Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether there is a body in addition to his Department that hon. Members can contact regarding hotel quarantine exemptions, in the event of no response from his Department.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
All applications for exemptions to managed quarantine should be sent to the Department where they will be assessed.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effect of covid-19 travel restrictions in respect of red list countries on a potential applicant's ability to apply for a EU Settlement Scheme family permit within the application window.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The EU Settlement Scheme family permit is open for eligible family members of a relevant sponsor to apply. Individuals in red list countries can apply in the normal way.
If their application is successful, they will not be prevented from travelling to the UK, as they have residence rights, but like all travellers to the UK must comply with the prevailing border health measures, including the managed quarantine service where relevant.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to respond to Question 164411 tabled by the hon Member for Brighton, Pavillion on 8 March 2021 for named day answer on 11 March 2021 on Travel: Quarantine.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We take parliamentary scrutiny incredibly seriously and it is fundamentally important that hon. Members are provided with accurate and timely information to enable them to hold the Government to account. We are working rapidly to provide all Members with accurate answers to their questions, as well as supporting the Government’s response to the unprecedented challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The hon. Member’s question will be answered as soon as possible.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to extend the validity of leave to remain visas issued to persons overseas in red list countries who are unable to exercise their right to enter the UK on such a visa as a result of they, and any family members, not being able to afford the hotel isolation fee; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Kevin Foster
If an individual overseas in a red list country has UK residence rights and is concerned about their ability to pay for their managed quarantine facility costs, they may be eligible to apply for a deferred repayment plan when booking.
We have set out how to apply for this, in particular for individuals who receive income related benefits. They will be required to pay back their debt to the government in 12 monthly instalments. Further guidance can be found on the GOV.UK website:
If an individual overseas with UK residence rights chooses not to travel to the UK within the validity of their visa, they will need to make an application for a replacement visa or a new visa in an appropriate route. Further guidance can be found on the GOV.UK website:
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to provide a substantive Answer to Question 141587, on Coronavirus: Quarantine, tabled on 21 January 2021 by the hon. Member for Slough.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We take parliamentary scrutiny incredibly seriously and it is fundamentally important that hon. Members are provided with accurate and timely information to enable them to hold the Government to account. We are working rapidly to provide all Members with accurate answers to their questions, as well as supporting the Government’s response to the unprecedented challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The hon. Member’s questions will be answered as soon as possible.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to provide a substantive Answer to Question 140921, on Coronavirus: Quarantine, tabled on 20 January 2021 by the hon. Member for Slough.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We take parliamentary scrutiny incredibly seriously and it is fundamentally important that hon. Members are provided with accurate and timely information to enable them to hold the Government to account. We are working rapidly to provide all Members with accurate answers to their questions, as well as supporting the Government’s response to the unprecedented challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The hon. Member’s questions will be answered as soon as possible.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to provide a substantive Answer to Question 140920, on Coronavirus: Quarantine, tabled on 20 January 2021 by the hon. Member for Slough.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We take parliamentary scrutiny incredibly seriously and it is fundamentally important that hon. Members are provided with accurate and timely information to enable them to hold the Government to account. We are working rapidly to provide all Members with accurate answers to their questions, as well as supporting the Government’s response to the unprecedented challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The hon. Member’s questions will be answered as soon as possible.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to protect members of the armed forces travelling abroad for training from covid-19.
Answered by James Heappey
To enable the overseas deployment of Ministry of Defence personnel during the pandemic, Defence established a network of quarantine facilities to enable pre-deployment quarantine and testing to protect the health and operational effectiveness of the deployed force. While overseas, deployed forces seek to comply with UK and Host Nation guidance wherever practicable, including adhering to non-pharmaceutical interventions, increased hygiene regimes, symptomatic testing and isolation of cases and contacts.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 11 January 2021 to Question 131401 on Railways: Quarantine, if he will make it his policy to publish sector wide data on the number of railway staff members self-isolating due to covid-19 on a regular basis.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The Department monitors absence rates across the rail industry, including the proportion of rail workers who are ill and those who are self-isolating due to COVID-19. The level of staff absence due to COVID-19 varies daily and between operators, and each operator manages the running of their operations as necessary. There are currently no plans to regularly publish sector-wide data on staff absence rates.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners in HMP Wormwood Scrubs have (a) been tested and (b) tested positive for covid-19 in each of the last six months.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) has been working closely with the Department of Health and Social Care, the NHS, and health authority colleagues in England and Wales for a number of months on providing access to Covid-19 tests in a prison environment. More recently, additional testing capacity has been made available to limit the importation of infection into prisons. This includes the regular testing of staff across all prisons and carrying out testing of all new receptions to stop the virus spreading into and between jails.
The most recently published figures included in the HMPPS workforce quarterly statistics provided data for HMPPS staff in post by establishment, as at 30 September 2020. On that date there were 485 directly employed staff in post, by headcount, at HMP Wormwood Scrubs, 91 of which were off sick for non-COVID reasons. The average non-COVID days lost at the prison were lower for the 12 months ending in September 2020, the most recently published data, compared to the prior period ending in March for 2020.
30 staff were absent from work due to self-isolation or quarantine on official health advice on 30th October. This includes both directly and non-directly employed staff. It does not, however, include staff who were off work due to COVID related sickness, caring responsibilities due to COVID or any other COVID related absences.
The table below shows the most recent verified data for HMP Wormwood Scrubs. HMPPS do not hold complete data for the number of individual staff members or prisoners who have been tested. It should be noted that staff numbers include both those directly and non-directly employed. Where values of two or fewer are present they have been suppressed (~) in order to prevent disclosure of personal information. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system. Much of the data collected during the COVID-19 pandemic has been done at pace, with recording practices evolving as we understand more about the requirements and conditions we are facing. In order to present the timeliest information, the data presented has not been subjected to the usual standard of quality assurance associated with official statistics.
| May 20 | Jun 20 | Jul 20 | Aug 20 | Sep 20 | Oct 20 |
Staff testing positive | ~ | 0 | ~ | ~ | 0 | 19 |
| Jul 20 | Aug 20 | Sep 20 | Oct 20 | Nov 20 | Dec 20 |
Prisoners testing positive | 0 | 0 | 0 | 55 | 7 | 6 |