Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many mechanical ventilators are currently available to the NHS.
Answered by Lord Bethell
At the start of the crisis in March the National Health Service across the United Kingdom had access to over 9,000 mechanical ventilators including 7,484 in England and 1,655 in the devolved administrations.
Today, there are around 30,400 (current total 30,382) mechanical ventilators available to patients across the UK. The additional stock comprises 6,089 from established suppliers (118 manufactured in UK, the rest overseas) and 15,154 from new suppliers, through the Prime Minister’s ventilator challenge, mostly made in the UK.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many ventilators have been made available as a result of the Ventilator Challenge; and how many of those are currently in use.
Answered by Lord Bethell
At the start of the crisis in March the National Health Service across the United Kingdom had access to over 9,000 mechanical ventilators including 7,484 in England and 1,655 in the devolved administrations.
Today, there are around 30,400 (current total 30,382) mechanical ventilators available to patients across the UK. The additional stock comprises 6,089 from established suppliers (118 manufactured in UK, the rest overseas) and 15,154 from new suppliers, through the Prime Minister’s ventilator challenge, mostly made in the UK.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to participate in any future meetings or discussions with EU health ministers about COVID-19.
Answered by Lord Bethell
COVID-19 is a global public health emergency. The United Kingdom is playing a leading role in the global response and we will continue to work closely with the G7, the World Health Organization, the European Union and other international partners at both Ministerial and official level.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what advice they are giving, further to their advice on COVID-19, to industries where social interaction is a key element of the role of a business, in particular property sales, letting and management.
Answered by Lord Bethell
On 27 March, the Government published new guidance for those who are buying, selling or letting properties during the pandemic. This guidance includes advice to both the public and industry.
Buyers who are due to move into an empty property are being advised to go ahead, but others have been told to delay their transaction.
The Government stressed that while there was no need to pull out of a purchase, people must currently stay at home to help prevent COVID-19 from spreading.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are planning to take to ensure that health inequalities due to alcohol-related harm do not widen.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Government is committed to tackling health harms from alcohol and supporting the most vulnerable at risk from alcohol misuse. We continue to support and deliver programmes at both national and local levels to address harms including establishing Alcohol Care Teams in the hospitals with the highest rates of alcohol related admissions and a commitment in the Prevention Green paper to encourage drinking habits towards low and no alcohol products. The Department of Health and Social Care is working jointly with the Department for Work and Pensions investing £6 million on a programme of work which started in 2018/19, to improve outcomes and support for children whose parents are alcohol dependent. This includes nine local areas which are testing innovative and collaborative working; funding for voluntary sector organisations to develop new resources and training; a helpline and contact services for children, and funding several projects in the voluntary sector over 2020/21 to support those living with Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), and to reduce the number of alcohol exposed pregnancies to prevent new cases of FASD.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that dependent drinkers who are not in treatment receive the support they require.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Government is committed to tackling health harms from alcohol and supporting the most vulnerable at risk from alcohol misuse. We continue to support and deliver programmes at both national and local levels to address harms including establishing Alcohol Care Teams in the hospitals with the highest rates of alcohol related admissions and a commitment in the Prevention Green paper to encourage drinking habits towards low and no alcohol products. The Department of Health and Social Care is working jointly with the Department for Work and Pensions investing £6 million on a programme of work which started in 2018/19, to improve outcomes and support for children whose parents are alcohol dependent. This includes nine local areas which are testing innovative and collaborative working; funding for voluntary sector organisations to develop new resources and training; a helpline and contact services for children, and funding several projects in the voluntary sector over 2020/21 to support those living with Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), and to reduce the number of alcohol exposed pregnancies to prevent new cases of FASD.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Leader of the House which minister in the House of Lords will answer questions on the UK’s negotiations with the EU on the future relationship.
Answered by Baroness Evans of Bowes Park
In his capacity as Minister of State in the Cabinet Office, Lord True will answer questions, and repeat statements, in the House of Lords on the UK's negotiations with the EU on the future relationship.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the research by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Pregnancy, Fertility, Breastfeeding, and Alcohol Consumption: An Analysis of Framing and Completeness of Information Disseminated by Alcohol Industry–Funded Organizations, published on 13 October, which found that the information provided by alcohol industry-funded organisations is misleading about the risks to pregnant women of consuming alcohol, what steps they intend to take to ensure that pregnant women are given accurate information about such risks.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The Government is very clear about the dangers that alcohol poses to the unborn child and reflects this in the advice it gives. The United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers’ low risk drinking guidelines published in 2016 provide clear advice to women not to drink alcohol if they are planning for a pregnancy or are pregnant. The National Health Service online information also reflects this advice.
Additionally, the Government has been clear that the alcohol industry must reflect the UK Chief Medical Officers' alcohol guidelines on the labels of their products which includes a no drinking in pregnancy logo.
Public Health England, NHS England and local commissioners are already undertaking awareness and education on the dangers of drinking alcohol while pregnant.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the research by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Pregnancy, Fertility, Breastfeeding, and Alcohol Consumption: An Analysis of Framing and Completeness of Information Disseminated by Alcohol Industry–Funded Organizations, published on 13 October, what plans they have to make warnings of the risks of consuming alcohol in pregnancy mandatory.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The Government is very clear about the dangers that alcohol poses to the unborn child and reflects this in the advice it gives. The United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers’ low risk drinking guidelines published in 2016 provide clear advice to women not to drink alcohol if they are planning for a pregnancy or are pregnant. The National Health Service online information also reflects this advice.
Additionally, the Government has been clear that the alcohol industry must reflect the UK Chief Medical Officers' alcohol guidelines on the labels of their products which includes a no drinking in pregnancy logo.
Public Health England, NHS England and local commissioners are already undertaking awareness and education on the dangers of drinking alcohol while pregnant.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they plan to take to ensure that they meet the deadline to remove the out-of-date Chief Medical Officer’s guidelines from alcohol product labels.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The Government has worked with industry to ensure that alcohol labels reflect the United Kingdom Chief Medical Officer’s Low Risk Drinking Guidelines for drinks produced after 1 September 2019. The industry has committed to comply with this requirement. Local trading standards have powers to remove products manufactured after 1 September 2019, where those products have labels which include the old guidelines. Stock produced before 1 September 2019 can be sold through.