Asked by: Lord Oates (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 effect recruitment of Zimbabwean health care staff in the UK has on the health services in that country.
Answered by Lord Kamall - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
We have made no specific assessment of the impact on the Zimbabwean healthcare system of recruitment by the National Health Service. We have had no discussions with the Government of Zimbabwe on entering a partnership agreement.
International recruitment is regulated through the Code of Practice for the International Recruitment of Health and Social Care Personnel. The Code includes a ‘red list’ of 47 countries identified by the World Health Organization as having the most pressing health and social care workforce challenge, from which active recruitment is prohibited. The Government monitors international recruitment activity and where there are significant workforce flows into the NHS, particularly from low and middle-income countries, we engage with partner Governments on how this recruitment could be managed.
Asked by: Lord Oates (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the remarks made by Lord Kamall on 29 November (HL Deb, col 1223), what discussions they have held to ensure that countries are not disincentivised from transparent reporting of variants to the World Health Organisation.
Answered by Lord Kamall - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
On 29 November 2021, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care chaired a meeting of G7 Health Ministers to discuss the spread of the Omicron variant. G7 Health Ministers praised the exemplary work of South Africa in detecting the variant and alerting other countries. Health Ministers committed to working with other nations to share information and ensure transparent reporting of variants.
Asked by: Lord Oates (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they intend to review the COVID-19 travel red list; and what factors they will take into account when conducting that review.
Answered by Lord Kamall - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
Decisions on COVID-19 travel red list assignment are taken by Ministers. They are informed by evidence, including a UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) risk assessment, alongside wider public health factors. The UKHSA risk assessments cover a range of information and take place every three weeks. The last UKHSA risk assessment of countries was carried out on 13 December 2021, with the next assessment made before 3 January 2022.
Risk assessments take into account the assessment of sequencing capability of countries, available surveillance, epidemiology in country, recent genome sequencing data, evidence of in-country community transmission of COVID-19 variants, evidence of exportation of new variants to the United Kingdom or other countries and travel connectivity with the UK and other countries.
Asked by: Lord Oates (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportion of NHS beds are currently occupied with COVID-19 patients.
Answered by Lord Kamall - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
The proportion of National Health Service general and acute beds occupied with COVID-19 patients is 6.6% as at 22 October 2021.
Asked by: Lord Oates (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people arriving from amber list countries subject to home quarantine and who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 have tested positive for that virus.
Answered by Lord Bethell
This information is not collected centrally.
Asked by: Lord Oates (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people arriving from red list countries subject to hotel quarantine and who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 have tested positive for that virus.
Answered by Lord Bethell
This information is not collected centrally.
Asked by: Lord Oates (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what scientific evidence they have on the effectiveness of the (1) Pfizer, and (2) Astra Zeneca, vaccines in reducing (a) hospitalisations, and (b) symptomatic infections, linked to the B1.351 COVID-19 variant; and what plans they have to publish this evidence.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Public Health England (PHE) is researching the effectiveness of the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines against the B1.351 variant. PHE will publish advice in the weekly COVID-19 vaccine surveillance report once sufficient data is available.
Asked by: Lord Oates (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to cooperate with the scientific community of South Africa on genomic sequencing relating to COVID-19.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The United Kingdom has large-scale sequencing capacity and extensive specialist expertise and is uniquely positioned to help address global sequencing capability gaps. Through the New Variant Assessment Platform (NVAP) programme, Public Health England (PHE) will work to support global partners to strengthen their genomic sequencing capability, either by building on existing infrastructure or by conducting sequencing and analysis of samples in the UK if there is no in-country capability.
The NVAP will also enable the biological assessment of emerging variants, strengthening horizon scanning and public health decision-making, both in this country and abroad. This includes a risk assessment from the point when a mutation is first identified, to ongoing assessment as more information becomes available. The platform will also agree pathways for biological analysis, diagnostics, vaccines and therapeutics as appropriate. PHE is working with the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention to deploy a Technical Advisor for regional level support.