Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many children in Wansbeck constituency have been tested for covid-19 since schools reopened.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government does not publish data in the format requested.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people accessed the covid-19 test centre in Wansbeck constituency on each day since that centre opened.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government does not publish data in the format requested.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his Department holds on the number of covid-19 tests that have taken place each week in Wansbeck constituency since the start of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government does not publish data in the format requested.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to allow grandparents to be included in a support bubble to help working parents.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
We recognise how difficult it has been for people to be cut off from their friends and family throughout the past few months. ‘Support bubbles’ are to assist the loneliest and most isolated in society. They were introduced to provide extra support to some of those most impacted by the difficult effects of the social restrictions, while ensuring we continue to keep the rate of transmission low. The policy has been targeted at single-adult households.
People should socially distance from those not in their household or support bubble in order to keep people around them safe, limit the risk of the transmission of the virus and limit chains of transmission. We recognise that it may not always be possible or practicable to maintain social distancing when providing care to a young child or infant. People should still limit close contact as much as possible when providing childcare and take other precautions such as washing hands and clothes regularly.
This is guidance is continually under review. Guidance on meeting people from outside of your household has been published and can be accessed at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/meeting-people-from-outside-your-household
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) minor and (b) major operations have been cancelled since January 2020; and what steps he is taking to minimise waiting times for those operations.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Data is not available in the format requested.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when covid-19 restrictions will be lifted allowing partners to attend maternity appointments and scans.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The National Health Service is making arrangements to ensure that women are supported and cared for safely through pregnancy, birth and the period afterwards during this pandemic.
Decisions on partners attending scans and appointments is subject to local discretion by trusts and other NHS bodies.
The new ‘Framework to assist NHS trusts to reintroduce access for partners, visitors and other supporters of pregnant women in English maternity services’ was published on 8 September to assist NHS trusts to reintroduce access for partners, visitors and other supporters of pregnant women in English maternity services. was published on 8 September The Framework is available at the following link:
We expect trusts to use this Framework and consider as a priority how access for partners, visitors and other supporters of pregnant women can be reintroduced whilst maintaining the safety of all service users, staff and visitors.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people were tested for covid-19 in (a) the UK, (b) England, (c) the North East and (d) Wansbeck constituency on each day since 28 February 2020.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The ‘people tested’ measure was initially used to count people who had not been previously received a test, deliberately excluding subsequent instances an individual would have been tested if they had been tested once or more previously. It no longer usefully reflects the volume of tests carried out as, for example, a healthcare worker receiving their second, third or fourth test since the start of the pandemic would not be counted as they have been tested once before. Therefore, the people tested figure will be published on a weekly basis within the NHS Test and Trace statistics rather than daily and is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/nhs-test-and-trace-statistics-england-weekly-reports
The Department has also published transparency data for the number of people tested for coronavirus (England): 30 January to 27 May 2020 which is weekly and covers the period before Test and Trace. This is available at the following link:
Daily data for the period 20 March to 2 July is available for the United Kingdom as daily and cumulative people tested (discontinued measure) as part of the time series of testing statistics is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-information-for-the-public
This data is not available to finer resolutions than whole UK or England depending on the publication.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people were tested for covid-19 on each day from 28 February 2020 to date, by reason for test.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The ‘people tested’ measure was initially used to count people who had not been previously received a test, deliberately excluding subsequent instances an individual would have been tested if they had been tested once or more previously. It no longer usefully reflects the volume of tests carried out as, for example, a healthcare worker receiving their second, third or fourth test since the start of the pandemic would not be counted as they have been tested once before. Therefore, the people tested figure will be published on a weekly basis within the NHS Test and Trace statistics rather than daily and is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/nhs-test-and-trace-statistics-england-weekly-reports
The Department has also published transparency data for the number of people tested for coronavirus (England): 30 January to 27 May 2020 which is weekly and covers the period before Test and Trace. This is available at the following link:
Daily data for the period 20 March to 2 July is available for the United Kingdom as daily and cumulative people tested (discontinued measure) as part of the time series of testing statistics is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-information-for-the-public
This data is not available to finer resolutions than whole UK or England depending on the publication.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
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 that frontline workers are tested regularly for covid-19.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
Frontline workers in health and care settings are in persistent close contact with a constantly changing number of potentially infectious people. This puts them at higher risk of infection, and we have extended testing to them regardless of whether they have symptoms, because doing this will help protect the people they care for. Regular asymptomatic testing is best conducted through a sample of staff enrolled in surveillance studies – for National Health Service staff this will be Public Health England’s SIREN study.
On 10 July, the Government also rolled out a pilot to test people without symptoms working in high-contact professions, such as taxi drivers, cleaners and sales assistants.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
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 that care homes are fully prepared for a potential second wave of covid-19 in autumn 2020.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Since the start of this pandemic, we have been working closely with the sector and public health experts to put in place guidance and support for adult social care.
The Social Care Sector COVID-19 Taskforce will give advice on what measures need to be in place across all parts of the care sector in England to respond to COVID-19 over the coming months, and for winter. We will draw on this advise in providing guidance to support the sector for a potential second wave before winter.