Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to either (1) reimburse tuition fees, or (2) clear current student debt, for all nursing, midwifery and allied healthcare students affected by the removal of the NHS bursary.
Answered by Lord Kamall
There are no plans to do so. In September 2020, we introduced a non-repayable, training grant of £5,000 per academic year for eligible nursing, midwifery and allied health profession students studying pre-registration courses at English universities. We also made a further £3,000 available to support students with childcare costs and those studying a specialist subject. These grants are in addition to funding available through the Students Loan Company and through the NHS Learning Support Fund for travel expenses, accommodation expenses and exceptional hardship. We keep the funding arrangements for all National Health Service health professionals’ education under review to ensure that students are appropriately supported.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce COVID-19 vaccine passports to help decrease transmission rates.
Answered by Lord Kamall
Mandatory vaccine or test based certification was introduced in certain non-essential settings across England from 15 December 2021. Visitors to specified settings are required to show evidence of their COVID-19 status. This can be obtained either through full vaccination, a recent negative test result or an exemption on the basis of medical reasons or clinical trial participation.
Vaccine or test certification reduces risks in affected settings in comparison with no intervention. However, it does not eliminate the possibility of infectious people attending or transmitting the virus in these settings so individuals should continue to exercise caution.
On 19 January 2022, in response to data which showed that COVID-19 cases are falling and the high levels of vaccination and booster uptake have helped to reduce the risk of severe disease and hospitalisations, the Government announced the end of mandatory certification to access certain settings. From 27 January, venues will no longer be legally required to check the NHS COVID Pass as a condition of entry.
The domestic NHS COVID Pass will remain available in the NHS App, should venues wish to continue to require proof of COVID-19 status as a condition of entry to reduce risk for attendees and staff. Organisations that operate places where large crowds gather should continue to use certification as a tool to assist the safety of their venues.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to extend the COVID-19 vaccination programme to all 5 to 11 year olds.
Answered by Lord Kamall
On 22 December 2021, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation advised that children aged five to 11 years old in a clinical risk group, or who are a household contact of someone who is immunosuppressed, should be offered two 10 microgram doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine with an interval of eight weeks between the first and second doses. Further advice and assessment regarding COVID-19 vaccination for other five to 11 year olds will be issued in due course following consideration of additional data.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce compulsory COVID-19 vaccine certificates in order to help reduce the spread of the Omicron variant.
Answered by Lord Kamall
Certification based on vaccination or testing is now mandatory in certain settings. Visitors to these settings are required to have completed a full-course of COVID-19 vaccination with two doses of an approved vaccine or one of the single-dose Janssen vaccine; or be exempt from requirements to be vaccinated; or have taken a lateral flow device test or polymerase chain reaction test which has returned a negative result within 48 hours before visiting the venue or event.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce new COVID-19 booster jabs every six to nine months to respond to new strains.
Answered by Lord Kamall
At present, it is not known whether recurrent COVID-19 boosters will be required in the long term or to tackle new strains as more data is required. We will continue to be informed by the independent expert advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). The JCVI will review the available data on the durability of protection from the vaccines against severe COVID-19 infection in all age groups and will develop further advice in due course.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to boost care worker pay in the short term amid existing staff shortages due to COVID-19.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The vast majority of care workers are employed by private sector providers who ultimately set their pay and renumeration, independent of central Government.
However, we recognise the challenges that providers and local authorities are currently experiencing in recruiting and retaining social care workers. To provide additional support to the sector over the winter, on 21 October we announced a new £162.5 million Workforce Recruitment and Retention Fund. We expect local authorities to work closely with care providers on how this funding is spent, which may include incentive and retention payments.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to reintroduce pre-departure COVID-19 tests for those travelling to the UK.
Answered by Lord Kamall
Following a review of the spread of the Omicron variant of concern, from 7 December 2021 all travellers, regardless of vaccination status, are required to take a pre-departure test two days before their departure to England. This supports our existing measures to protect the United Kingdom against further importation of cases.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by the Institute for Public Policy Research Towards True Universal Care: Reforming the NHS Charging System, published on 23 November; and what plans they have to set up an independent body to (1) receive complaints about the charging system, and (2) review decisions by providers.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The Department has reviewed the report and has no plans to set up an independent body to receive complaints or review decisions on charging by providers. It is the legal duty of providers of relevant NHS services to make and recover charges from overseas visitors and to do so fairly and consistently.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to introduce new regulations to limit the use of promotional techniques on unhealthy food and drink product packaging.
Answered by Lord Kamall
In December 2020, we confirmed that we will legislate to restrict promotions by location and volume price of foods high in fat, salt and sugar in stores and online to improve people's diets and reduce children's sugar and calorie intakes. Restrictions will apply to medium and large businesses with 50 or more employees in England and include restrictions on volume price promotions on the packaging of food and drink. The regulations are set to come into force in October 2022.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to monitor how care home providers are enabling residents to receive visitors.
Answered by Lord Kamall
We monitor the implementation of visiting guidance by care homes on a weekly basis using the Capacity Tracker data collection and data on visitor test registrations. Approximately 92.6% of care homes in England are able to accommodate residents receiving visitors.
We regularly review and update guidance on care home visiting, based on clinical advice. If a resident or their family have concerns that a care home is not following visiting guidance appropriately, it should be raised with the home in the first instance. The Care Quality Commission can also investigate complaints and has regulatory powers to take action where providers do not appropriately support access to visits.