Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the paper by the Joint Committee on Vaccinations and Immunisation, entitled Advice on influenza vaccines for 2023-24, published on 30 November 2022, whether it is his policy to take steps in line with the advice of the Joint Committee that flu vaccinations for secondary school children should be routine.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation published advice on 30 November 2022 regarding the 2023/24 seasonal flu vaccination programme. The Government is considering this advice and details about which cohorts will be offered a free seasonal flu vaccine in England in 2023/24, and which vaccines they will be offered, will be set out in due course.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
What steps he is taking to tackle supply chain constraints in defence procurement.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
The Ministry of Defence takes the health and resilience of our supply chains seriously. The department has invested in a department-wide supply chain mapping programme, sharing intelligence and best practice on common critical supply chains and materials across Government and internationally.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether NHS England plans to publish the service specification for childhood influenza vaccination as part of School Aged Immunisation Service activity for 2023-24.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Ahead of each flu season NHS England confirms the requirements for the seasonal flu programme with all relevant contracted providers. The service specification for the school aged flu immunisation programme is not published in the public domain.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the impact on (a) uptake of vaccinations among eligible cohorts and (b) number of childhood influenza cases over the 2021-22 flu season in the context of the vaccine delivery completion deadline for the Childhood Influenza Vaccination Programme for 2021-22 moving from 15 December 2021 to the end of January 2022.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Overall low levels of influenza activity were seen in 2021 to 2022, with late season activity peaking in week 12 and week 14 of 2022, weeks beginning 20 March and 3 April, when hospital and critical care admissions peaked but at lower levels than seen in previous seasons. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) weekly surveillance reports is available at the following link:
www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-flu-and-covid-19-surveillance-reports-2021-to-2022-season
The UKHSA monthly influenza vaccine uptake data shows that the majority of children were vaccinated by end of December 2021 available at the following link:
www.gov.uk/government/statistics/seasonal-flu-vaccine-uptake-in-children-of-school-age-monthly-data-2021-to-2022
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
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 3 March 2023 to Question 151418 on Influenza: Vaccination, for what reason the disclosure of the quantity of flu vaccinations is considered commercially sensitive.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The volume of flu vaccines procured by UK Health Security Agency test is commercially sensitive as it could potentially be used to determine the cost per unit of vaccines. The release of this information would therefore be detrimental in future negotiations with individual suppliers.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many passengers travelled on the (a) East and (b) West Coast Main Lines in (i) first and (ii) standard class in (A) 2019 and (B) 2022.
Answered by Huw Merriman - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Office for Road and Rail (ORR) are responsible for collecting and publishing national statistics on rail passenger journeys. The ORR do not disaggregate between first and standard class for this dataset.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what support his Department provides for the development of British based nuclear (a) small and (b) advanced modular reactors.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government has committed up to £385m to an Advanced Nuclear Fund. Of this, £210m has been awarded to support development of the Rolls Royce Small Modular Reactor (SMR) design, potentially capable of deployment in the UK in the early 2030s. The Rolls-Royce SMR entered the Generic Design Assessment process in March becoming the first SMR to begin UK nuclear regulation. The Advanced Nuclear Fund also supports AMRs. Phase B of the open AMR R&D competition launched in December 2022 to provide up to £55 million to fund up to two different projects to develop detailed FEED+ studies.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether (a) his Department and (b) Ofgem were consulted before the advice was issued by the National Leadership Magistrate to magistrates regarding warrants to force fit prepayment meters.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The decision to suspend the fitting of prepayment meter warrants was made by the senior presiding judge for England and Wales, who is a member of the judiciary and acts independently from Government.
The Department and Ofgem have had discussions about prepayment meter warrants with the Ministry of Justice and will continue to do so.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department was consulted before the recent advice was issued by the National Leadership Magistrate to magistrates regarding the granting of warrants to force fit prepayment meters.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The statutory responsibility for issuing guidance to the judiciary is held by the Lord Chief Justice, the Senior President of Tribunals, and the Chief Coroner. To preserve the independence of the judiciary, they are not subject to direction or required to consult the government on the guidance they issue.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
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 help ensure that new ambulances are manufactured in the UK.
Answered by Will Quince
No such steps are being taken by the Department. The procurement of ambulances is an operational matter for the National Health Service.