Asked by: Lord Lipsey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what requests for assessment of compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics have been made under section 12(1) of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 in respect of statistics relating to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord True - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have therefore asked the Authority to respond.
Dear Lord Lipsey,
As Head of the Office for Statistics Regulation and Director General for Regulation at the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking what requests for assessment of compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics have been made under section 12(1) of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 in respect of statistics relating to the COVID-19 pandemic (HL8482).
?To date, no requests for assessment have been made under section 12(1) of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 relating to COVID-19 statistics[1]. The Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) established a short series of rapid reviews to provide timely, independent reassurance and challenge on some key statistics that were developed in response to the pandemic. The outcomes of those 12 reviews are available on the OSR website[2].
Yours sincerely
Ed Humpherson
[1]A formal request for assessment made under section 12(1) of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 is just one way for the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) to exercise its statutory powers. Re-assessments of existing National Statistics are carried out proactively by OSR under section 14(1) of the Act. In addition, for example, OSR carries out larger-scale reviews of systemic issues, shorter compliance checks and responds to correspondence about official statistics. OSR received three section 12(1) requests for assessment in 2019, and has received two requests to date in 2020, none of which related to COVID-19 statistics.
Asked by: Lord Lipsey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what consultation they undertook before deciding to conduct constituency boundary reviews on an eight-year cycle; and what plans they have to publish a summary of those consultations.
Answered by Lord True - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
Ahead of the Bill’s introduction, the Government engaged with parliamentary parties, and electoral administrator representatives, and there was general acceptance of an 8-year cycle.
Asked by: Lord Lipsey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bethell on 20 August (HL7375), whether they will now answer the question put, namely, what is their assessment of how much the increase in daily reported COVID-19 cases can be attributed (1) to increased testing, and (2) to changes in natural prevalence.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The increase in the number of cases over the past few weeks, affecting particularly young age groups, is not accounted by an increase in testing and indicated a real increase in incidence.
Asked by: Lord Lipsey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, under the restrictions in place to address the COVID-19 pandemic in England, when two households join to form an extended household, that extended household has to remain the same, or whether another individual or family can be substituted to form a new extended household.
Answered by Lord Bethell
A ‘support bubble’ is a close support network between a household of any size and a single adult household. Households with more than one adult can expand their close support network so that it includes an additional single adult household.
Support bubbles should be exclusive. This means people should not switch the household they are in a support bubble with or make connections with multiple households. This is to avoid creating chains of transmission.
Asked by: Lord Lipsey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of how much the increase in daily reported COVID-19 cases can be attributed (1) to increased testing, and (2) to changes in natural prevalence.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Public Health England and the Joint Biosecurity Centre established a Joint Situational Awareness Team that produces a daily situational awareness report to provide an overview of current COVID-19 epidemiology locally, regional and nationally using a range of epidemiological, clinical and other indicators (including testing data). These reports are disseminated to Directors of Public Health and discussed each morning with frontline health protection colleagues to ensure that local knowledge is factored into the interpretation of the data.
Asked by: Lord Lipsey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, in reporting COVID-19 deaths by location, whether the person’s home address, the hospital where there are treated, or some other factor determines the location recorded.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Public Health England (PHE) reports data on all deaths in people who have had a positive COVID-19 test result confirmed by a public health or National Health Service laboratory. These data include COVID-19 related deaths from all settings, in hospital or elsewhere, and geographical details of residence are assigned using the home postcode of the person who died.
The Office for National Statistics is responsible for publishing mortality statistics for deaths registered in England and Wales. The data is taken from information recorded on the death certificate. The geographical location of a death is assigned according to the address recorded as the usual residence of the deceased. The location of death (hospital, care home, etc) is assigned according to the information provided on the death certificate about the place of death.
Asked by: Lord Lipsey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the value of the use of probiotics in treating COVID-19.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The use of probiotics and prebiotics to treat COVID-19 are not currently our priority in trials. The Government is investing across the board in both basic genetic research and clinical studies to find a sustainable treatment or vaccine against COVID-19. More information can be found in Our plan to rebuild: the UK Government’s COVID-19 recovery strategy which is attached.
The Government has been at the forefront of the international response to the virus, co-hosting the Coronavirus Global Response Summit on 4 May, pledging £388 million in aid funding for research into vaccines, tests and treatment including £250 million to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.
Asked by: Lord Lipsey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what calculations, if any, they have made of the savings that would result if the speed limit in roadworks on the M4 was increased from 50 to 60 miles per hour.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
Highways England has not assessed the specific savings of using a 60mph speed limit in the roadworks on the M4 between junctions 3 and 12. However, Highways England and its supply chain are currently assessing whether there are opportunities for this higher speed limit to be introduced on the M4. In all cases, careful consideration has to be given to the safety implications of increasing speed limits in roadworks, and not all roadworks will be suitable for a higher speed limit.
Asked by: Lord Lipsey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Sugg on 4 April (HL14781), what discount rate they applied to the forecasted benefits.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
The benefits of the scheme were calculated over a 60-year period. The discount rate applied to the forecasted benefits was 3.5% each year for the first 30 years and 3% each year for the next 30 years, as stipulated in the HM Treasury’s “The Green Book: Central Government Guidance on Appraisal and Evaluation
Asked by: Lord Lipsey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the estimated value of motorists' time lost due to the 50mph speed limit in place as part of the works to create a digital M6 motorway.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
The impact of delays during construction of the current M6 Junctions 2 to 4 and Junctions 13 to 15 smart motorway schemes was assessed as part of the economic appraisal undertaken prior to the start of construction. This took into account various factors including the impact of the construction programme in full, lane availability and also the effect of limiting traffic speed to 50mph. This assessment gave an estimated value of £80 million for motorist’s journey time lost during construction.
The economic appraisal also forecast that the completed schemes would give a journey time gain of £802 million to motorists.
In July 2018, Highways England announced its intention to test whether 60mph speed limits in roadworks could be used more often. That work is ongoing, and it is anticipated that the benefits will include improved journey times for motorists.