Asked by: Marcus Fysh (Conservative - Yeovil)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the former Second Permanent Secretary to the Cabinet Office (a) advised on and (b) participated in the negotiations on the Windsor Framework.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
His Majesty’s Government operates on the principle of collective responsibility, and the Government would not normally comment on the internal processes of how advice may be determined. Ministers must be able to speak to officials and take advice from a position of absolute trust. Naming which individuals may or may not have provided advice on a particular topic may inhibit the ability of civil servants to provide free and frank advice and inhibit the free and frank exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation.
Moreover, the Civil Service Code makes clear that civil servants are accountable to Ministers who in turn are accountable to Parliament.
Notwithstanding, as Ministers set out in the response of 7 March 2023, Official Report, Columns 689, it is exceptional and unprecedented for a serving Permanent Secretary to resign to seek to take up a senior position working for the leader of the Opposition. The Cabinet Office has publicly stated it is looking into the circumstances leading up to the Second Permanent Secretary's resignation.
In that exceptional context, I believe it is appropriate to confirm to the Hon. Member that the former Second Permanent Secretary neither advised on, nor participated in, negotiations on the Windsor Framework.
Asked by: Marcus Fysh (Conservative - Yeovil)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data on covid-19 would be required and what criteria would need to be met for him to recommend an exit from the November 2020 covid-19 lockdown restrictions in England.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
Decisions on tiers are made by Ministers based on public health recommendations from senior clinical and scientific advisors, guided by five key indicators - the case detection rate in all age groups, case detection rates among the over 60 year olds, the rate at which case rates are rising or falling, positivity rate and pressures on the National Health Service. Final decisions on tiering are made by the COVID-19 Operations Committee.
As of 6 January, all areas have moved into tier 4 and the Government will review the tiering allocations every 14 days.
Asked by: Marcus Fysh (Conservative - Yeovil)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on the (a) latest and (c) most accurate estimates of the proportion of the population that has covid-19 infection as at 21 October 2020; and what assessment he has made of the effect of the methodology used on differing estimates on covid-19 infection.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The proportion of the population that are infected with the COVID-19 virus is measured through a number of surveillance studies including the COVID-19 Infection Survey (CIS) and the REACT-1 real-time assessment of community transmission of coronavirus study. Both studies provide an estimate of people with COVID-19 infection in the community at a given time – those with symptoms and those without.
Estimates of the population in England that were infected with the COVID-19 virus in October 2020 are as follows:
- CIS - 1.42% (25 October to 31 October); and
- REACT-1 1.28% (16 October – 25 October)
Asked by: Marcus Fysh (Conservative - Yeovil)
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 publish salient trial data for covid-19 vaccine candidates and any risk-based or other analyses of them that might be used toward any marketing authorisation, with sufficient time for review prior to any authorisation being given for a candidate’s marketing in the UK.
Answered by Jo Churchill
Data or clinical study reports from clinical trials of new medicines are not published before authorisation or prior to trial completion due to commercial confidentiality and concern that publication may influence or bias the on-going trial. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) performs a thorough and robust assessment of clinical trial data together with non-clinical data and manufacturing and control data submitted as part of a Marketing Authorisation Application.
Asked by: Marcus Fysh (Conservative - Yeovil)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of tests reported as positive for covid-19 were in respect of people who have taken more than one test at the same time in the most recent period for which figures are available; and what assessment he has made of whether the proportion of such positive tests conducted in that way has changed since the start of the outbreak.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The people tested measure for United Kingdom statistics was initially used to avoid counting one person tested several times in a short space of time.
Many people are now retested multiple times for valid reasons, such as regular testing of health and care workers over several months. This means that the ‘tests processed’ figure, which we have published since 4 July 2020, is a better measure of the scale of the testing service.
Asked by: Marcus Fysh (Conservative - Yeovil)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of reforming funding for local government to help physical retail and hospitality businesses and high streets.
Answered by Luke Hall
The Chancellor has announced a review of business rates. The Government is currently considering responses to the review’s call for evidence and has committed to publish a response in Spring 2021. Businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors have benefitted from rates reliefs worth approximately £10 billion in the current financial year.
Asked by: Marcus Fysh (Conservative - Yeovil)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of positive tests for covid-19 infection as recorded by (a) different health and social care organisations and (b) the Office for National Statistics are confirmed by subsequent positive tests before being reported as positive tests.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
We do not publish the information requested. However, all organisations performing tests are aware that they should follow the industry best practice for pathology testing and ensure they meet all the legal and regulatory obligations required for testing for COVID-19.
Under the Health Protection (Notification) Regulations 2010, it is a legal requirement to report positive cases of COVID-19 to Public Health England.
Asked by: Marcus Fysh (Conservative - Yeovil)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of positive covid-19 tests reported in England relates to people who have been reported as testing positive for covid-19 previously.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
We do not publish data in the format requested.
Asked by: Marcus Fysh (Conservative - Yeovil)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportions of positive tests for covid-19 reported in England have been undertaken by (a) the polymerase chain reaction method and (b) other methods; and how have those proportions changed since the start of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
We do not publish data in the format requested.
Asked by: Marcus Fysh (Conservative - Yeovil)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of covid-19 tests are undertaken using the PCR process; and what estimate he has made of the (a) number and (b) variation in number of amplification cycles in the PCR testing used to identify a positive covid-19 test result.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
We do not publish data in the format requested.