Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what mechanisms they have in place, if any, to check that results from COVID-19 PCR tests provided by private companies for those entering England from abroad meet the public health requirement to return test results within two days.
Answered by Lord Kamall
We closely monitor the performance of private providers, including delivery and testing services. Those providing inadequate services receive a warning allowing the company to demonstrate it has rectified its service or it is removed from the GOV.UK list. Private providers may be reinstated to the list once they have undertaken corrective action and provided the Department with such evidence.
The information requested on the number of companies which have failed to meet the two day requirement is not currently available, as this data is not yet centrally validated. No providers have been removed as a direct result of failing to meet the two-day test result return requirement alone. All providers have a legal requirement to report on a daily basis to achieve all minimum standards, which includes the returning of test results within two days.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Kamall on 11 November (HL3542), when evaluating HeadUp Systems for the contract for (1) data science, and (2) health technology services, for the Health Incentives Scheme, what steps they took to evaluate whether the company’s latest accounts registered with Companies House met the criteria relating to (a) turnover, (b) quick ratio, and (c) current ratio, as set out in section 4 of the selection criteria within the Selection, Award and Evaluation Guidance.
Answered by Lord Kamall
HeadUp Systems Ltd’s turnover, quick ratio and current ratios were evaluated on the information provided in its bid through the open procurement process and assessed against the criteria set out in the Selection, Award and Evaluation Guidance.
As current turnover did not meet the criteria, as part of the financial standing assessment, the company were then evaluated based on the guarantees evidenced in the bid. HeadUp Systems Ltd were able to evidence Bank and Parent company guarantees in response to selection questionnaire question 04.1(b) of the Selection, Award and Evaluation Guidance which determined sufficient financial stability.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether an open procurement process was carried out to select HeadUp Systems to deliver (1) data science, and (2) health technology services, for the Health Incentives Scheme; and if so, (a) when the process was started, and (b) when the contract was awarded.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The Department launched an open tender process on 7 July 2021 to appoint a provider to deliver the Health Incentives pilot. The tender was open for 40 days, closing on 16 August. Bidders were notified of the tender outcome on 27 September and the contract was awarded on 8 October, following a 10-day standstill period.
Bids were assessed against the Selection, Award and Evaluation Guidance for the quality, price and social value of their bid. A copy of the Guidance is attached. Quality, price, and social value were weighted and scored individually for each bid before being combined into a consolidated score. In line with the open procurement procedure, the contract was awarded to HeadUp Systems Ltd as the bidder with the highest consolidated score.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what were the criteria for selecting HeadUp Systems to provide (1) data science, and (2) health technology, for the Health Incentives Scheme.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The Department launched an open tender process on 7 July 2021 to appoint a provider to deliver the Health Incentives pilot. The tender was open for 40 days, closing on 16 August. Bidders were notified of the tender outcome on 27 September and the contract was awarded on 8 October, following a 10-day standstill period.
Bids were assessed against the Selection, Award and Evaluation Guidance for the quality, price and social value of their bid. A copy of the Guidance is attached. Quality, price, and social value were weighted and scored individually for each bid before being combined into a consolidated score. In line with the open procurement procedure, the contract was awarded to HeadUp Systems Ltd as the bidder with the highest consolidated score.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what services HeadUp Systems provided to the Health Incentives Scheme before 22 October; when they started providing such services; whether those services were paid for by the Government; and if so, how much was paid for those services.
Answered by Lord Kamall
HeadUp Systems has not provided any services to the health incentives scheme prior to their appointment as the successful supplier of the pilot programme in October 2021. There have been no direct meetings between HeadUp Systems’ representatives and Departmental Ministers or officials in the last 12 months.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether any person associated with HeadUp Systems, or acting on their behalf, has met a (1) minister, or (2) official in the Department for Health and Social Care in the last 12 months; and if so, who; on what date; and what was the purpose of the meeting.
Answered by Lord Kamall
HeadUp Systems has not provided any services to the health incentives scheme prior to their appointment as the successful supplier of the pilot programme in October 2021. There have been no direct meetings between HeadUp Systems’ representatives and Departmental Ministers or officials in the last 12 months.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government which private sector organisations will have access to data collected by the Health Incentives Scheme; and for what specific purposes.
Answered by Lord Kamall
We have contracted HeadUp Systems limited to deliver the pilot. The Department is the Data Controller for the pilot. Data will be accessed by HeadUp Systems Limited, who, as the Data Processor, will collect data on the Department’s behalf for the purposes of delivering the Health Incentives pilot programme and by the Behavioural Insights Team for monitoring and evaluation of the pilot’s findings. All data will be collected, stored, shared and used in alignment with all applicable law regarding the processing of personal data, privacy, and security standards, including the United Kingdom Data Protection Act and UK General Data Protection Regulation.
The type of data that will be collected is currently being finalised.
Full data collection and processing requirements will be shared with potential pilot users as part of the sign-up process and consent to take part in the pilot is voluntary. HeadUp Systems will retain any data collected and/or processed for the purposes of the pilot programme for the duration of the contract and must destroy the data by the end of the contract.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the administrative error that caused a week’s worth of meetings with companies seeking COVID-19 contracts to be excluded from Lord Bethell’s transparency returns; why this administrative error occurred; when the failure to include these meetings was discovered; and who informed the Department of Health and Social Care that the meetings had not been included.
Answered by Lord Bethell
These meetings were included in the relevant transparency return. However, the omission was caused by a formatting error during the merger of individual returns into a master document. This has now been corrected with the full list of meetings now available.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the delay to the start of the General Practice Data for Planning and Research programme, by what date must patients let their GPs know they wish to opt out.
Answered by Lord Bethell
We confirmed on 19 July that data extraction will not now begin until a number of tests have been met. These include creating the technical means to allow general practitioner data that has previously been uploaded to be deleted when someone registers a type 1 opt-out. Patients will have the ability to opt-in or opt-out and that the dataset will always reflect their current preference.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people contacted the fast track ‘VIP lane’ for emergency procurement contracts to offer (1) personal protective equipment, and (2) COVID-19 testing equipment or services; and of this number, how many were awarded contracts.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Department’s buying unit received offers of personal protective equipment (PPE) from approximately 16,000 companies and individuals commonly referred to as the ‘priority’ channel. Of the suppliers assessed through this channel, 47 of 493 obtained contracts.
There was no formal ‘priority’ channel to assess offers of testing kits or services.