Asked by: Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to allow the private sector to provide COVID-19 vaccinations.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Vaccines that have been licensed by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency for use in the United Kingdom can be prescribed by a physician, either in the National Health Service or privately.
As is the case for other private healthcare, the emergence of a private market for COVID-19 vaccines in the UK is a matter for manufacturers and private healthcare providers to decide and agree on.
Asked by: Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much (1) has been spent to date, and (2) they estimate will be spent this financial year, on the NHS Test and Trace service.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The spend across Test and Trace for the year to September is £2.7 billion. The Government's winter plan announced an additional £7 billion of funding which will allow NHS Test and Trace to increase testing and continue to improve contact tracing, taking the overall budget for Test and Trace this financial year to £22 billion.
Asked by: Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Lord O'Shaughnessy on 13 June 2018 (HL8293) and Baroness Manzoor on 29 January (HL12896), whether they have published a response to the consultation Promoting professionalism, reforming regulation.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The United Kingdom Government, along with the Governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, consulted on high-level proposals to reform professional regulation of healthcare professions in the UK. Promoting professionalism, reforming regulation ran from 31 October 2017 to 23 January 2018.
A response will be published shortly.
Asked by: Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord O'Shaughnessy on 13 June 2018 (HL8293), whether the Department of Health and Social Care has published a response to its consultation Promoting Professionalism, Reforming Regulation.
Answered by Baroness Manzoor
The four United Kingdom Governments’ consultation Promoting professionalism; reforming regulation closed on 23 January 2018. The Government with the devolved administrations are now considering how to take forward reform of professional regulation. A Government response will be published in due course.
Asked by: Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to protect people experiencing mental health problems from accessing treatment from unqualified counsellors and psychotherapists, including by requiring statutory registration.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The Five Year Forward View for Mental Health, published in February 2016, includes the recommendation that:
“The Department of Health should consider how to introduce the regulation of psychological therapy services, which are not currently inspected unless they are provided within secondary mental health services.”
The Department is currently working with the Care Quality Commission to examine the options and possibilities for taking this recommendation forward. The Department is committed to proportionate regulation of healthcare professionals.
We are considering options for deciding the right level of regulatory oversight for professional groups following on from our Promoting Professionalism, Reforming Regulation public consultation, which closed on 23 January 2018. We expect to publish a full response to this consultation in due course.