Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
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 provide additional support to the ambulance service amid (a) staff shortages and (b) high demand during the current covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
NHS England and NHS Improvement are supporting to ambulance trusts in England with an investment of an extra £55 million to increase staff numbers for the winter, including over 700 additional staff in control rooms and on the frontline. This includes £1.85 million to place more hospital ambulance liaison officers at the most challenged hospitals to address ambulance queues and £4.4 million to maintain an additional 154 ambulances.
Asked by: Patricia Gibson (Scottish National Party - North Ayrshire and Arran)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what arrangements are in place to ensure that theory driving tests for critical workers can take place during covid-19 restrictions.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
In Scotland, The Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions and Requirements) (Local Levels) (Scotland) Regulations 2020 require the suspension of all driving tests and lessons in areas under protection level 4. Currently this includes all of mainland Scotland and the Western Isles. Therefore, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is not able to offer key worker tests in Scotland.
The DVSA is working with its theory test contract provider, Pearson VUE, to respond to requests for theory tests in England and Wales from organisations such as Ambulance Authorities on behalf of frontline mobile emergency workers who require a driving licence to carry out duties in their employment role.
The DVSA is in the process of planning for the resumption of services and increasing test capacity when it is safe to do so. Arrangements will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of providing additional logistical support to areas with long ambulance waiting times as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The provision of additional logistic support is already utilised to assist areas with long ambulance waiting times. Ambulances are diverted and patients redirected to alternative hospitals where clinically appropriate; ambulance staff are used to support hospital handover delays and crews are allowed to handover patients so that they are available to respond to incoming 999 calls.
Support is also provided through mutual aid arrangements with other local providers, coordinated through the National Ambulance Coordination Centre. Each acute trust, with support from the NHS England and NHS Improvement region, regularly makes an assessment as to whether diverts and deflects should be put in place to support hospital capacity. These assessments form part of regular escalation discussions.
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps the Government plans to take to reduce the disruption to key workers who have had vital driving tests cancelled since 2020 due to the covid-19 outbreak and are now at risk of being unable to work.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
To help stop the spread of coronavirus, driving tests have been suspended in all areas of England, Scotland and Wales.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is not currently offering a critical worker service in England or Scotland. In Wales, the DVSA is responding to requests only from the Welsh ambulance trust for the testing of ambulance drivers.
In England and Wales, essential delegated bus and emergency service testing will continue where they are identified as an operational priority by bus companies and the emergency services.
The DVSA is in discussions with all Governments to address critical worker services in England, Scotland and Wales.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the effect on the economy of charity sector organisations having to stop delivering vital services in order to be eligible for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The purpose of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme is to support people who would otherwise have been made redundant. To prevent fraudulent claims, we made clear that individuals cannot work or volunteer for their organisation. This is to protect individuals too – if we allowed workers to volunteer for their employer, the employer could ask them to effectively work full time while only paying them 80% of the wages.
On 8 April the Chancellor announced a £750m support package for charities providing key services and supporting vulnerable people during the Covid-19 crisis. This includes £360 million direct from Government departments. Up to £200 million is supporting hospices, with the rest supporting organisations like St John Ambulance and the Citizens Advice Bureau as well as charities supporting children, victims of domestic abuse or disabled people. £200 million is being distributed by the National Lottery Community Fund through the Coronavirus Community Support Fund. The Fund closed to new applications on 17 August and £184m - 97% of the total fund value – had been awarded as of 13 October.
The Government also matched public donations to the BBC’s “Big Night In” charity appeal, with over £37 million being distributed by Comic Relief, Children In Need and the National Emergencies Trust to charities on the frontline. 100% of the Fund value of £34.4m was awarded as of 15 October.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to issue guidance on the reopening of (a) Romford Ambulance Station and (b) other local ambulance stations temporarily closed during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
In order to operate more effectively and safely during the COVID-19 pandemic, London Ambulance Service (LAS) consolidated staff from smaller sites across London to larger stations. These co-located facilities facilitated improved vehicle preparedness, staff engagement and cohesiveness, and ensured reliable distribution of personal protective equipment to keep frontline staff safe at all times. The model ensures that LAS continues to provide outstanding care for patients whilst the COVID-19 pandemic is ongoing. Response performance in the North East London Sector is meeting all national performance standards and this will continue to be monitored closely to ensure patients’ needs are met.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much of the £750 million package of support for charities has been allocated to ophthalmology charities.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We recognise that many charities are facing difficult decisions at the exact time their services are needed most and, on 8 April 2020 the Chancellor announced £750 million to support for the charity sector in response to COVID-19. This includes up to £200 million for hospices and £22 million for health and social care charities. The £22 million includes:
- £4.2 million to support mental health charities and charities within the National Bereavement Alliance;
- Up to £6.8 million to support St John Ambulance;
- £6 million to support Air Ambulances;
- £6 million to support various charities, including those working with people with learning disabilities, autism and complex needs, those working to support people with cancer and stroke and dementia charities, and those that support the adult social care system; and
- This funding will also go to charities supporting pregnant women, babies in neonatal intensive care and those affected by stillbirth and neonatal deaths and support for specialist addiction and recovery charities.
To this date there has been no funding agreed for ophthalmology charities.
There is still an opportunity for charities to apply directly for funding from the National Lottery’s £200 million Coronavirus Community Support Fund. This fund is supporting charities working with vulnerable people. The criteria for this fund are set out at the following link:
https://www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk/
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to allocate funding to ensure that ophthalmology charities can continue to run their services.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We recognise that many charities are facing difficult decisions at the exact time their services are needed most and, on 8 April 2020 the Chancellor announced £750 million to support for the charity sector in response to COVID-19. This includes up to £200 million for hospices and £22 million for health and social care charities. The £22 million includes:
- £4.2 million to support mental health charities and charities within the National Bereavement Alliance;
- Up to £6.8 million to support St John Ambulance;
- £6 million to support Air Ambulances;
- £6 million to support various charities, including those working with people with learning disabilities, autism and complex needs, those working to support people with cancer and stroke and dementia charities, and those that support the adult social care system; and
- This funding will also go to charities supporting pregnant women, babies in neonatal intensive care and those affected by stillbirth and neonatal deaths and support for specialist addiction and recovery charities.
To this date there has been no funding agreed for ophthalmology charities.
There is still an opportunity for charities to apply directly for funding from the National Lottery’s £200 million Coronavirus Community Support Fund. This fund is supporting charities working with vulnerable people. The criteria for this fund are set out at the following link:
https://www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk/
Asked by: Baroness Tonge (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they are taking, if any, to ensure that health services in Palestine have sufficient medical facilities and expertise in (1) the West Bank, and (2) Gaza, to enable those services to care for those with serious medical problems without the need to enter Israeli territory for treatment.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK has pledged £764 million to support the global humanitarian response to COVID-19. We have delivered additional vital support in the Occupied Palestinian Territories by providing funding to the World Health Organization and UNICEF to purchase and co-ordinate the delivery of medical equipment, treat critical care patients, train frontline public health personnel and scale up laboratory testing capacity. Minister Cleverly also recently announced £20 million in new funding, which will help the Palestinian Authority support its health workers who have been on the frontline battling coronavirus and who help deliver life-saving medical services.
We also provided around £16 million in humanitarian assistance in 2019/20 to alleviate humanitarian and health needs in the OPTs. This included establishing a centralised surgical multi-disciplinary limb reconstruction unit, strengthening trauma care, enhancing the ambulance system, and training paramedics and frontline providers in Gaza. Our funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) also helps provide health services for around 3.5 million people in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many paramedics employed by NHS ambulance trusts were tested for covid-19 in each week from 2 March 2020 to 4 May 2020.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The Department does not hold this information.