Asked by: Lord Tyrie (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the impact on the economy of a rise in interest rates of one per cent.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
Monetary policy is the responsibility of the independent Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England and this includes decisions on Bank Rate and quantitative easing. The separation of fiscal and monetary policy is a key feature of the UK’s economic framework, and essential for the effective delivery of monetary policy, so the Government does not comment on the conduct or effectiveness of monetary policy.
The Government continually monitors economic developments, including any changes to the interest rate, to consider the impact of these developments on businesses and households.
Asked by: Lord Tyrie (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what contingency plans they have put in place since the temporary liquidity shortage in March 2020 for the management of subsequent liquidity shortages.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
As the Chancellor has made clear publicly before, the government will continue to use the markets as its primary source of financing.
HM Treasury and the Bank of England (“the Bank”) announced in March 2020 that the government’s long-established Ways and Means (W&M) facility could, if necessary, play a role in providing a short-term source of additional liquidity to the government to smooth its cashflows and support the orderly functioning of markets, through the period of disruption from Covid-19. It was agreed that any use of the W&M facility was to be repaid as soon as possible before the end of the year.
The W&M facility is the government’s long-established overdraft at the Bank. Ordinarily, a standing balance of around £400m is maintained in the W&M facility to support Exchequer cash management. That remained the case throughout 2020-21 (a period during which the W&M facility had not been drawn on).
HM Treasury, the Debt Management Office and the Bank continue to cooperate closely to support the orderly functioning of the gilt and sterling money markets.
Asked by: Lord Tyrie (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they made of the number of PCR tests for travel that would be required between the date of the announcement of their reintroduction of the requirement on 7 December and (1) 5 January 2022, or (2) a date for which an estimate may have been made covering the Christmas and New Year period.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The maximum number of travellers per week forecast for the period of 7 December 2021 to 5 January 2022 was 1 to 1.5 million. Providers indicated capacity of approximately 4.4 million polymerase chain reaction tests per week, sufficient for the number required for travel.
Asked by: Lord Tyrie (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they require suppliers of COVID-19 PCR tests for travel advertised on GOV.UK to record the complaints they receive; whether these suppliers are required to submit this data to the Government; and if so, whether they will publish this data.
Answered by Lord Kamall
We do not require such providers to record the complaints they receive.
Asked by: Lord Tyrie (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Kamall on 2 November (HL3083), what changes have been made to the information required from approved suppliers of COVID-19 PCR tests since 2 November.
Answered by Lord Kamall
From 12 November, all private providers are required to maintain the Government’s minimum standards for the international arrivals services they offer. The changes ensure that the standards of service of private providers are consistent with the quality expected, from initial application to throughout the lifetime of the service, to support public health. Any organisation involved in carrying out the end-to-end testing service cannot sell tests until the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has written to the appropriate organisation to confirm that the testing service meets the standard. Additionally, there have been amendments to the daily sales reporting, which as a mandatory legal requirement for all providers of international arrivals testing, must now include details in relation to tests that were cancelled that day.
Following the recent changes to international travel, from 30 November 2021, it became a legal requirement to report S-gene target failure and particularly failure for the S-gene deletion 69-70 where the diagnostic laboratory is able to identify it. The minimum standards have been updated to reflect this.
Asked by: Lord Tyrie (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Kamall on 12 October (HL2767), why the direct costs of an at-home PCR test are commercially sensitive.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The direct cost of an NHS Test and Trace polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test is commercially sensitive as the release of this information would be detrimental in future negotiations with individual suppliers of PCR tests.
Asked by: Lord Tyrie (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made, if any, of the comparative costs of a PCR test for travel in (1) Germany, (2) France, (3) Italy, and (4) Spain.
Answered by Lord Kamall
No specific assessment has been made.
Asked by: Lord Tyrie (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Kamall on 12 October (HL2767), in which format the data relating to the number of COVID-19 PCR tests for travel is held; and what plans they have, if any, to publish this data.
Answered by Lord Kamall
Data on the number of COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests for travel was previously held for arrivals from ‘red’ and ‘amber’ list countries.
Data on testing for international arrivals from red list and non-red list countries, including confirmatory PCR tests, from 30 September 2021 is published weekly in an online only format at GOV.UK.
Asked by: Lord Tyrie (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Leader of the House, further to the statistics in House of Lords Business on Thursday 16 December which show that the Department of Health and Social Care had 56 written parliamentary questions that had not been answered in 10 working days, more than any other department, what discussions she has had with the department about improving their responsiveness to parliamentary scrutiny through Questions for Written Answer.
Answered by Baroness Evans of Bowes Park
As Leader of the House I take very seriously the responsibility incumbent on all Ministers and departments to provide full, timely and comprehensive answers to Questions for Written Answers. The Department for Health and Social Care received 1206 QWAs in 2021 compared to 599 in 2019, and have doubled the size of the relevant team to deal with the increased work and pressure.
My office approach departments who have not responded to questions after 10 working days, and remain in contact with them until the questions are answered. This process has been followed with the Department of Health and Social Care, and my office will continue to work with the department during this busy period to ensure prompt responses to all Questions for Written Answers.
Asked by: Lord Tyrie (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many suppliers of COVID-19 PCR tests for travel are listed on gov.uk.
Answered by Lord Kamall
As of 9 December, there are 555 providers listed.