Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many COVID-19 tests have been conducted at UK airports since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Government does not publish data in the format requested.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to reassess the UK’s relationship with the World Health Organization after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The United Kingdom continues to have a strong and committed relationship with the World Health Organization (WHO), who have an important role to play in leading the global health response to coronavirus, and works closely with them at country, regional and global levels. The UK is currently the second largest member state donor to WHO and has already contributed £75 million to help WHO lead the international efforts to stop the spread of the virus. The Prime Minister has now announced at the United Nations General Assembly on 26 September £340 million in new core funding to be given to the organisation over the next four years.
We have long been an advocate of reform in the WHO to ensure it is flexible and responsive, including able to respond as quickly and effectively as possible to global health emergencies, and we will continue to be so.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether the timely identification of lessons to be learnt from their approach to the COVID-19 pandemic which do not assign blame would help in better addressing a possible second wave of COVID-19.
Answered by Lord Bethell
COVID-19 is the biggest challenge that the United Kingdom, together with nations around the world, has faced in decades. The Government has always been clear that there will be opportunities to look back, analyse and reflect on all aspects of the response to COVID-19. As the Prime Minister has said, this will include an independent inquiry at the appropriate time.
To prepare the National Health Service for winter, the Government is providing an additional £3 billion of funding. This includes funding to allow the NHS to maintain the Nightingale surge capacity and continue to use the extra hospital capacity available within the independent sector.
Effective local management of any outbreaks is the first line of protection against a second wave that might overwhelm the NHS. To support local authorities, we made £300 million available and they already have robust plans in place to respond to outbreaks.
NHS winter preparations include delivering a very significantly expanded seasonal flu vaccination programme for priority groups.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they check the Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) that is supplied to local resilience forums for quality prior to dispatch; and what (1) standards, and (2) safety, checks they have in place for centrally distributed PPE.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Personal protective equipment (PPE) provided must be fit for purpose, meeting the necessary safety standards to ensure it provides the required level of protection. Our requirements and specification are clearly articulated and published in technical specifications.
Certification of PPE is supplied by the manufacturer having had it independently tested. Assurance is checked by the regulators, the Health and Safety Executive and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. Evidence of certification is requested for products as part of the due diligence process. Contracts that involve the manufacture of PPE have the appropriate clauses to ensure that testing and certification is undertaken before the goods are accepted.
Our priority is to protect health and social care staff, including making sure they have the equipment they need to do their job safely.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Lord Bethell on 14 September (HL Deb, col 1007) that they "are looking at making up to half of our personal protective equipment (PPE) requirements in the UK", why they do not plan to manufacture more than half of PPE in the UK; and what plans they have to increase the amount of PPE requirements manufactured in the UK to more than half.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Government has been working to build a resilient, diversified supply chain of personal protective equipment (PPE). We have therefore massively expanded both our supply of PPE from overseas and our domestic manufacturing capability. This has helped to build resilience for our supply of PPE into the future.
The proportion of United Kingdom-based PPE manufacturing is rising all the time and we are increasingly confident of achieving more than 50% for most lines this year.
The Government is hugely grateful to all the UK-based manufacturers that came forward during a time of unprecedented global supply chain demand. This has ensured we build and maintain a domestic base for the future.