21 January 2025 to Question 24413 on Cardiovascular System: Health Services, for what reason his Department does not hold a breakdown of the data on vascular services for Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are no patients coded as waiting on the Referral to Treatment waiting list at the Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust for Vascular Surgery Service. This may be because the vascular service is being coded under a different treatment function, such as under general surgery service which would likely contain data for other services, as well as vascular. As such, the Department does not hold centrally any further breakdown of the data for the waiting time for a first appointment with vascular services at this trust.