Coronavirus Act 2020 (Review of Temporary Provisions) (No. 3)

Debate between Richard Fuller and Jonathan Ashworth

Tuesday 19th October 2021 Commons Chamber

[Jonathan Ashworth]

The right hon. Gentleman is better than that, with respect. He is very experienced, and he knows full well that right hon. and hon. Members have various responsibilities as Members of Parliament. Come on! That was akin to those ridiculous tweets that we sometimes see going around, saying that an important issue is being debated in Parliament and asking why the Benches are empty and so on, when it is an evening Adjournment debate.

[Richard Fuller]

I have a great deal of sympathy with what the right hon. Gentleman has just said, but there is an underlying point. On many occasions since March 2020, the Opposition have absented themselves from providing effective voting opposition to measures that the Government have proposed, often affecting the rights and liberties of individuals. If the right hon. Gentleman is saying that he is balancing all the issues involved in the restrictions that result from the continuation of the Act with the single purpose of continuing statutory sick pay for three days, and that because he is not prepared to test the willingness on the Government Benches to support him in any measure he would turn down this whole measure, I think that what he is handing us is giving him a little bit short of what he might expect.

[Jonathan Ashworth]

The hon. Gentleman knows full well that if the Government wanted to bring forward a separate Bill to pay statutory sick pay from day one—and to increase the level of statutory sick pay, which is not currently at a satisfactory level—that would of course have our support. However, that would have to come from the Executive. It is unlikely to come from Back Benchers, although I am confident that, should such an opportunity present itself, the hon. Gentleman would find himself in the same Lobby as me on the question of paying enhanced statutory sick pay.

A number of provisions have been taken out of the Act that restricted liberties and freedoms. We raised concerns about those provisions six months ago and 12 months ago, and we are pleased that they have been lifted from the Act, particularly those sections that gave the power to detain potentially infectious persons, which have been used for a number of prosecutions, every one of which was found to be unlawful by the Crown Prosecution Service. Hon. Members from both sides of the House made that point in the six-month debate and in the original debate 12 months ago, so we are pleased that the Government have listened to those Members and to the Joint Committee on Human Rights, which said that those powers ought to be repealed. They have now been removed from the Act.

There are some sections whose removal from the Act we would question. A lot of my local government colleagues have asked why the powers that enable local authorities to meet remotely have been removed from the Act. Would it not be better to allow local authorities to come to their own decisions on whether they want to continue to hold online meetings in the next few months? I am not quite sure why we need to remove that provision from the Act.

Of course we would not want to lose statutory sick pay from day one, but the Secretary of State also referred to the emergency legislation covering healthcare workers. This is important because it means that we can get recently retired workers back on their licences and back onto the frontline. We would not want to lose that from the Act. The Act continues to allow remote participation in court proceedings to take place, which we believe is needed in the current circumstances.

The Act was not the legislation that brought in the lockdowns, including the local lockdowns for my home city of Leicester and areas such as Burnley, Bolton and Calderdale, which, sadly, were put into localised lockdown in the past year or so. None of us wants to see those lockdowns ever again. Nobody wants to see a national lockdown, and nobody wants to see local lockdowns. I understand that the Government have quite rightly ruled out further lockdowns, but the public health crisis is not over. That is why we still need some of the provisions in the Act. Covid has not gone away. We can learn to live with the virus, but that is not the same as pretending the virus no longer exists. Yesterday, we recorded close to 50,000 infections, more than 7,000 people were in hospital—with nearly 800 in ICU—and every day on average 100 of our fellow citizens sadly die from this disease. A decision on vaccination in schools by the appropriate committee was delayed, but record numbers of children are now infected. In the past three weeks, we have seen an average of 10,000 new covid infections every day in schools and thousands are missing school as a consequence.

The ongoing pandemic is making existing inequalities worse and worse, so we need some of these provisions to stay on the statute book. However, we need to go further as well. As I have said, I never want to see another lockdown again, either locally in my home city of Leicester or nationally. There are a couple of things that I hope the Government will consider in order to avoid further lockdowns and to avoid needing some of the most draconian measures in the Act to return.

First, we need to fund public health properly in the spending review. The virus thrives on health inequalities. The Secretary of State rightly referred to health disparities and stalling life expectancy in Blackpool, but his Government have presided over public health cuts of £43 per person per year across Blackpool, which are some of the largest in the country. Secondly, we need substantial investment in ventilation support for businesses, public spaces and schools. Better ventilation has been proven, time and again, to reduce the transmission of covid. In addition, it brings other health benefits.

We know that vaccination is waning and that parts of the programme are stalling. The wall of defence is crumbling, so we need to encourage those retired clinicians who helped with the initial vaccination programme to help again. We also need to encourage those retired clinicians who did not help out last time to consider playing their part. That is why the clauses in the Act on the emergency registration of healthcare workers need to remain on the statute book.

We also need to fix the booster programme. As of Friday, only half of eligible over-80s had received their booster jab. Charities including Blood Cancer UK and Kidney Care UK are warning that the third-dose programme for the immunosuppressed has been a “chaotic failure”, with between 55% and 60% yet to be invited to get a third dose, as of Friday. What are the Government going to do to scale up third jabs and boosters? Will the Government consider pop-up clinics, for example? They were successful in the previous round of vaccinations.

Our case rates are concentrated among the young, but only around 30% of children have been vaccinated. One problem in getting vaccinations out to children is that there are not enough staff, which is another reason why we need the emergency registration provisions to stay on the statute book to try to encourage more retired clinicians to join the children’s vaccination programme.

The Secretary of State is now allowing children to book a vaccination in a walk-in centre for half-term, but it is half-term this week in some parts of the country, including in Leicester, so can that part of the programme start today rather than waiting for next week?

There are still parts of the country, including Leicester and many London boroughs such as Brent, Lambeth and Tower Hamlets, as well as parts of the country that were in lockdown last time such as Blackburn and Pendle, where second-dose rates are still below the national average. What will we do to drive up vaccination rates in those parts of the country that were in lockdown last time and where vaccination rates are still too low? Will the Secretary of State consider guaranteeing mandated paid time off for vaccination and mandated sick pay for people who need to take a couple of days off due to side effects or due to feeling unwell, as people sometimes do following a vaccination?

We will support the Government in renewing this Act, although we want them to find a better way of scrutinising its provisions. We are concerned about the infection rates we are seeing. The embers are burning bright again and, because we were world leading on vaccination, we could be world leading again on the waning of vaccination. We need a plan to drive up boosters, to drive up third doses and to drive up second doses for those who have not had them. This disease remains lethal, especially to the frail, to those with underlying health conditions and, obviously, to those who are unvaccinated.

Let us strengthen the vaccination programme, let us pay proper sick pay, let us ensure fresh, clean air in public buildings and let us properly fund public health. Remember that the Select Committee reported last week that the Government’s handling was one of the worst public health failures in British history. This is no time for complacency, and I hope Ministers act now.