To match an exact phrase, use quotation marks around the search term. eg. "Parliamentary Estate". Use "OR" or "AND" as link words to form more complex queries.


Keep yourself up-to-date with the latest developments by exploring our subscription options to receive notifications direct to your inbox

Written Question
Health Services: Children
Thursday 26th October 2023

Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what recent assessment they have made of any benefits gained from children's housing situations being tracked on the healthcare system to the adequacy of their healthcare.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.


Written Question
Depressive Illnesses: Diagnosis
Thursday 28th July 2022

Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many diagnoses the NHS has made of (1) anxiety, and (2) depression, in each of the past five years; and whether this information can be broken down by the type of accommodation of the patient.

Answered by Lord Kamall

The information is not held in the format requested, as the relevant datasets do not include data on diagnoses.


Written Question
Coronavirus: Vaccination
Thursday 21st July 2022

Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking, if any, to encourage those over the age of 75 who have not come forward for their Spring booster vaccination to do so.

Answered by Lord Kamall

Since March 2022, the National Health Service has invited more than five million eligible people in England to receive their COVID-19 spring booster dose, including those aged 75 years old and over, residents of care homes for older adults and those aged 12 years old and over who are immunosuppressed. As of 26 June 2022, over 4.2 million people have received a booster dose in the spring programme.

On 22 June 2022, NHS England issued an online press release urging eligible people to receive the booster vaccination. At the end of June, NHS England also sent approximately 250,000 reminders via text message, email and letter, advising that the booster vaccination offer remains available.


Written Question
Care Homes: Vacancies
Monday 18th July 2022

Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the data released by Skills for Care on 10 June that showed that (1) care home companies, and (2) local authorities, have high vacancy rates and are struggling with staff shortages within care homes.

Answered by Lord Kamall

We continue to monitor the monthly data released by Skills for Care with other operational data sources which indicate staff capacity in adult social care.

Skills for Care advise that its monthly data is unweighted and may not be representative, as it reflects those care providers which have updated the adult social care workforce dataset. The data does not include local authority staff responsible for assessments and the commissioning of care.


Written Question
Pharmacy: Closures
Monday 13th December 2021

Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government which pharmacies in England reported that they were closed for (1) all, or (2) part, of their contracted opening hours on dates between 1 January to 31 October; and what steps they have taken to safeguard patient access to pharmacy services during any closure periods.

Answered by Lord Kamall

This information is not held centrally. In March 2020, the National Health Service (Pharmaceutical and Local Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 2013 were amended to allow the flexible provision of pharmaceutical services during the pandemic in circumstances beyond the control of a community pharmacy. If a pharmacy cannot open due to unavailability of a responsible pharmacist or enough staff to open safely, they must immediately inform the NHS regional team or, if a pharmacy needs to temporarily reduce its opening hours, a 24 hours notification is required. This provision is in place until 31 January 2022. The information related to these notifications is held locally by NHS England and NHS Improvement regional teams. All community pharmacies should have a business continuity plan in place in case of emergencies to minimise disruption to the provision of NHS pharmaceutical services.


Written Question
Pharmacy
Monday 13th December 2021

Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government who is responsible for monitoring the provision of community pharmacy contractual services in England.

Answered by Lord Kamall

The arrangements for the provision of pharmaceutical services in England are governed by the National Health Service (Pharmaceutical and Local Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 2013. NHS England and NHS Improvement’s regional teams have responsibility for monitoring the provision of nationally commissioned essential and advanced services. Arrangements for monitoring locally commissioned services may be set out in local contracts or service level agreements.


Written Question
Travel: Quarantine
Tuesday 22nd June 2021

Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that people required to self-isolate in hotels on arrival back in the UK do so.

Answered by Lord Bethell

We have designated certain airports for managed quarantine arrivals and individuals should ensure they return via one of these locations. The carrier has responsibility to deny persons boarding if they are travelling to a port which cannot receive passengers from ‘red list’ countries. On arrival, individuals are met at passport control and guided through baggage reclaim and customs to the dedicated hotel transport.

At ports, Border Force officers issue fixed penalty notices to individuals who do not comply with booking managed quarantine packages and complete a Passenger Locator Form in advance of travel. Once checked in at the designated hotels, individuals are required not leave their rooms except in exceptional circumstances or with permission from the security staff.


Written Question
Travel: Quarantine
Monday 21st June 2021

Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what sanctions are available upon discovering that a hotel is not fulfilling its agreed role in self-isolating travellers arriving back in the UK.

Answered by Lord Bethell

We have contracted with Corporate Travel Management (CTM) as the Department’s travel services delivery partner. They are responsible for identifying and contracting with the individual hotels that support the Managed Quarantine Service.

Hotels have standard operating procedures (SOPs), testing processes and infection prevention control processes for staff and guests. These were put in place following consultation and advice from Public Health England and are in line with National Health Service guidance. Local on-site liaison officers ensure compliance with testing procedures and SOPs, raise any issues with the hotel general manager and escalate via the Department’s liaison officers. We work closely with hotel managers and local authorities to ensure that staff and guests are complying with these processes. Where there is a material failure to provide the required service which is not rectified in a reasonable time, CTM would ultimately terminate the contract.


Written Question
Coronavirus: Screening
Thursday 3rd December 2020

Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have received from (1) private companies, and (2) manufacturers, about the use of rapid COVID-19 testing kits based on the analysis of saliva.

Answered by Lord Bethell

The Government has established a number of partnerships with industry, academia, local government and others to deliver its testing programme - from companies supplying testing kits and supplies to logistics and processing partnerships.

This is a national effort and we are proud to be working with a number of partners on innovative solutions to increase capacity where it is needed and introduce larger scale testing. To do this successfully we are securing partnerships with suppliers to pursue new testing technologies and we are acquiring significant numbers of test kits and equipment.


Written Question
Coronavirus: Disease Control
Thursday 19th November 2020

Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to maintain the quality of life of people who are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 if they are required to isolate for a considerable time into next year.

Answered by Lord Bethell

Everyone in England, including those who are clinically extremely vulnerable, is required to follow the new national restrictions from 5 November, which have been set out by the government and apply to the whole population. Additional guidance and support has been provided to clinically extremely vulnerable people to further protect them from COVID-19 during this time.

Support is available to individuals who are feeling anxious or distressed. ‘Every Mind Matters’ offers advice and practical steps that people can take to support their wellbeing and mental health during this time. Help can also be provided by local charities, organisations and National Health Service Volunteer Responders.