Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
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 review the process for awarding Government contracts related to the covid-19 outbreak in response to the report of the National Audit Office, published on 18 November 2020.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Contracting authorities are allowed to procure goods, services and works with extreme urgency in exceptional circumstances under the Public Contract Regulations 2015 using a direct award of a contract without a competitive tender process. The great majority of personal protective equipment (PPE) contracts let by the Department – including that for Medpro Ltd - were direct awards.
Suppliers are evaluated by Departmental officials on their financial standing, compliance with minimum product specifications and ability to perform the contract. Contracts are awarded by the appropriate Departmental accounting officer in line with Departmental policy and procedures. All contracts have clauses in them that allow the Department to seek redress if the company supplies faulty products or misses delivery dates.
The Department assesses the market conditions for procuring supplies related to any procurement, including those relating to COVID-19, in accordance with procurement guidance and regulations. Where any procurement meets the tests for the use of a direct award then that approach will be used. Where it does not, other approaches will be considered.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to ensure the award of Government contracts to Medpro Ltd complied with procurement guidelines.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Contracting authorities are allowed to procure goods, services and works with extreme urgency in exceptional circumstances under the Public Contract Regulations 2015 using a direct award of a contract without a competitive tender process. The great majority of personal protective equipment (PPE) contracts let by the Department – including that for Medpro Ltd - were direct awards.
Suppliers are evaluated by Departmental officials on their financial standing, compliance with minimum product specifications and ability to perform the contract. Contracts are awarded by the appropriate Departmental accounting officer in line with Departmental policy and procedures. All contracts have clauses in them that allow the Department to seek redress if the company supplies faulty products or misses delivery dates.
The Department assesses the market conditions for procuring supplies related to any procurement, including those relating to COVID-19, in accordance with procurement guidance and regulations. Where any procurement meets the tests for the use of a direct award then that approach will be used. Where it does not, other approaches will be considered.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of adding nuclear medicine technologists to the list of professions registered with the Health and Care Professional Council.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has no plans to extend statutory regulation to nuclear medicine technologists. Therefore, an assessment of the potential merits of bringing nuclear medicine technologists into statutory regulation has not been undertaken.
The statutory regulation of healthcare professionals should only be used where the risks to public and patient protection cannot be addressed in other ways, such as through employer oversight or accredited voluntary registration.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
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 ensure that face coverings sold privately for use by the general public are of a high standard and effective.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In the United Kingdom, face coverings are being sold by a large number of retailers online and in store. Details of a product’s conformance to any standards can be found under the product details section online, or on the packaging or label of the covering itself.
The Office for Product Safety and Standards has produced guidance for manufacturers and sellers of face coverings, which is available online.
In June 2020, the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) approved a Workshop Agreement with performance requirements, methods of testing and uses of community face coverings.
The British Retail Consortium has released a specification for Textile Barrier Face Coverings designed for both disposable and reusable coverings. The specification sets out the design, performance and chemical requirements of coverings, as well as labelling instructions.
The British Standards Institution will not be creating a separate standard and intend to adopt the CEN Workshop Agreement. Copies of both the CEN and AFNOR documents are freely available for the public to download.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish a response to EDM 521 on the UK law on disability-selective abortion.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Abortion is a sensitive area, Where there are strongly held moral and ethical views.
Parliament decided the circumstances under which abortion can legally be undertaken. It would be for Parliament to decide whether to make any changes to the law on abortion. As with other matters of conscience, abortion is an issue on which the Government adopts a neutral stance and allows Members to vote according to their moral, ethical or religious beliefs.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he plans to hold with his counterparts in the devolved Administrations on the findings of the Public Health England report on Disparties in the risk and outcomes of covid-19.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department is regularly in discussions with the devolved administrations at both ministerial and official level on a wide range of issues relating to COVID-19. COVID-19 presents a global challenge which requires a collaborative response. The Department will continue to work with the devolved administrations throughout the crisis and beyond.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Equalities (Kemi Badenoch MP) will be taking forward work off the back of Public Health England’s report on disparities in the risk and outcomes of COVID-19. Stakeholder engagement will be a key part of that work, as set out in the Terms of Reference at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/next-steps-for-work-on-covid-19-disparities-announced
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of using camostat mesylate in the treatment of patients with covid-19.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
There are currently no approved treatments for COVID-19 and full evaluation of the merits of any potential treatments can only be made once clinical trials involving COVID-19 patients have been completed. The United Kingdom Government is considering a wide range of potential treatments in the current UK clinical trials. Drugs representing a range of relevant modes of action including - but not limited to - serine protease inhibitors, such as camostat, are being reviewed and prioritised by a panel of experts so that the most promising are put into clinical trials first.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of using therapeutic plasma in the treatment of patients with covid-19.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
On 25 April, the Department announced that the clinical trial REMAP-CAP was given approval to determine as part of a trial, if plasma donated by patients who have recovered from COVID-19 can help those with the virus. NHS Blood and Transplant has started to collect convalescent plasma to supply to REMAP-CAP and the first transfusion took place last week.
In parallel with the trial, NHS Blood and Transplant is scaling up a national programme for collecting plasma so the treatment can be widely rolled out if it is shown to be effective. The collection of plasma will be ramped up by mid-May to deliver up to 10,000 units of plasma to the National Health Service every week, enough to treat 5,000 COVID-19 patients per week.
Convalescent plasma has been used as an effective treatment for emerging infections in the past, and this step forward underpins the Department’s scientific approach to fighting this virus.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding his Department is providing for research into the potential merits of using therapeutic plasma in the treatment of patients with covid-19.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department invests £1 billion per year in health research through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The NIHR is prioritising clinical research activity on COVID-19 through its national prioritisation process for Urgent Public Health research. The REMAP-CAP trial is one of several studies that have been nationally prioritised. This is a platform clinical trial testing the effectiveness of multiple treatments on COVID-19 patients in intensive care. The NIHR is supporting prioritised studies such as REMAP-CAP to expedite their local set-up, management and delivery through the NIHR Clinical Research Network. As announced on 25 April, the Department is working in collaboration with NHS Blood and Transplant and the other United Kingdom blood services, Public Health England and NHS Digital to enable the testing of convalescent plasma through this trial. Details of funding for this will be made publicly available shortly.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to ensure the continued supply of isotope species for medical (a) diagnosis and (b) treatment after the transition period.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The United Kingdom has now left the European Union and entered the transition period, which will run until 31 December 2020.
EU regulations on medicines and medical devices, including medical radioisotopes, will continue to apply to the UK throughout the transition period, during which we will negotiate a new trade agreement with the EU.
All necessary measures are in place to ensure that civil nuclear sector can continue to operate in the UK after the end of the transition period.
Both the EU and the UK are committed to agreeing a future partnership by the end of 2020 and are working to achieve this. It is in the interests of both the UK and the EU to agree a future partnership that keeps goods flowing, services being provided, and business being done.