Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to publish guidance on allowing partners to attend antenatal appointments and scans during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The National Health Service is making arrangements to ensure that women are supported and cared for safely through pregnancy, birth and the period afterwards during this pandemic.
Decisions on partners attending scans and appointments is subject to local discretion by trusts and other NHS bodies. Local maternity teams will be able to advise women on their policy on partners attending antenatal appointments including scans.
Guidance produced by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists is clear that women should be encouraged to have one birth partner, who has no symptoms of COVID-19, present with them during any type of labour and birth, unless the birth occurs under general anaesthetic.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) Regulations 2020 provide for (a) family members and (b) friends to provide free childcare in their homes for parents who have to work.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Where parents or someone with parental responsibility do not live in the same household, children under 18 can be moved between their parents’ homes to continue existing arrangements for access and contact.
From 13 June, a lone parent you can form a support bubble with another household which would allow arrangements to provide informal (i.e. unpaid) childcare. This household can be family members or friends. The Government will continue to work with the childcare sector to ensure that sufficient, safe, appropriate and affordable childcare is available for those returning to work, and for all families who need it in the longer term.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
What recent funding he has allocated to Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust will benefit from £500million capital investment for a new major hospital, providing adult emergency and women and children’s services in one place. A consultation on the detail of the Trust’s proposals is currently underway and closes on 1 April.
The package of capital funding is part of the Government’s £2.7billion Health Infrastructure Plan (HIP) for six new hospital projects to be delivered in our first phase of major hospital rebuilds (HIP1) as part of our broader commitment to build 40 new hospitals.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department has taken to prepare for the implementation of the proposed General Data Protection Regulation; which non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) and agencies overseen by his Department will be affected by that regulation; and what estimate he has made of the potential liability of his Department, its agencies and NDPBs in connection with that proposed regulation.
Answered by George Freeman
Officials from the Department of Health are working closely with the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, which leads on the negotiations with the European Union on the United Kingdom’s behalf, ensuring that stakeholders are engaged on the key issues.