Coronavirus Vaccine

Baroness Winterton of Doncaster Excerpts

Wednesday 2nd December 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

Oh yes—mass testing is rolling out as we speak. My team have been working with Kirklees Council to make sure that the council’s enthusiasm for mass testing is matched by the resources that come its way in terms of the tests themselves, the financial support—£14 per test, as the hon. Lady says—and the logistical support from the armed forces. Kirklees’s plans are very advanced, I pay tribute to its local leadership and look forward to working with them to make it happen.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)]

Order. I want to get everybody in but we are getting a little behind schedule, so I ask for succinct questions.

[Mr Gagan Mohindra (South West Hertfordshire) (Con)]

I congratulate the Secretary of State and our Government on their brilliant work to make sure that we were the first country in the world to have a vaccine approved.

It would be worth the Secretary of State’s repeating the criteria and pecking order for the 800,000 doses. A colleague of mine, Councillor Bentley, always says that people need to hear something at least eight times before they embed it, so will the Secretary of State take this opportunity to repeat it?

--- Later in debate ---

[Matt Hancock]

My hon. Friend is right. The candle of hope is burning brighter today. On the mass testing she is so enthusiastic about, I can tell her that this morning when I asked my officials to ensure that the community testing programme that is being developed for Hyndburn is advanced as quickly as possible, they told me that they had been told of the need for it by so many people and that so many people had been lobbied by her, that it was already in hand. I suppose that that goes to show just how vociferous my hon. Friend is in fighting for the people of Hyndburn.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)]

Order. We will have a three-minute suspension.

Virtual participation in proceedings concluded (Order, 4 June).