Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the performance of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The quickest and easiest way to transact with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is by using its extensive suite of online services. There are no delays in successful online applications and customers should receive their documents within a few days.
However, many people still choose or have to make a paper application and the DVLA receives around 60,000 items of mail every day. The Government understands the impact that delays in processing paper applications can have on the daily lives of individuals and the DVLA is working hard to reduce waiting times. The DVLA has introduced additional online services, recruited more staff, increased overtime working and has opened new customer service centres in Swansea and Birmingham to reduce backlogs and provide future resilience. These measures are having a positive impact.
The backlog of vehicles paper applications has already been eliminated. Straightforward vocational driving licence applications and renewals are being processed within five working days with no backlog. The DVLA is on track to return to normal turnaround times on all paper driving licence applications by the end of May. Most straightforward paper driving licence applications are now being processed in around five weeks. Information on processing times for key DVLA workstreams is published online here.
The more complex driving licence applications where the customer has a medical condition(s) that must be investigated will take longer to recover. This area was targeted for industrial action by the Public and Commercial Services union last year and also DVLA cases were deprioritised by the NHS at a number of points during the pandemic. The large majority of applicants renewing an existing licence will be able to continue driving while their application is being processed, providing the driver can meet specific criteria. More information can be found online here.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 6 January 2022 to Question 98916 on Coronavirus: Screening, which body is responsible for the accreditation of businesses to supply covid-19 lateral flow tests to the NHS.
Answered by Maggie Throup
There is no accreditation process which applies to the businesses supplying COVID-9 lateral flow device (LFD) tests to the National Health Service. However, COVID-19 tests must have either a CE-mark or UKCA mark and either approved under the Medical Devices (Coronavirus Test Device Approvals) (Amendment) Regulations 2021 or listed on one of the temporary protocols. Where the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) or the devolved administrations procure LFD tests on behalf of the NHS, Coronavirus Test Device Approval is not required. However, the UKHSA evaluates these tests in a laboratory to ensure they display performance characteristics desirable for population testing. This evaluation is performed in advance of any procurement.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to continue to screen all NHS staff and patients for covid-19 beyond 1 April 2022.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Government will continue to provide free symptomatic testing for individuals who live or work in high-risk closed settings, such as in some National Health Service, social care and detention settings to minimise outbreaks. We will continue to provide free symptomatic testing for patients in hospital, where a test is required for clinical management or to support treatment pathways. NHS England will contact those who are eligible.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 13 January 2022 to Question 100419 on Coronavirus: Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme, how many independent experienced medical advisers have been appointed to consider VDPS applications ;and if he will publish their (a) names, (b) qualifications and (c) relevant experience.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The NHS Business Service Agency is currently tendering a contract to increase capacity to conduct Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme medical assessments. The number of medical assessors appointed will be managed by the supplier and will be flexible to meet the Scheme’s demands. All medical assessors are registered with the General Medical Council and safeguards will be in place to ensure the advice provided meets the required standards. All assessments are subject to quality audit.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Hemsworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, on what dates he has spoken to (a) trades unions and (b) staff associations on the impact of covid-19 vaccination as a condition of deployment within (i) the social care sector and (ii) the NHS as of 19 January 2022.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Ministers discussed the policy with UNISON officials on 14 January 2022. Departmental officials have met frequently with stakeholders, including trades unions. This included meetings to discuss the impact in the National Health Service between 11 to 13 October 2021; two workshops with the Social Partnership Forum and meetings in wider social care settings on 15, 17 and 30 December 2021 and 10 and 11 January 2022. Meetings regarding the policy in care homes meetings were held on the 4 August 2021 with UNISON and staff association representatives.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the impact of the level of covid-19 cases on York and Scarborough Teaching Hospital NHS Trust.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
No formal assessment has been made. However, the Trust is being supported to deliver services including through elective recovery funding to increase activity, use of technology to maximise capacity and advice set out in the ‘Delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlog of elective care’.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with NHS England on updating the NHS Long Term Plan in response to the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on the NHS.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Department and NHS England and NHS Improvement regularly monitor progress in the implementation of the NHS Long Term Plan, including considering the impacts of the pandemic. We intend to publish an update to the NHS Long Term Plan later this year, taking account of these impacts.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the impact of the covid-19 vaccine mandate for care home staff on the provision of health and care across (a) emergency services, (b) hospital treatment, (c) care homes and domiciliary care and (d) other sectors; and what steps he plans to take to use that information to inform potential future policy decisions on any further vaccine mandates.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Department published impact assessments of vaccination as a condition of deployment in care homes and health and social care sector, including domiciliary care. In care homes this estimated 40,000 staff may leave and highlighted the benefits of implementation, including reduced hospital admissions and cost of hospital treatment. In health and wider social care, we estimated 88,000 National Health Service staff and 35,000 staff in other care services may not have met the vaccination requirements by 31 March 2022. Following public consultation, regulations to revoke these requirements in all health and care settings came into force on 15 March 2022. Emergency services executing their duties were exempt from the care home requirements.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of extending the Human Medicines (Coronavirus and Influenza) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 for pharmacy technicians and other roles to enable additional services to be provided by community pharmacies.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The list of professionals included in the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 who are able to supply, administer and prescribe is kept under review. NHS England and NHS Improvement are currently considering prescribing responsibilities across all non-medical groups.
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, pursuant to the Answer of 6 December 2021 to Question 85353 on Dental Services: Coronavirus, what recent discussions he has had with representatives from the dental industry on the impact of covid-19 on dentists and dental practices.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
We have no plans to make this specific assessment as the provision of National Health Service dentistry continues to be routinely monitored by regional commissioners. We continue to have regular discussions with representatives of the dental sector on the impact of COVID-19 on dentists and dental practices. These discussions have informed the Government’s actions to support NHS dentists and dental practices, which has included financial and wellbeing resources. Private dentists have also received support through HM Treasury’s range of schemes.