Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, which Minister in his Department chairs the (a) Covid-19 (Operations) Committee, (b) Domestic and Economic (Operations) Committee and (c) Afghanistan Resettlement Committee.
Answered by Michael Ellis
GOV.UK is updated regularly with the list of Cabinet Committees, their terms of reference, membership and who chairs each Committee.
Asked by: Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government which Cabinet committees are responsible for (1) the recovery of public services following the COVID-19 pandemic, and (2) co-ordinating the delivery of public services across Government; and which Ministers chair these committees.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
There are a number of Cabinet Committees that could take issues related to public service delivery and recovery. These include, for example; the Domestic and Economic (Operations), the Government Priorities Delivery Committee, Covid-19 Operations, the Health Promotion Taskforce and the Crime and Justice Taskforce. All of these are listed on GOV.UK along with their membership and Terms of Reference. This list of Cabinet Committees on GOV.UK is updated regularly.
It is a long-established precedent that information about the discussions that have taken place in Cabinet and its Committees, and how often they have met, is not normally shared publicly.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Melton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will introduce mandatory business food waste reporting by 2022 in line with the recommendations of the Climate Change Committee.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We will consult this year on introducing regulations to make the public reporting of food waste volumes mandatory for certain businesses of an appropriate size. By ensuring businesses are measuring and publicly reporting their food waste, we expect to drive action to reduce it.
Due to the ongoing impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on food and drink businesses, we postponed the launch of this consultation. Some businesses will require time to embed measurement techniques and build confidence in their data. This needs to be balanced alongside the need to continue reducing our food waste, increasing redistribution of surplus and measuring more accurately to understand the scale of the problem. We therefore propose that reporting starts at least one year after regulations are passed. This will offer businesses time to seek guidance and implement measurement techniques within their operations.
Subject to the consultation responses we therefore would be requiring businesses to report food waste in 2024, for food waste measured in the 2023/2024 financial year. This will ensure data is readily available which in turn will allow for comparison and assessment against our national and international targets.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps is he taking to ensure that all armed forces personnel are fully covid-19 vaccinated.
Answered by James Heappey
Armed Forces personnel will receive their vaccination in line with the national programme as set out by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.
For those on active operations overseas, 95% of eligible personnel have received a first dose, and 61% their second.
All eligible personnel, at home or abroad, will have been offered at least their first vaccine dose by 19 July, in line with the national programme. As the vaccination programme in the UK accelerates, we are working to ensure that no Service personnel are disadvantaged by their service overseas.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what recent discussions they have had with ministerial colleagues in the Northern Ireland Executive on the extent of COVID-19 testing in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Ministerial team in the Northern Ireland Office speak regularly with the Northern Ireland Executive to discuss a wide range of issues, including testing in Northern Ireland. The Minister of State in the Northern Ireland Office has been attending Covid-19 Operations Committee meetings, as have NI Ministers to discuss UK-wide policy and our operational response to Covid-19.
Testing is a powerful weapon in our continued fight against the virus. Collaboration between the UK Government and NI Health and Social Care Trusts has enabled over 2.5 million tests in Northern Ireland. We will continue to build on this success with the Executive, exploring further ways to utilise mass testing schemes for Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to ensure that his Cabinet Colleagues improve their (a) links with and (b) understanding of local authorities and local government finance.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The Department has risen to the huge challenges of the pandemic and has been an effective voice for local government, securing an unprecedented £12 billion of direct support for councils to tackle the impacts of COVID-19 as part of an over £36 billion package for local councils, communities and businesses. In doing so, we have worked collaboratively with key departments to engage regularly and constructively with local authorities on issues of mutual interest.
We value our deep connections with council stakeholders at every level, and have worked closely across government on future plans for adult social care, the levelling up agenda, readiness for each step of the roadmap out of lockdown and other cross-cutting issues, to ensure their needs are understood. This has included the Secretary of State ensuring the needs of local government are considered at a range of meetings attended by Cabinet colleagues, including the COVID-19 Operations Cabinet Committee for issues in relation to the pandemic, alongside his attendance at other Cabinet Committees on matters of interest to local government.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his Department's policy is on the covid-19 vaccination priority for carers of children with SEN who are (a) in receipt of carers allowance and (b) not in receipt of carers allowance.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Eligible unpaid carers have been invited for vaccination as a part of cohort six of phase one of the COVID-19 vaccination programme. This follows the advice the Joint Committee on Immunisation and Vaccination (JCVI).
There is no distinction in NHS England and NHS Improvement’s standard operations procedure (SOP) between eligibility of those who are and are not, in receipt of carers allowance. The SOP is available at the following link:
The SOP sets out a number of existing sources used by the National Health Service to identify unpaid carers as follows:
- Those in receipt of or entitled to a carer’s allowance;
- Those known to general practitioners who have a ‘carer’s flag’ on their primary care record;
- Those known to local authorities who are in receipt of support following a carer’s assessment; and
- Those known to local carers organisations to be actively receiving care and support.
The JCVI’s definition of an unpaid carer has been clarified in Public Health England’s Green Book for COVID-19 as “carers who are eligible for carer’s allowance, or those who are the sole or primary carer of an elderly or disabled person who is at increased risk of COVID-19 mortality and therefore clinically vulnerable”.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the 11 individual issues were that were raised with the Health and Safety Executive by its inspectors concerning the classification of covid-19 as significant rather than serious with regards to Enforcement Management Model; and what the HSE's response was to each of the issues raised.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
During her appearance before the Work and Pensions Select Committee, on Wednesday 17 March, the Chief of Executive of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) noted a number of items of feedback were provided to senior leaders of the Field Operations Division (FOD) of HSE, by members of the Prospect Trade Union via their Branch Council representative. The comments represented a mixture of issues and views, including in respect of the Enforcement Management Model (EMM) and its application to COVID-19. Individual responses were not provided to the comments raised. Instead, one response was put together with the aim of:
The response referred to above was part of a wider internal communication, to HSE inspectors, aimed at providing support and reminding inspectors of the routes available to deal with specific regulatory challenges. It was shared with Trade Union representatives before it was shared with HSE inspectors.
Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps the Covid-19 Operations Committee is taking to ensure that local authorities are adequately resourced to tackle covid-19 vaccine safety concerns.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
We are working at pace to tackle vaccine misinformation and reassure all citizens of vaccine safety and efficacy. The Government has shared social media content and used prominent figures, including actors and experts such as the Chief Medical Officers to drive that message.
Working with the Cabinet Office, vaccine communications from DHSC have appeared in 600 national, regional, local and specialist titles, including BAME media for Asian, Bangladeshi, Bengali, Gujarati and Pakistani communities.
Public confidence in the vaccine is high. By January, vaccine content shared through NHS.UK channels had reached over 208 million people.
To improve our understanding of vaccine hesitancy, the Government is working with over 90 healthcare provider networks, faith groups, influencers and experts from a range of communities.
Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the imposition of local covid-19 restrictions on 29 June 2020, what (a) discussions he had and (b) representations he received on the merits of implementing restrictions at a district level.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
Discussions about implementing tier restrictions take place at the COVID Operations Committee. These decisions are based on public health recommendations from senior clinical and scientific advisors, guided by five key indicators - the case detection rate in all age groups; case detection rates among the over 60 year olds; the rate at which case rates are rising or falling; the positivity rate; and pressures on the National Health Service.
A search of the Department’s Ministerial Correspondence database for any such representations could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.