Debates between Kevin Brennan and Matt Hancock during the 2019-2024 Parliament

Tue 8th Dec 2020
Mon 8th Jun 2020
Tue 24th Mar 2020
Mon 23rd Mar 2020
Coronavirus Bill
Commons Chamber

2nd reading & 2nd reading & 2nd reading: House of Commons & 2nd reading
Mon 16th Mar 2020
Mon 9th Mar 2020
Coronavirus
Commons Chamber
(Urgent Question)
Wed 26th Feb 2020

Covid-19 Update

Debate between Kevin Brennan and Matt Hancock
Tuesday 9th February 2021

(3 years, 8 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Matt Hancock Portrait Matt Hancock
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I pay tribute to everybody at the Henfield Medical Centre doing this incredible work. It is really uplifting being in a health centre. If Members have not been to a vaccination centre as a Member of this House, I would highly recommend it because it is such an uplifting experience. I am really glad that it is being carried out ever closer to home for people as we expand the number of vaccination sites, of which there are now more than 1,400 across England.

Kevin Brennan Portrait Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab) [V]
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The maximum sentence for a person lying on their locator form will be 10 years in prison. What will the minimum sanction be for that offence? The cost of the hotel, including testing and transport, will be £750 for 10 days. Can the Secretary of State give the House an absolute assurance that that represents good value for money to passengers and that there is no undue profiteering?

Matt Hancock Portrait Matt Hancock
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Yes, absolutely. One of the things that we have been doing in our discussions with hotel groups and others is ensuring value for money as much as possible for passengers. Hence we have managed to get the costs down to £1,750 for an individual traveller in a room alone.

Covid-19 Vaccine Roll-out

Debate between Kevin Brennan and Matt Hancock
Tuesday 8th December 2020

(3 years, 10 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.

Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.

This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record

Matt Hancock Portrait Matt Hancock
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Yes, today has been a celebration of progress we have been able to make, but there is a huge amount more to do, not just in the roll-out but in making sure we have the future vaccines that may be necessary, and the capacity in this country to manufacture and deliver the next generation of vaccine technologies. The advance in vaccine technology over the past 11 months globally has been extraordinary and it is critical that we in the UK have that future capability. That is something the Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, my hon. Friend the Member for Stratford-on-Avon (Nadhim Zahawi), the Minister with responsibility for vaccine roll-out, is concentrating on very clearly.

Kevin Brennan Portrait Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)
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Thank goodness for science, thank goodness for international co-operation and thank goodness for our NHS. As a Member of Parliament representing the capital city of Wales, obviously I am very interested in how the different parts of the United Kingdom are going to get the vaccine. Can the Secretary of State tell us a bit more about the work his Department is doing with the devolved Administrations to make sure the vaccine is distributed quickly and fairly to all four nations of our UK?

Matt Hancock Portrait Matt Hancock
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Yes, this is a UK project that is being done through the NHS in the four nations. The Welsh Government are playing their part. I spoke to Vaughan Gething, my Welsh opposite number, last night to ensure the roll-out was co-ordinated and the final details put in place. There are seven hospitals in Wales that are injecting the vaccine today. I want to thank everybody across Wales for their forbearance. This has been a tough time in Wales. There are still sacrifices to be made while we keep the virus under control until the vaccine can get rolled out through enough of the vulnerable population and we can return life more to normal.

Covid-19: R Rate and Lockdown Measures

Debate between Kevin Brennan and Matt Hancock
Monday 8th June 2020

(4 years, 4 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.

Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.

This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record

Matt Hancock Portrait Matt Hancock
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Yes, of course, that is taken into account in the clinical decision on the order of priority for testing. My right hon Friend makes a very important point that I will ensure is taken away and looked at, to check this for people in those settings outside formal social care, which are often not Care Quality Commission registered but still have a much higher proportion of elderly people who are vulnerable to this disease in them. I will ensure that that is properly looked into and, if I may, I will write to the Chair of the Science and Technology Committee on that point.

Kevin Brennan Portrait Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)
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The Secretary of State says that the Government are taking a safety-first approach, and yet Professor John Edmunds has expressed concern that if we relax, the infection will come back very fast. In Wales, there has been a more cautious approach to people being able to travel such long distances, as we saw the weekend before last in Dorset. What will the Secretary of State do if the R number drifts back above 1?

Matt Hancock Portrait Matt Hancock
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I do not want to see the R number go above 1. I spoke to Professor Edmunds at the weekend, as it happens. He said, quite rightly, that a cautious approach is needed, but there is scope to allow some opening up, according to our plan.

Covid-19 Update

Debate between Kevin Brennan and Matt Hancock
Tuesday 24th March 2020

(4 years, 7 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Matt Hancock Portrait Matt Hancock
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The Prime Minister was clear in his address to the nation; I have been clear in my statement today; and the guidance on gov.uk is absolutely clear on this point.

Kevin Brennan Portrait Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)
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Many hon. Members are not here because they are being responsible and allowing some of us to represent them, so that we can observe proper social distancing. My hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield, Heeley (Louise Haigh) has asked me to raise the issue of irresponsible employers. She tells me that the Home Office in Sheffield is requiring workers to come in to do word processing and administrative work that could be done at home. Will the Secretary of State undertake to communicate my hon. Friend’s concerns to the Home Secretary, and if what my hon. Friend describes is the case, ask the Home Secretary to put a stop to it straightaway and set a good example?

Matt Hancock Portrait Matt Hancock
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I will ensure that that is looked into.

Coronavirus Bill

Debate between Kevin Brennan and Matt Hancock
Matt Hancock Portrait The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Matt Hancock)
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I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

Coronavirus is the most serious public health emergency that has faced the world in a century. We are all targets, but the disease reserves its full cruelty for the weakest and the most vulnerable. To defeat it, we are proposing extraordinary measures of a kind never seen before in peacetime. Our goal is to protect life and to protect every part of the NHS. This Bill, jointly agreed with all four UK Governments, gives us the power to fight the virus with everything that we have.

Kevin Brennan Portrait Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)
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Like many hon. Members, I have had a huge number of issues raised with me by NHS workers regarding the availability of personal protective equipment to frontline staff and testing. I know the Secretary of State wants to protect NHS staff through the Bill, so will he take the opportunity of Second Reading to update us, perhaps with any information he has from across the UK, about progress on these matters?

Matt Hancock Portrait Matt Hancock
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Yes. If it is okay with you, Mr Speaker, I will answer that intervention and then get on with the point in the Bill. These issues are outwith the Bill, but they are incredibly important and very much part of the topic.

In terms of making sure that NHS staff, social care staff and those who need it clinically get the protective equipment they need—especially but not only the masks— we are undertaking enormous efforts to get that equipment out. The equipment is there; we have it. It is a distribution effort. I was not satisfied with the stories I heard of people running short, so we have brought in the military to help with the logistical effort. I want to hear from every single member of staff in the NHS or in social care who needs that equipment but does not have it, so we have also introduced a hotline and an email address, which is manned. I have had an update on that, and it has had a number of calls, which are all being responded to. In that way, we will find out where the gaps are, so that we can get this distribution out. It is a mammoth effort; we have been working on it for several weeks, but the increase in the use of the protective equipment in the last week has been very sharp, as I am sure the hon. Gentleman and the House will understand. The logistical effort is very significant.

We are expanding the amount of testing. We are buying tests, both ones made abroad and ones made here in the UK, because testing is absolutely vital to getting out of this situation. I want to get to a point where anybody who wants to get tested can get tested. At the moment, we are having to reserve the tests we have for patients, especially in intensive care, so that they can be properly treated according to whether or not they have coronavirus. Very soon, we are getting the tests out to frontline staff so that they can get back to work, where somebody in their household might have the symptoms and they are household-isolating. I understand absolutely the importance of testing. We are working on it incredibly hard. We were working on it all weekend, and we are making some progress.

Covid-19

Debate between Kevin Brennan and Matt Hancock
Monday 16th March 2020

(4 years, 7 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Matt Hancock Portrait Matt Hancock
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Just as we have introduced a national effort for ventilators, so we are introducing a national effort for volunteers, and my right hon Friend the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is leading that drive.

Kevin Brennan Portrait Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)
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In answering my right hon. Friend the Member for Leeds Central (Hilary Benn) earlier, the Secretary of State made it clear that he wanted everybody to be tested at home if they had the symptoms. What is the difference between the number of new cases currently and the number of tests that are currently available per day?

Matt Hancock Portrait Matt Hancock
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Our estimate of the total number of new cases is significantly higher than the available number of tests right now, which is why we need to increase testing capacity so quickly.

Coronavirus

Debate between Kevin Brennan and Matt Hancock
Monday 9th March 2020

(4 years, 7 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.

Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.

This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record

Matt Hancock Portrait Matt Hancock
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I add my condolences to the family and loved ones of the patient who has died at New Cross Hospital. I want to thank the staff at the hospital who have acted in an exemplary way and to reassure other patients at the hospital that the steps that are necessary to ensure that the hospital is safe have, of course, been taken and that my hon. Friend’s constituents can be confident that her local NHS has risen to this task.

Kevin Brennan Portrait Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)
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On the point about people who have booked holidays and cruises and who are perhaps doing the right thing by considering not going on them, I have to say that, even though they are insured, they are not always covered to do so unless they have been specifically told not to travel to that country. What are the Government doing to assist people in that sort of situation?

Matt Hancock Portrait Matt Hancock
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We constantly keep travel advice under review, and have made covid-19 a notifiable disease. Both those measures will help with the circumstances outlined by the hon. Gentleman.

Coronavirus

Debate between Kevin Brennan and Matt Hancock
Wednesday 26th February 2020

(4 years, 8 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Matt Hancock Portrait Matt Hancock
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Yes, of course, that would be the obvious next step. I will not confirm that—we do not need it yet—but that is all part of the plan.

Kevin Brennan Portrait Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)
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The Irish authorities have already advised the Irish Rugby Football Union to call off the Six Nations game against Italy, which obviously affects the north, as it is a Northern Ireland team as well. England are due to play Italy in the Six Nations in a few weeks. What discussions has the Secretary of State had with his colleagues in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and with the sporting authorities about advising what to do in relation to the Six Nations championship and other sporting events?

Matt Hancock Portrait Matt Hancock
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Obviously, DDCMS is involved in the cross-Government decision making on these things. Our goal is to minimise social disruption—of which this is an important part for any rugby fan—subject to keeping the public safe. These are difficult balances to strike sometimes, and I will be discussing the matter with the new Secretary of State at DDCMS.

Wuhan Coronavirus

Debate between Kevin Brennan and Matt Hancock
Tuesday 11th February 2020

(4 years, 8 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Matt Hancock Portrait Matt Hancock
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That is an excellent idea. We are open to all ideas of that kind and I will look directly into it.

Kevin Brennan Portrait Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)
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I thank the Secretary of State for coming to the House and making this statement. I have a question about the use of this term “super-spreader”. In past outbreaks, people categorised in that way have often been demonised. Will he take this opportunity to explain to people that these so-called super-spreaders might have no idea they have contracted the virus and should in no way be blamed or demonised for spreading it?

Matt Hancock Portrait Matt Hancock
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This is a really good point, and I want to make two points on it. First, those who have contracted the virus are ill and deserve our sympathy and support. I know from the incredible way they have responded to the need to undertake contact tracing that all those in the UK who we have been working with because they have tested positive have acted in an exemplary way and done everything that society could have asked of them to make sure the virus is contained. I pay tribute to the way they have responded to public health officials and the NHS and thank them for doing that.

On a second connected point, anybody who thinks it appropriate, in response to this challenge, to demonise or abuse anybody from the British-Chinese community, or anybody of Chinese or east Asian origin, is completely wrong and is being counter-productive to the efforts being made across the country and the world to tackle this virus.