Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what public information he is providing to reassure (a) illegal migrants and (b) overstayers that they should not avoid medical treatment if they have symptoms of covid-19, and can come forward for (i) medical assistance or (ii) to receive immunisation without being reported to the Home Office.
Answered by Edward Argar
The Department has published a message on the National Health Service website stating that overseas visitors to England, including anyone living in the United Kingdom without permission, will not be charged for testing or treatment for COVID-19 or for vaccination. The message also states that no immigration checks are needed to receive these services.
This message has been shared with Public Health England and included in the migrant health guide. Translated information on testing and treatment is currently available in 40 languages and will shortly be updated to include the information on vaccination. The Department is engaged in producing further communications materials and is working with other government departments to ensure this message reaches vulnerable migrant groups.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people aged 80 years and over did the NHS have recorded as living in each NHS region in England as of 1 January 2021.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The following table shows the number of patients registered at a general practice who were aged 80 years old or over as of 1 January 2021, by region.
Region | Number of patients |
London | 301,046 |
South West | 355,808 |
South East | 505,103 |
Midlands | 552,288 |
East of England | 360,621 |
North West | 348,910 |
North East and Yorkshire | 446,897 |
Total | 2,870,673 |
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the proportion of the individual doses of the (a) Pfizer Biontech vaccine and (b) Astra Zeneca vaccine that were distributed to each of the seven English NHS regions before 5pm on 15 January 2021 corresponded to the number of people aged 80 and over and recorded by NHS England as living in each region, as a proportion of the total number of people aged 80 and over in England as a whole.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The number of individual doses of the Pfizer BioNTech and the Oxford/Astra Zeneca COVID-19 vaccines held centrally is not available in the format requested as stock holdings are not static and are constantly changing.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many individual doses of the (a) Pfizer Biontech vaccine and (b) Oxford Astra Zeneca vaccine (i) had been distributed to each of the seven NHS regions in England and (ii) were being held centrally by 5pm on 15 Friday January 2021.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The number of individual doses of the Pfizer BioNTech and the Oxford/Astra Zeneca COVID-19 vaccines held centrally is not available in the format requested as stock holdings are not static and are constantly changing.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS healthcare workers had received the (a) first and (b) second dose of the covid-19 vaccine by Wednesday 20 January 2021.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
This information is not available in the format requested.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many non-frontline workers in the NHS had received a (a) first dose and (b) second dose of the covid-19 vaccine by 5pm on 20 January 2021.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
This information is not available in the format requested.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish the scientific and medical advice that he received up to 1 April 2020 on the merits of antigen and antibody testing for covid-19.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
COVID-19 testing is core to the Government’s response to the virus, helping to provide care to those who need it, protect the most vulnerable and find new cases to help break the chains of transmission.
The Government continues to be guided by the latest expertise in this area and receives a range of scientific and medical advice, including from Public Health England (PHE) and the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), which have consistently advised on the importance of testing. SAGE meeting minutes are published on GOV.UK.
Assessments of the various antibody testing assays, including those now in use were performed by PHE, are available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-laboratory-evaluations-of-serological-assays
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what research his Department is undertaking on first episode psychosis and the long-term effect of anti-psychotic drugs.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The Department funds health and care research through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The NIHR is the largest funder of mental health research in the United Kingdom, investing £93.4 million in 2018/19.
Through this investment the NIHR supports a wide portfolio of mental health research, including 21 current awards funded directly through NIHR programmes for research on first-episode psychosis and the effects of anti-psychotic drugs and three new awards due to start in 2020/21 totalling an investment of £30.7 million in these important areas. The NIHR is also providing infrastructure support to over 50 studies through its biomedical research centres, clinical research facilities and applied research centres.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which mental health conditions can be subject to a Community Treatment Order.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
Any mental disorder for which someone can be detained under the Mental Health Act (MHA) can also form the basis of a Community Treatment Order (CTO).
The Mental Health Act 1983 makes no distinction between types of mental illness, stating that for its purposes, the general term “mental disorder” means “any disorder or disability of the mind”. While the MHA does not rule in or out particular disorders, learning disability as a condition is exempted from certain provisions of the Act, including that for CTOs, unless “associated with abnormally aggressive or seriously irresponsible conduct”.
Asked by: Barry Gardiner (Labour - Brent West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of people have been given compulsory Community Treatment Orders following first episode psychosis in each of the last three years.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
Information is not collected in the format requested.