Asked by: Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether UK residents who have received the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine produced in India will be prevented from using the digital COVID-19 passport to travel to Europe without tests and quarantine; and what steps they plan to take to help anyone so affected.
Answered by Lord Bethell
All University of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines administered in the United Kingdom are the same product and appear on the NHS COVID Pass as ‘Vaxzevria’. The European Medicines Agency has authorised Vaxzevria and it is recognised by the European Union for the purpose of travel.
Asked by: Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they made of the (1) safety, and (2) effectiveness, of the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The vaccines approved for use in the United Kingdom, including the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, have met strict standards of safety, quality and effectiveness set out by the independent Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). Any vaccine that is approved must go through the same clinical trials and safety checks as other licensed medicines. The MHRA follows international standards of safety. So far, millions of people have been given a COVID-19 vaccine and reports of serious side effects, such as allergic reactions, have been very rare. No long-term complications have been reported. Preliminary results showing that the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine might reduce the spread of COVID-19 are hugely encouraging.
Asked by: Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to require GP surgeries in England to put in place a call and recall procedure to require them to follow up patients in the shingles vaccination cohort who have not yet availed themselves of the vaccine.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
As outlined in both the NHS Long Term Plan and Investment and Evolution: a five-year framework for GP contract reform to implement The NHS Long Term Plan, NHS England and NHS Improvement are currently undertaking a review of vaccinations and immunisations. The Department would not wish to pre-empt the outcome of this review. Investment and Evolution states that the purpose of the review as being to:
- Ensure the system incentivises achievement of appropriate uptake rates for immunisations in line with national public health uptake rates;
- Reduce the administrative burden on general practices by simplifying the system if possible;
- Clarify what is expected on call/recall for immunisations delivered through the GP contract;
- Address anomalies in the system that directly incentivise some vaccines but not others;
- Look at how we deal with outbreaks and catch-up programmes; and
- Consider whether we extend the list of chargeable travel vaccines.
A copy of Investment and Evolution: a five-year framework for GP contract reform to implement The NHS Long Term Plan is attached.
Asked by: Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case for encouraging people who are 60 years old and above who have not been vaccinated against shingles to receive a vaccination; and what steps they are taking to encourage the take-up of that vaccine amongst that cohort.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The National Shingles Vaccination Programme, implemented in September 2013 is provided by general practices. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation recommends the shingles vaccine for adults routinely at age 70 years with a phased catch up for those aged 71-79 years. The eligibility criteria change means that patients become eligible for the vaccine from their 70th and 78th birthdays, if not previously vaccinated, and can be offered the vaccine opportunistically all year round.
In support of this change, Public Health England (PHE) has updated the communication materials for both patients and healthcare professionals to better identify those who are eligible and emphasise the benefits to patients from the shingles vaccination. This includes guidance for those individuals who have missed the opportunity to receive the vaccine previously but who remain eligible, up to their 80th birthday.
Asked by: Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many deaths have been attributed to air pollution in Greater Manchester in each of the last five years.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The fraction of annual all-cause adult mortality attributable to anthropogenic (human-made) particulate air pollution (measured as fine particulate matter, PM2.5) is provided by the Public Health Outcomes Framework (PHOF) indicator 3.01.
This calculates the mortality burden associated with long-term exposure to anthropogenic particulate air pollution at current levels, expressed as the percentage of annual deaths from all causes in those aged over 30.
The following table shows the fraction of mortality (%) attributable to particulate air pollution extracted from the PHOF 3.01 indicator, for the period 2010-2015, for England, North West and areas within the Greater Manchester Area (GMA), as GMA is not an administrative area.
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 |
Greater Manchester |
|
|
|
|
|
Bolton | 5.0 | 4.7 | 4.9 | 4.8 | 4.2 |
Bury | 5.2 | 4.8 | 4.9 | 4.8 | 4.0 |
Manchester | 5.4 | 5.1 | 5.2 | 5.1 | 4.3 |
Oldham | 5.3 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 4.9 | 4.2 |
Rochdale | 5.2 | 4.8 | 4.8 | 4.7 | 4.0 |
Salford | 5.5 | 5.2 | 5.3 | 5.2 | 4.3 |
Stockport | 5.2 | 4.8 | 4.9 | 4.7 | 4.1 |
Tameside | 5.4 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 4.8 | 4.2 |
Trafford | 5.1 | 4.8 | 4.9 | 4.8 | 4.1 |
Wigan | 4.8 | 4.6 | 4.9 | 4.7 | 4.3 |
North West | 4.6 | 4.4 | 4.6 | 4.4 | 4.1 |
England | 5.4 | 5.1 | 5.3 | 5.1 | 4.7 |
Asked by: Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the 10 year rule that is given as the reason that Lord Owen's and Lord Jenkin of Roding's ministerial papers in regard to contaminated blood were destroyed.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
We do not recognise that a ten year rule has been established for the destruction of records created by ministers. The Department works to the guidance published by The National Archives on the appraisal and selection of official records which are retained and transferred for permanent preservation.