Asked by: Karen Bradley (Conservative - Staffordshire Moorlands)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to support Staffordshire County Council to tackle the rapid rise in demand for local testing for covid-19 in Staffordshire Moorlands.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The NHS Test and Trace system has built a testing capacity of more than 700,000 tests a day, from a starting point of 2,000 a day in March. Community asymptomatic testing is a major new tool to help identify and isolate individuals who have COVID-19 but do not have symptoms and may inadvertently be spreading the virus.
We are already working intensively with local authorities, including Staffordshire Moorlands, to ensure their community testing programmes are appropriately targeted during lockdown to continue to identify more positive cases and get them to isolate in order to break chains of transmission
On 10 January, it was confirmed that regular testing for people without symptoms of COVID-19 will be made available across the country from that week, with the eligibility of the community testing programme expanded to cover all 317 local authorities.
Asked by: Karen Bradley (Conservative - Staffordshire Moorlands)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending the scope of support bubbles to allow elderly couples to form a support bubble with their family.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The eligibility criteria for support bubbles were extended when the local restriction tiers were re-introduced on 2 December include households with a child under one year old; households with a disabled child under five years old who requires continuous care; or a household with a single adult carer or a child carer looking after someone who requires continuous care. As such, unless a member of an elderly couple is the only adult in their household who does not need continuous care as a result of a disability, they are currently unable to form a support bubble.
We recognise that not everyone who would like to form a support bubble is able to do so. These difficult decisions must be taken because the formation of a support bubble and therefore the ability to have close contact with those you do not live with carries transmission risks. As a result, the eligibility criteria has necessarily been limited to smaller households most in need of support that cannot be facilitated through other means.
Asked by: Karen Bradley (Conservative - Staffordshire Moorlands)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will permit hospitality businesses in areas with tier 3 covid-19 restrictions to operate with the same restrictions as those in tier 2 areas.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The Government is keeping the restriction measures under continual review and will only make changes if the data and science supports it.
Asked by: Karen Bradley (Conservative - Staffordshire Moorlands)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of opening swimming pools for treatment of mental and physical health issues during the November 2020 covid-19 lockdown.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The national restrictions are designed to get the ‘R’ rate under control through limiting social contact and reducing transmissions. As part of this package, from 5 November until 2 December indoor and outdoor leisure will need to close.
People are still allowed to leave their homes for exercise and recreation outdoors, on their own, with their household, with their support bubble or with any one person. Our guidance for the public on the mental health and wellbeing aspects of COVID-19 recognises how important exercise can be for a person’s mental health physical health and includes tips on how to stay physically healthy.