Oral Answers to Questions

James Davies Excerpts

Tuesday 13th April 2021 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

Yesterday the Government announced a review into this matter, and I will of course participate in that in full. It is important that Governments engage with external stakeholders and businesses and, as was raised in the previous question, it is important that that happens, and happens in an appropriate way within the rules, which is what happened in this case.

[Dr James Davies (Vale of Clwyd) (Con)]

  The covid-19 vaccine roll-out has shown the value of comparable statistics not only in this country, but worldwide. However, directly comparable data are often lacking for healthcare performance and outcomes between England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Does my right hon. Friend agree that UK-wide data in the NHS, along with aligned inspection mechanisms and audit procedures, would increase transparency and ultimately improve service delivery?

[Matt Hancock]

Yes. I think that through the pandemic we have seen an improvement in our ability to see what is happening in the NHS right across the UK, and that helps us all work together better to deliver for patients. One example of that is the vaccine programme. That is a UK-wide programme with UK-wide metrics but it is delivered, of course, by the local NHS wherever people are in the UK. There are lessons we can learn from that.