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, what recent assessment he has made of the equitable distribution of PPE across the four nations of the UK.
Answered by Jo Churchill
Our personal protective equipment (PPE) strategy is United Kingdom-wide, making sure that frontline workers in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all have the PPE they need to stay protected while taking care of patients. We are working closely with the devolved administrations to co-ordinate the distribution of PPE across the UK.
We are working to agree a protocol between the four nations of the UK to underpin our approach to PPE sourcing and supply. The stock positions in each of the four nations is changing rapidly, which means on some occasions other nations, including Scotland, have been able to restock from their own sources more quickly. Representatives from the four nations are in touch regularly and there is an established system of mutual aid to make sure PPE gets to the frontline across the whole of the UK.
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 recent comparative assessment he has made of the equity of the level of financial support provided to people affected by the contaminated blood scandal in Wales and England.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
Since 1988, successive Governments have voluntarily provided ex-gratia financial and non-financial support for people affected by HIV and/or hepatitis C through historic treatment with National Health Service-supplied blood or blood products in the 1970s and 1980s.
In 2017, country specific support schemes were set up in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. These four schemes are devolved, and each nation has made different choices around their offers of support over time.
We are aware that there are disparities between the schemes, and we are working with our partners in the devolved nations and other relevant Government departments to improve parity of support for all beneficiaries across the United Kingdom.
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, whether the New and Emerging Respiratory Threats Advisory Group recommendation in June 2019 on surgical gowns was shared with the Welsh Government.
Answered by Jo Churchill
The recommendations of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG) on personal protective equipment (PPE) procurement are publicly available and can be accessed online.
The contents of the pandemic influenza stockpile were based on the recommendations of NERVTAG. Following advice from the NERVTAG committee on the inclusion of gowns in the stockpile, the NERVTAG sub-committee for PPE was asked to confirm the specification (sterile non/sterile) for the market analysis. This was received by Public Health England in November 2019 and the market analysis was being finalised prior to seeking policy and financial approval from the Department, Welsh Government, Scottish Government and Northern Ireland Assembly. Once approval was received the procurement exercise would have commenced in early 2020. However, in light of the COVID-19 outbreak the focus shifted to procuring gowns for immediate distribution to the National Health Service and social care.
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, whether the Welsh Government was represented on the New and Emerging Respiratory Threats Advisory Group sub-committee on facemasks and respirators.
Answered by Jo Churchill
New and Emerging Respiratory Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG) subcommittees do not usually have observers like the main committee meetings. Subcommittees usually only consist of a subgroup of NERVTAG committee members and may recruit temporary co-opted specialists if this is relevant and important to the subject matter. Subcommittees always report back to the main committee.
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, whether the minutes and reports of the New and Emerging Respiratory Threats Advisory Group have been shared with the Welsh Government in each year since 2015.
Answered by Jo Churchill
The New and Emerging Respiratory Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG) secretariat does not routinely circulate the minutes of meetings or reports to anyone outside of the list of members and observers, unless they are specifically requested. However, all minutes and reports are published online and are freely accessible.
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, whether the Welsh Government was offered observer status on the New and Emerging Respiratory Threats Advisory Group.
Answered by Jo Churchill
The Chief Medical Officers from all devolved administrations have a delegate that attends the New and Emerging Respiratory Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG) meetings in an observer capacity. Thus, the Welsh Government does have representation at the NERVTAG meetings, as do all devolved administrations.
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 30 April 2020 to Question 38618, on Detention Centres, for what reasons information on the number of covid-19 tests conducted in immigration removal centres is not held; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The overall number of tests for COVID-19 is published daily by the Government and is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-information-for-the-public
However, the information is not broken down to the level of detail being requested.
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 counterparts in the devolved Administrations on the reasons why covid-19 disproportionately affects people from BAME communities throughout the UK.
Answered by Jo Churchill
Public Health England (PHE) has been asked by the Chief Medical Officer to review the potential that some ethnic minority groups are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. PHE is hosting a series of stakeholder events in the coming weeks, which will involve the devolved administrations and opportunities to collaborate and share learning will be part of the discussion.