Covid-19 Update

Debate between Navendu Mishra and Matt Hancock

Monday 17th May 2021 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

Yes, Teesside is playing it part. In fact, earlier today I met Ben Houchen, the newly re-elected Mayor of Teesside, to talk about what more we can do to invest in Teesside—in the NHS in Teesside, and in life sciences, such as vaccine production, on Teesside. He is doing a fantastic job of taking the voice of Teesside right into the heart of Whitehall—as is my hon. Friend, of course.

My hon. Friend is quite right to raise this point about the Novavax vaccine, which is going to be manufactured on Teesside. Of course, we will study its impact against the new variants, but we have a high degree of confidence that the Novavax vaccine has a broad coverage. In fact, one of its attractions is that it has that broad coverage, not just against the variant that it was precisely designed to deal with but against a wide range of variants. That is part of the theory of the technology that underpins that particular vaccine. It is a very modern vaccine, it is very exciting, and it is terrific that it is being made on Teesside.

[Navendu Mishra (Stockport) (Lab) [V]]

We are not safe until everyone is safe. Following President Biden’s announcement that the US Government will support an intellectual property waiver to help scale up the volume of safe and effective covid-19 vaccines globally, can the Secretary of State explain why the British Government are still blocking the agreement on trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights—TRIPS—waiver at the World Trade Organisation?

[Matt Hancock]

Because we have a better approach. Our UK approach has led to the vaccination of 400 million people. The hon. Gentleman should take enormous pride in that. We have been able to do that while protecting the intellectual property rights that will lead to the development, for instance, of the new vaccines, the new technologies and the variant vaccines that are going to be necessary in the future. It is that combination of the protection of intellectual property rights plus the giving away of this vaccine at cost to the developing world—to lower and middle-income countries.

I reiterate the point I made earlier, which I hope the hon. Gentleman will take pride in: of the 54 million vaccine doses delivered through the COVAX facility, of which we are a major funder, 53 million have been of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, delivered with no charge for the intellectual property. That is the approach we should be taking. That is what we will do, and I urge everybody around the world to follow.

Coronavirus

Debate between Navendu Mishra and Matt Hancock

Tuesday 15th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

I will absolutely look at my hon. Friend’s request on King’s Lynn. Thankfully, after an outbreak a couple of weeks ago, the number of positive test results in Norfolk has come right down. I commend the work of Norfolk County Council, my hon. Friend and colleagues from across Norfolk, who have done so much to ensure that the public messages get through. On the “moonshot”, we do not have and have not had any plans for 10 million tests a day, but we do have a goal to get to the millions of tests a day when we can. That is dependent on new technology, so that is what we need to drive forward. It is vital for this country, for the resolution of exactly the problems we are talking about today, and then for expanding testing availability more widely that we really embrace those new technologies.

[Navendu Mishra (Stockport) (Lab)]

Yesterday, I was contacted by an NHS nurse who had spent the weekend unsuccessfully trying to get a test for her symptomatic seven-year-old. On Friday, I visited the new Brinnington test centre in my constituency. It was very quiet, yet it seems to have been unable to offer a test to a nurse, who, it seems, will now need to take time off work. Is that what world-beating looks like? What is going on?

[Matt Hancock]

Again, I am happy to try to solve the individual issue for the nurse, not least because the figures that I read out for Stockport do not include the NHS capacity, which is there for NHS staff in order to resolve exactly the sort of issue that the hon. Gentleman talks about.

Coronavirus Update

Debate between Navendu Mishra and Matt Hancock

Tuesday 14th July 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

I would love to visit Ashfield Hospital in person and to be able to thank every single person who is there and has worked so hard during this pandemic, from the chief executive to the porters and the nurses: all those who have played their part as part of the team. The hospital in Ashfield does not regard itself as separate from the rest of the community. It is deeply embedded in the community and works across primary care, the community trust and with the mental health trust, too. It is part of a system. That is the future of the NHS: people working together, rather than in the silos of the past.

[Navendu Mishra (Stockport) (Lab)]

Unfortunately, my written parliamentary question dated 5 June regarding PPE for urgent dental care centres in my constituency of Stockport, Greater Manchester remains unanswered, but I will try my luck with another question if that’s okay. It seems likely that we will have to live with covid-19 for a long time. Data from care homes shows that the rate of infection is higher when staff do not receive occupational sick pay. When will the Secretary of State ensure that social care staff receive a proper pay rise—at least the living wage set by the Living Wage Foundation—to reflect the unbelievable work they have done during the pandemic, and when will the Government legislate for occupational sick pay for all social care workers?

[Matt Hancock]

Can I, through you, Mr Deputy Speaker, note to the House that we have been incredibly busy in the Department of Health and Social Care? We will get back to the hon. Member’s written question as soon as we possibly can, but we have been inundated with questions and it has been all hands to the pump to try to respond to the virus, so I hope he will understand why sometimes our responses have been a bit slower than they would in normal times. I will get right across that. I take it very seriously—it is very important—but we do, if I may, pray in aid mitigating circumstances. We will get back on top of it.

On the hon. Member’s substantive point, the increases in the living wage are very important for social care staff, and as I said in response to an earlier question, I am very proud that we introduced it.

Covid-19 Response

Debate between Navendu Mishra and Matt Hancock

Monday 18th May 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

I think the whole country celebrated when there was the announcement last week that antibody testing that fits the bill and does the job had been approved by our Porton Down labs. We are in the closing stages of commercial negotiations to ensure that those tests are widely available, and I will let my hon. Friend know just as soon as I can when that roll-out will be, but I do not want to prejudice the commercial negotiations, which I am sure he will understand.

On the second point, I strongly agree with my hon. Friend that this crisis has demonstrated just how important social care reform is, just how important social care is and how we must maintain the benefits and improvements in delivery and working practice that happened because of the crisis and happened through the heat of the crisis. We must maintain and strengthen that close working relationship. The financial changes that we put through have proved very effective at bringing the two systems closer together, but there is much, much more to do.

[Navendu Mishra (Stockport) (Lab) [V]]

A recent survey by Unison North West found that eight out of 10 care workers would not receive full pay if they were ill, self-isolating or shielding because of covid-19, receiving at most £95 per week statutory sick pay, with workers putting their lives on the line to look after us. Will the Government provide increased funding and direction to ensure that all care workers receive full pay when absent due to covid-19?

In addition, given the current failings of our fractured—

Covid-19

Debate between Navendu Mishra and Matt Hancock

Monday 16th March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

My message to everybody in the NHS is that they should do what they need to do to keep people safe in front of them. We are reducing a whole load of the bureaucracy that gets in the way —for instance, with measures from the Care Quality Commission—to ensure that people just do what is right in front of them. As the hon. Lady says, GPs cannot work from home. Some GP appointments do need to be face to face, but increasingly they can be over the phone or over Skype, and so they should be.

[Navendu Mishra (Stockport) (Lab)]

Several Members have raised concerns about care staff. As we all know, many of them are on zero-hour contracts and work for multiple providers. That means that they struggle to prove that they are eligible for statutory sick pay, forcing them to choose between protecting their clients and paying their bills. What action will the Secretary of State take to help healthcare staff who are not eligible for statutory sick pay and cannot prove their eligibility?

[Matt Hancock]

This is an issue that I discussed with the hon. Member for Leicester South, the shadow Health Secretary, earlier today. The package of measures in the Budget addresses it as much as is possible, and we are prepared to go further if that is what is needed.