Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
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 ensure that children’s well-being is prioritised in the Government’s covid recovery strategy.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
We have provided £9.2 million of additional funding for mental health charities including charities like Young Minds to support adults and children struggling with their mental wellbeing during this time.
We are taking action to ensure that children and young people have access to support in schools. Our £8 million Wellbeing for Education Return programme will provide schools and colleges all over England with the knowledge and access to resources they need to support children and young people, teachers and parents.
On 8 September, the Government launched a mental wellbeing campaign for children and young people. This involves an extension of Public Health England’s Every Mind Matters webpage with content specifically for children and young people and their parents and carers. The campaign will raise awareness of the guidance and tools available to support mental wellbeing and ensure children and young people who need urgent support are directed towards the right services.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the changes proposed in his Department’s consultation on changes to Human Medicine Regulations to support the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, how long the proposed temporary authorisation of the supply of an unlicensed vaccine is planned to last.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The preferred route to enable deployment of a new vaccine for COVID-19 is through the usual marketing authorisation (product licensing) process. If a suitable COVID-19 vaccine candidate, with strong supporting evidence of safety, quality and efficacy, becomes available, we will seek to license that vaccine through the usual route. Any temporary authorisation of the supply of an unlicensed vaccine would be by exception and the timing of this would depend on the public health need.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
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 ensure that any vaccine approved for product license is safe for use.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
All vaccines will undergo a thorough assessment of quality, safety and efficacy before being licenced. The preferred route to enable deployment of a new vaccine for COVID-19 is through the usual marketing authorisation (product licensing) process. If a suitable COVID-19 vaccine candidate, with strong supporting evidence of safety, quality and efficacy, becomes available, we will seek to license that vaccine through the usual route. Until the end of December 2020, European Union legislation requires biotechnological medicines (which would include candidate COVID-19 vaccines) to be authorised via the European Medicines Agency, and a marketing authorisation granted by them would automatically be valid in the United Kingdom. From January 2021, the UK’s licensing authority the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency will have new powers to license all medicines, including vaccines. Following vaccine deployment, safety will be proactively and continuously monitored.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
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 asking UK nationals to be tested for covid-19 before undertaking international travel.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
Current clinical advice is that testing of individuals without symptoms should be used where clinically appropriate, predominantly for outbreak investigation and infection control. We continue to use the latest science and clinical advice to inform our approach. Our primary focus is symptomatic people to ensure that everyone who needs a test can get one. On that basis, we are not currently using our testing capacity to provide asymptomatic testing to support exit health monitoring for persons departing the United Kingdom for international travel.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office currently advises British nationals against all but essential international travel, with the exemption of a number of countries and territories which have been assessed as no longer presenting an unacceptably high risk to British people travelling abroad. The list of exempted destinations is under constant review.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the risk covid-19 poses to people with blood cancer.
Answered by Jo Churchill
NHS England and NHS Improvement produced a list at the beginning of the pandemic of those who were at higher risk of becoming seriously ill if they contracted COVID-19. This list has two levels of higher risk:
- High risk (clinically extremely vulnerable); and
- Moderate risk (clinically vulnerable).
People who were high risk included those who have blood or bone marrow cancer, such as leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma.
It is advised that those with blood cancers follow the NHS England and NHS Improvement advice that is regularly updated on their website. This can be found at the following link:
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 3 July 2020 to Question 62541 on protective clothing: coronavirus, whether that figure also includes items supplied to dental practices.
Answered by Jo Churchill
The figure provided in response to Question 62541 was for general practitioners located in England only. This figure does not include dental practices.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on establishing support packages for people shielding whose workplaces cannot be made covid-safe when shielding provisions end on 1 August 2020.
Answered by Jo Churchill
We are continuing to work across Government to ensure that clinically extremely vulnerable people can return to work safely. Further guidance will be issued on 1 August 2020.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the UK-wide Covid-19: Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Plan, how many items have been sold to suppliers by Public Health England on the condition that they would only be given to practices in England.
Answered by Jo Churchill
14 million items of personal protective equipment have been sold to wholesalers who supply general practitioners located in England only.