Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will place in the Library a copy of (a) safeguarding documents and (b) risk assessments that were undertaken to ensure that the test, track, trace and isolate scheme would be safe for victims of domestic and interpersonal abuse, in order to ensure that scheme cannot be used to isolate victims of abuse maliciously.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
We are assessing the impact of the Test and Trace service on an ongoing basis as the service develops, taking into account those in vulnerable groups such as victims of domestic violence and abuse. This assessment is being used to inform policy development and actions to mitigate any impacts identified. A package of mitigations has been put in place to reduce the impact self-isolation may have on those affected by domestic abuse, including Government funding to domestic abuse charities and the launch of a new public awareness campaign highlighting the support available.
We have prioritised security and privacy in all stages of the service’s development and are considering steps to further safeguard it from malicious use.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether cleaning staff working in hospitals and other healthcare settings are eligible for the death in service benefit announced on 27 April 2020.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is in the process of setting up a life assurance scheme for frontline health and social care staff in England who contract COVID-19 during the course of their work.
The scheme is non-contributory and pays a £60,000 lump sum where staff die as a result of COVID-19 and had been recently working in frontline roles and locations where personal care is provided to individuals who have recently contracted COVID-19. The scheme is also available to staff whose duties require them to be present in a frontline National Health Service or social care setting where COVID-19 is present including cleaning staff.
The scheme covers all frontline staff who are employed by a statutory NHS organisation, or who work for organisations that support the delivery of NHS services or who work on an NHS contract.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will ensure that people who have recently been in contact with women at Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre who have become infected with covid-19 will be tested for that disease.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
NHS England and NHS Improvement have advised that COVID-19 testing is only routinely being carried out on symptomatic patients arriving at hospital.
This is in line with NHS England and NHS Improvement national policy to utilise tests and laboratory capacity for urgent hospitalised patients. The Government has confirmed a major national effort to boost testing capacity. With a focus on ensuring the highest priority cases are tested first, officials are working to rapidly increase the number of tests that can be conducted by Public Health England and the National Health Service in laboratories, with the expected surge in capacity ready within four weeks.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken to identify individuals in detention with underlying health conditions; and if he will take steps to ensure that all people in detention are screened to determine whether they have a relevant condition that makes them vulnerable during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
NHS England and NHS Improvement have released patient data to the Heads of Healthcare across the secure and detained estate and to centre directors. This will mean that this patient cohort can be identified and protectively isolated and managed across establishments in the event of a confirmed positive case and any potential unconfirmed cases.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what role he plans Genomics England to play in the NHS Genomic Medicine Service after the completion of the 100,000 Genomes Project.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Genomics England is accountable to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care who is the sole shareholder. Following the completion of the 100,000 Genomes Project, Genomics England will continue to support NHS England with the development, establishment and successful operation of the NHS Genomic Medicine Service, and in particular the NHS Long Term Plan commitment to sequence 500,000 whole genomes by 2023/24.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which organisation Genomics England is accountable to.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Genomics England is accountable to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care who is the sole shareholder. Following the completion of the 100,000 Genomes Project, Genomics England will continue to support NHS England with the development, establishment and successful operation of the NHS Genomic Medicine Service, and in particular the NHS Long Term Plan commitment to sequence 500,000 whole genomes by 2023/24.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to evaluate the 100,000 Genomes Project.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
As a Government Major Project, the 100,000 Genomes Project has been under regular review by the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) which provides independent assurance of the most complex and strategically significant projects across Government. As part of this, the 100,000 Genomes Project has undergone several significant reviews which considered the Project’s delivery, requiring the collation of extensive documentation evidencing the progress of the Project and several days of interviews with key stakeholders. Conclusions of each review were shared across delivery partners to inform successful delivery of the Project.
The Department, Genomics England and NHS England recognised the importance in embedding robust testing, assessment and evaluation throughout the delivery of the Project to inform the introduction of whole genome sequencing in the National Health Service under the new Genomics Medicine Service.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, if she will make it her policy to update the Government’s guidance on positive action; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Both the Government and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) have issued guidance - including in EHRC Statutory Codes - on how employers, service providers and other organisations can use positive action measures in a proportionate way, to address under-representation, disadvantage or low participation in activities by people with specific protected characteristics.
The guidance can be found at the following links: https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/advice-and-guidance/equality-act-codes-practice for the EHRC Statutory Codes and https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/85014/positive-action-recruitment.pdf & https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/85015/positive-action-practical-guide.pdf for Government Quick Start Guides.
The Government keeps the Equality Act 2010 and its related guidance under review; however, we have no current plans to revise the guidance on positive action.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment has been made of the relationship between women’s mental health and experience of violence and abuse.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The Department recognises the potential effect that experiences of violence and abuse can have on mental health.
I co-chaired the Women’s Mental Health Taskforce which brought together experts on women’s mental health and key national organisations accountable for policy, commissioning and delivery of services. The Taskforce explored the links between mental health and abuse for women.
A key priority for the Taskforce was the promotion of trauma-informed, and gender-informed, approaches to service delivery, including for people with mental health issues who have been affected by violence and abuse. The Taskforce has completed its work and will publish its final report soon.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham, Yardley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the number of women affected by heavy menstrual bleeding (HMB) in England; and if he will make it his policy to improve HMB care in primary care.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
Data on the number of women affected by heavy menstrual bleeding (HMB) in England is not held centrally.
HMB can have a major impact on a woman’s quality of life. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published guidelines on HMB in March 2018, which aim to improve the care surrounding HMB. The full guidance can be found at the following link:
The NICE guidelines emphasise the advances in treatments for HMB and the choices available for patients. NHS Choices also has a self-assessment website which directs people to primary care if they have HMB, which can be found at the following link:
https://www.nhs.uk/Tools/Pages/Heavy-periods-self-assessment.aspx