Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government why, given that Evusheld has been approved for private prescription, it has not yet been approved for prescription on the NHS.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has decided not to procure Evusheld for prevention through emergency routes at this time. This is based on independent clinical advice by the multi-agency RAPID C-19 and a United Kingdom national expert policy working group, which concluded that there is insufficient evidence of benefit to recommend deployment.
While the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency gave a Conditional Marketing Authorisation to Evusheld in March 2022, it did so noting that there a lack of data on its response to the Omicron variant. AstraZeneca has made Evusheld available privately in the UK, which is a matter for individual patients and their healthcare providers. It is distinct from any Government consideration of its use within the National Health Service.
Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of whether Pinnacle is providing an adequate service to service families.
Answered by Alex Chalk - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
Pinnacle are the National Service Centre (NSC) for Amey and Vivo, delivering accommodation maintenance services to service personnel and their families living in Service Family Accommodation.
All suppliers' performance, including Pinnacle, remains significantly below the required standard seven months after the contracts entered service. For Pinnacle, performance is of particular concern as their call and email response times at the NSC and timescales for resolving complaints and compensation requests are significantly below acceptable levels.
In September 2022, the Defence Infrastructure Organisation directed all three Accommodation suppliers, including Pinnacle, to submit Rectification Plans. The objective being to demonstrate rapid early improvement and to be at or close to the Acceptable Level of Performance by the end of 2022. In response to this, Pinnacle have invested additional resource and processes to improve performance.
Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Ogmore)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what steps he will take what Cabinet colleagues to support people made redundant by the closure of Jehu Group.
Answered by David T C Davies - Secretary of State for Wales
I am sorry to hear that the Jehu Group, based in Bridgend with a long history in South Wales, has gone into liquidation. An Official Receiver has been appointed to oversee the winding up of the business.
We offered immediate support for the 106 people who have been made redundant to date through the Department of Work and Pensions Rapid Response Service. A team from the Bridgend Job Centre, working alongside Careers Wales, visited the company the day the closure was announced, and they have offered one-to-one advice and support to all those affected.
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Short-term Holding Facility Rules 2018, what arrangements are in place to ensure food provided at Manston Short-term Holding Facility is varied, nutritionally balanced and must where practicable meet all religious, dietary, cultural and medical needs.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Manston Initial Triage and Processing Centre has been stood up as a critical infrastructure to enable criminal, identity and immigration background checks on migrants illegally crossing the Channel and collate their initial asylum claims away from the Port of Dover.
Accommodation on site is provided by a mix of existing barrack blocks converted for this purpose and marquees erected as emergency accommodation once the number of migrants crossing demanded the rapid expansion of capacity. Seven of these marquees are certified as holding rooms under the Short-Term Holding Facility rules.
There are no extant plans with the Local Authorities for the installation or building of any permanent structures on site. However, it is our aim to continuously improve the quality of accommodation to provide adequate response to the needs of those crossing the channel.
A laundry service is provided by the contractors on site. Washing machines are available on site for use by families.
Food is provided for everyone being held at Manston. As the number of crossings has increased, resulting in longer stays whilst onward accommodation is sourced, the Home Office has continued to engage with contractors to ensure the food provision meets this changing need – including increasing the variety of food available and ensuring that it meets each individual’s needs.
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Short-term Holding Facility Rules 2018, what recent certification has been issued by the Secretary of State to certify that sleeping accommodation at Manston Short-term Holding Facility contains is adequately (a) sized, (b) lit, (c) heated, (d) ventilated and fitted for health.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Manston Initial Triage and Processing Centre has been stood up as a critical infrastructure to enable criminal, identity and immigration background checks on migrants illegally crossing the Channel and collate their initial asylum claims away from the Port of Dover.
Accommodation on site is provided by a mix of existing barrack blocks converted for this purpose and marquees erected as emergency accommodation once the number of migrants crossing demanded the rapid expansion of capacity. Seven of these marquees are certified as holding rooms under the Short-Term Holding Facility rules.
There are no extant plans with the Local Authorities for the installation or building of any permanent structures on site. However, it is our aim to continuously improve the quality of accommodation to provide adequate response to the needs of those crossing the channel.
A laundry service is provided by the contractors on site. Washing machines are available on site for use by families.
Food is provided for everyone being held at Manston. As the number of crossings has increased, resulting in longer stays whilst onward accommodation is sourced, the Home Office has continued to engage with contractors to ensure the food provision meets this changing need – including increasing the variety of food available and ensuring that it meets each individual’s needs.
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department is taking steps to replace tent and marquee accommodation with hardened accommodation at Manston Short-term Holding Facility in winter 2022.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Manston Initial Triage and Processing Centre has been stood up as a critical infrastructure to enable criminal, identity and immigration background checks on migrants illegally crossing the Channel and collate their initial asylum claims away from the Port of Dover.
Accommodation on site is provided by a mix of existing barrack blocks converted for this purpose and marquees erected as emergency accommodation once the number of migrants crossing demanded the rapid expansion of capacity. Seven of these marquees are certified as holding rooms under the Short-Term Holding Facility rules.
There are no extant plans with the Local Authorities for the installation or building of any permanent structures on site. However, it is our aim to continuously improve the quality of accommodation to provide adequate response to the needs of those crossing the channel.
A laundry service is provided by the contractors on site. Washing machines are available on site for use by families.
Food is provided for everyone being held at Manston. As the number of crossings has increased, resulting in longer stays whilst onward accommodation is sourced, the Home Office has continued to engage with contractors to ensure the food provision meets this changing need – including increasing the variety of food available and ensuring that it meets each individual’s needs.
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) toilets, (b) showers and baths and (c) washing machines and other laundry facilities were available for use by detainees at Manston Short-term Holding Facility as of 27 October 2022.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Manston Initial Triage and Processing Centre has been stood up as a critical infrastructure to enable criminal, identity and immigration background checks on migrants illegally crossing the Channel and collate their initial asylum claims away from the Port of Dover.
Accommodation on site is provided by a mix of existing barrack blocks converted for this purpose and marquees erected as emergency accommodation once the number of migrants crossing demanded the rapid expansion of capacity. Seven of these marquees are certified as holding rooms under the Short-Term Holding Facility rules.
There are no extant plans with the Local Authorities for the installation or building of any permanent structures on site. However, it is our aim to continuously improve the quality of accommodation to provide adequate response to the needs of those crossing the channel.
A laundry service is provided by the contractors on site. Washing machines are available on site for use by families.
Food is provided for everyone being held at Manston. As the number of crossings has increased, resulting in longer stays whilst onward accommodation is sourced, the Home Office has continued to engage with contractors to ensure the food provision meets this changing need – including increasing the variety of food available and ensuring that it meets each individual’s needs.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when (a) NHS England and (b) NHS Improvement will receive the independent review report from the North East of England Commissioning Support Unit on British Sign Language Interpreting Services within Hospitals.
Answered by Caroline Johnson
In November 2020, NHS England commissioned the North of England Commissioning Support Unit to undertake a rapid review of British Sign Language (BSL) service provision in the National Health Service in England. The review was completed in May 2021 and contained 17 recommendations to address the identified health inequalities experienced by BSL users. The report and its recommendations were accepted by NHS England’s National Incident and Response Board on 16 June 2021. NHS England is continuing to work with integrated care systems to implement the recommendations.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will provide the names of the experts who were consulted on the Government’s decision, announced on 12 August 2022, not to purchase any doses of Evusheld at this time.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
This decision is based on independent clinical advice by multi-agency RAPID C-19 group and a national expert policy working group and reflects the epidemiological context and policies in the Government’s pandemic response and recovery. The National Health Service had overall responsibility for establishing RAPID C-19 and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence chairs the senior RAPID C-19 Group and provides secretariat support.
Information on the bodies participating in RAPID C-19 is available at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/covid-19/rapid-c19
A list of the individual members of RAPID C-19 is attached.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they will take to provide (1) support, and (2) protection, for the staff of P&O Ferries who were made redundant on 17 March.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) stands ready to support anyone affected by this announcement, with our Rapid Response Service (RRS) offer. This is a service designed to give support and advice to employers and their employees when faced with redundancy.
The range of support available from Jobcentre Plus and partners may include:
In addition, DWP is also working closely with the Department for Transport to implement a unique portal on the Aviation Skills Retention Platform (ASRP) for workers affected by the P&O redundancy. The portal has been designed to directly target individuals affected to provide visibility of jobs in aviation and wider transport sectors. The new portal will provide all registered companies with the opportunity to engage with P&O Ferries workers, highlighting opportunities to the group as a whole, rather than individually, and ensure workers can be approached with a range of opportunities that match their skills.
Information on other Government programmes on retraining such as Department for Educations Skills Bootcamps and Apprenticeships will also be shared with affected P&O employees.