Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to increase access to dental care for Ukrainian refugees.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Ukrainians in the United Kingdom are guaranteed free access to National Health Service healthcare, including screening, vaccinations, mental health support, dental and hospital services. In September 2022 the Government announced ‘Our plan for patients’ which aims to improve patient access to NHS dental care. This includes access for Ukrainians. Information on how to access NHS dental care is outlined in the Welcome Pack provided to all Ukrainian arrivals.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies on covid-19 vaccinations of the study by Fraiman, J., et al., entitled Serious adverse events of special interest following mRNA COVID-19 vaccination in randomized trials in adults published in the journal Vaccine on 22 September 2022.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Each COVID-19 vaccine candidate is assessed by teams of scientists and clinicians and only authorised once it has met robust standards of safety, quality, and effectiveness set by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
The MHRA and the UK Health Security Agency continuously monitor the safety of all COVID-19 vaccines, including through reviewing all suspected Adverse Drug Reaction reports, and other data from the United Kingdom and internationally. Since the start of the pandemic, the National Institute for Health and Care Research has also allocated more than £110 million in funding for COVID-19 vaccine research, including consideration of vaccine safety.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether counselling support is being provided to children from Afghanistan who are separated from parents who remain in Afghanistan.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
resettled under ACRS and ARAP have been dealt with on a case-by-case basis. Where this has happened, we have worked in close collaboration with social services and the relevant Local Authority.
The Government provides a warm welcome to Afghans arriving in the UK and all guests are registered with a GP or are being helped to do so. A full range of vaccinations are offered, alongside mental health support and other services.
We know just how much of an adjustment Afghan children and young people will be facing. Schools and colleges have access to a range of government support programmes to help children and young people with their mental health and we are rolling out Mental Health Support Teams that work with groups of schools and colleges to identify specialist needs of pupils in their areas.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the statement by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation COVID-19 vaccination programme for 2023: JCVI interim advice, 8 November 2022, what estimate they have made of the number of vaccinations required to prevent a COVID-19 hospital admission for individuals in clinical risk groups, as outlined in the Green Book; and whether they will provide a link to Appendix A of this statement.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The numbers needed to vaccinate (NNV) for the prevention of hospitalisation was calculated to consider the benefits of continued offers of primary vaccination, booster vaccination, the autumn booster and potential boosting in the spring of 2023, for example, for those newly entering a risk group. This calculation estimates the number of people in a particular group who would need to be vaccinated in order to prevent one hospitalisation. The lower the number, the more beneficial vaccination of that group would be.
Strong age effects were seen, as well as large differences within adult ages, by clinical risk group. The oldest age groups and the older individuals in clinical risk groups had the lowest NNV for prevention of hospitalisation. There is also a trend for higher NNV for prevention of hospitalisation when moving from the primary to each booster dose.
The spring 2023 booster is for immunosuppressed people at risk rather than all individuals in a clinical risk group.
The results of NNV by age and clinical risk group are shown in Tables 3b and 4a of Appendix 1, which is attached.
These cover all individuals in a risk group based on analysis of data including the national immunisation register. The NNV has not been broken down into separate clinical risk groups, as outlined in the Green Book.
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 steps he is taking (a) to tackle vaccine hesitancy in minority communities and (b) with local healthcare partners to help increase uptake of vaccines in minority communities.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
To assess confidence of the public in vaccinations programmes, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) undertakes research to understand how knowledge, beliefs and attitudes towards immunisation, vaccine safety and disease severity influence vaccine uptake decision-making. This includes working with partners in the NIHR Health Protection Research Unit for Vaccines exploring issues within specific minority communities.
Vaccine hesitancy is only part of the issue; ensuring good access to health care, particularly for inclusion health groups who face multiple barriers to care, is also critical. This includes efforts to improve access to mainstream services and specialist outreach services.
Some members of under-served communities can find accessing healthcare and vaccination services more challenging. UKHSA, in partnership with NHS England and the Department, undertakes a range of actions to improve vaccination coverage for all ages in England. This includes initiatives to improve access to the immunisation programme, data to better identify under-served individuals and populations, training for healthcare professionals and communication with the public. To support this, a range of leaflets and other promotional materials are available, in several languages, in print form and for download from our Health Publications website.
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 20 March to Question 166115 on Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme, what steps his Department has taken in response to safety concerns about Covid-19 vaccinations as a result of the 23 successful claims in respect of deaths recorded by Coroners as having been caused by a Covid-19 vaccination.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Vaccine safety remains at the forefront of the COVID-19 vaccine programme. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has a robust safety surveillance strategy in place for monitoring the safety of all COVID-19 vaccines approved in the United Kingdom. This includes closely considering all coroners' reports sent to MHRA that list vaccination as a possible contributing factor of death. Coroners' verdicts are part of the wide range of evidence continuously gathered and analysed by MHRA, including self-reporting tools such as the Yellow Card Reporting Scheme.
Should any information indicate a possible new safety concern, the system is well placed to rapidly and thoroughly investigate this, with advice for healthcare professionals and patients updated where appropriate.
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, when he plans to procure flu vaccinations for winter 2023-24.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
For the children’s flu programme, the UK Health Security Agency has contracts in place for the supply of flu vaccines throughout the 2023/24 season.
For all other eligible groups, general practitioners and other providers are responsible for ordering flu vaccines directly from suppliers to deliver the national flu programme.
Asked by: Margaret Ferrier (Independent - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps (a) his Department and (b) NHS England have taken to tackle increases in respiratory health conditions in the context of recent changes to GP contracts.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
General Practices (GPs) are required to provide services, termed ‘essential services’, to meet the reasonable needs of their registered and temporary patients. This includes providing consultations, referrals and ongoing treatment and care as necessary and appropriate.
Some GP practices may opt into providing additional services over and above this. The Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) is a voluntary reward and incentive scheme to help improve the quality of care across GPs. This incentivises practices to undertake specific activities in order to improve prevention and long-term condition management, including tackling respiratory health conditions. In the 2023/24 GP contract, nine QOF indicators (16%) will target tackling respiratory health conditions.
Vaccination against COVID-19 and flu can also support a reduction in cases of respiratory virus during the winter, both amongst the general public and the healthcare workforce. Over 17.4 million doses of an autumn COVID-19 booster were delivered in England over winter 2022/23 and as of 28 February, more than 21.1 million people in England have had their flu jabs.
The vaccine programmes provide necessary protection to those at higher risk of severe illness and are keeping more people out of hospital. The Government encourages all of those who are eligible for vaccinations to come forward.
The Department continues to work with tripartite partners to deliver improvements to vaccinations, including acquiring data to allow for timely and targeted action, and to identify and provide advice on reducing disparities in vaccination coverage.
The tripartite is committed to improving childhood and adult immunisation programmes, driving maximum uptake, and working hard towards re-gaining the United Kingdom’s measles elimination status, and sustaining our rubella and polio status.
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
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 conduct equality, diversity, and inclusion assessments of (a) vaccine delivery programmes and (b) their impact on health inequalities.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Department undertakes equality analyses of all policy decisions to assess the impact of these on protected characteristics under the Public Sector Equality Duty and is committed to delivering vaccines to everyone who is eligible.
This includes targeted campaigns for communities known to have lower vaccine uptake as well as providing clear and accurate information about vaccine benefits and eligibility, including in braille and multiple languages. General practices (GPs) and provider incentives are also in place to find local solutions and diversification mechanisms are being developed to make getting vaccinated easier for all. The UK Health Security Agency also publish reviews of disparities in vaccine uptake and its relation to other health disparities as part of their Immunisations Inequalities Strategy.
It is vitally important that everyone takes up the vaccinations to which they are entitled, for themselves, their families, and wider society. Anyone unsure about their eligibility or vaccination status should contact their GP for advice.
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, whether he had discussions with the Secretary of State for Home Affairs on taking steps to help tackle the potential risk of diptheria infection in Slough ahead of the Home Office's decision to place diptheria-positive people in Slough hotels; and whether he plans to take steps to help increase the rate of diptheria innoculations in Slough.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
My Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care meets regularly with other Cabinet colleagues, and ministerial meetings with external organisations are routinely published on GOV.UK. Officials attended a meeting chaired by the Home Office, alongside the East Berkshire Director of Public Health, Slough Local Authority colleagues and integrated care board partners, about people who had been placed in hotels who were diphtheria positive, where local concerns about this decision were raised with the Home Office.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has made recommendations for all new arrivals to receive a diphtheria containing vaccine as part of the ongoing outbreak response amongst asylum seekers. In addition, there are long-standing recommendations in place for migrants to be registered with primary care, and to have an assessment to check that they are up to date with the routine vaccinations and receive the recommended vaccines according to the United Kingdom schedule. To support the diphtheria outbreak response, UKHSA has produced a range of materials including information leaflets translated in a range of languages.
UKHSA published supplementary guidance on 1 February 2023 for cases and outbreaks in asylum seeker accommodation settings. This can be found at the following link: