Asked by: Marcus Fysh (Conservative - Yeovil)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what methodology and data his Department uses to calculate the R reproduction rates of covid-19 transmission for local authority areas of England.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
Individual modelling groups use a range of data to estimate growth rates and ‘R’ values, including:
- epidemiological data such as testing data, hospital admissions, intensive care unit admissions and deaths;
- contact pattern surveys that gather information on behaviour; and
- household infection surveys where swabs are performed on individuals.
Different modelling groups use different data sources to estimate these values using mathematical models that simulate the spread of infections. Some may even use all these sources of information to adjust their models to better reflect the real-world situation. Estimates can vary between different models, so evidence from several models is considered, discussed, combined and the growth rate and ‘R’ is then presented as ranges.
Rounding and differences between the data streams used in these individual model outputs that are combined account for differences between estimates of ‘R’ and estimated growth rates. The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies calculates ‘R’ at United Kingdom, devolved administration and at NHS England regional levels. It does not produce estimates for local authority areas.
Asked by: Marcus Fysh (Conservative - Yeovil)
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 effect of the roll out of mass rapid testing for covid-19 over the next month on the number of positive tests being reported.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Our mass testing pilot in Liverpool continues and will help inform any future rollout of large-scale population testing. We are now rolling out this localised approach to other areas. Eighty three local authorities have now signed up to receive regular batches of these new lateral flow tests, which can allow for results in minutes.
Asked by: Marcus Fysh (Conservative - Yeovil)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the covid-19 vaccine candidates for which the Government has provided funding, what the efficacy criteria are for each of those vaccine candidate trials; to what extent each of those efficacy criteria are required to be met in order that those vaccine candidate trials can be deemed by the Government to have achieved satisfactory outcomes; and by (a) what methods and (b) what number of people (i) in which locations and (ii) over what time periods those assessments on whether those safety criteria have been met are being made.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
There is broad agreement between international regulators on both the safety and the efficacy criteria that would be required for approval and authorisation of a COVID-19 vaccine. These criteria will apply to all COVID-19 vaccine candidates, irrespective of whether they receive funding from the United Kingdom Government.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) will perform the assessment of the quality, safety and efficacy data submitted by developers of COVID-19 vaccines and will seek the advice of its independent expert advisors on the Commission on Human Medicines.
No approval will be given for any COVID-19 vaccine without robust evidence of efficacy and safety. The MHRA has teams of assessors available to review the submissions.
To expedite the review of COVID-19 vaccine applications, developers of COVID-19 vaccines can submit their Marketing Authorisation Applications in the form of a rolling submissions and do not need to wait to have a complete data package before submission.
The time taken for MHRA’s review will depend on what data will be submitted and when.
Asked by: Marcus Fysh (Conservative - Yeovil)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the covid-19 vaccine candidates for which the Government has provided funding, what the safety criteria are for each of those vaccine candidate trials; to what extent each of those safety criteria are required to be met in order that those vaccine candidate trials can be deemed by the Government to have achieved satisfactory outcomes; and by (a) what methods and (b) what number of people (i) in which locations and (ii) over what time periods those assessments on whether those safety criteria have been met are being made.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
There is broad agreement between international regulators on both the safety and the efficacy criteria that would be required for approval and authorisation of a COVID-19 vaccine. These criteria will apply to all COVID-19 vaccine candidates, irrespective of whether they receive funding from the United Kingdom Government.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) will perform the assessment of the quality, safety and efficacy data submitted by developers of COVID-19 vaccines and will seek the advice of its independent expert advisors on the Commission on Human Medicines.
No approval will be given for any COVID-19 vaccine without robust evidence of efficacy and safety. The MHRA has teams of assessors available to review the submissions.
To expedite the review of COVID-19 vaccine applications, developers of COVID-19 vaccines can submit their Marketing Authorisation Applications in the form of a rolling submissions and do not need to wait to have a complete data package before submission.
The time taken for MHRA’s review will depend on what data will be submitted and when.
Asked by: Marcus Fysh (Conservative - Yeovil)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the proportion of positive covid-19 tests recorded in respect of patients tested 7-10 days after initial infection and who are no longer likely to be infectious.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Current United Kingdom guidance is that testing should be undertaken for people who have a new onset of symptoms, and official advice is to get a test as soon as possible after the onset of symptoms. Data related to the time that a swab test is undertaken relative to the time of infection or the time of symptom onset is not routinely collected. Further information on testing is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-getting-tested
Asked by: Marcus Fysh (Conservative - Yeovil)
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 extent to which (a) polymerase chain reaction testing for covid-19 may identify non-infectious remnant RNA of the covid-19 virus as a positive test result and (b) positive tests for covid-19 reported in England would not indicate contagious cases of covid-19.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test is designed to detect viral RNA. Therefore, there will be cases where the PCR test is detecting remnants of viral RNA in the absence of infectious virus.
Public Health England (PHE) has not assessed the extent to which the PCR will pick up viral remnants rather than infectious virus.
An assessment of which positive cases do not reflect contagious virus would depend on individual case by case review. PHE has not performed such a review and therefore does not hold this data.
Asked by: Marcus Fysh (Conservative - Yeovil)
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 potential merits of using frequent rapid antigen tests to help slow the transmission of covid-19.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We believe there are many potential merits of using frequent rapid antigen tests to help slow the transmission of COVID-19. The use of multiple new testing technologies could significantly improve our detection of positive cases, so that people can isolate themselves and prevent the spread of the disease. As part of the first deployment of whole city testing, residents and workers in Liverpool will for example be tested using a combination of existing swab tests, as well as new lateral flow tests which can rapidly turn around results within an hour without the need to be processed in a lab, as well as LAMP technology due to be deployed in Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust for National Health Service staff.
We have also started a number of pilots across schools, universities and workplaces to assess the use of rapid lateral flow antigen tests. This is in addition to ongoing pilots in Liverpool, Southampton and Salford using the LAMP no-swab saliva test and LAMP asymptomatic testing for NHS staff.
Asked by: Marcus Fysh (Conservative - Yeovil)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment the Government has made of the potential effect of the (a) development and (b) authorisation of a covid-19 vaccine that doesn't prevent (i) transmission and (ii) fatalities on public confidence in (A) the Government response to covid-19, (B) public health programmes and (C) economic growth.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
A COVID-19 vaccine will only be deployed once it has been proven to be safe and effective through robust clinical trials and approved for use by the appropriate licensing authority. There are numerous potential vaccine candidates in development, which the United Kingdom will have access to. Once a vaccine is ready, it will be deployed to those most at risk, and then rolled out more widely. Regular testing of virus samples will be undertaken to assess any changes in the virus that may impact on vaccine effectiveness. Safe and effective vaccines rolled out to the population will form part of our overall recovery effort from the impact of this global pandemic.
Asked by: Marcus Fysh (Conservative - Yeovil)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the covid-19 vaccine candidates for which the Government has provided funding, how much funding from the public purse has been allocated to the process of preparing each of those potential vaccines for (a) marketing, (b) manufacturing, (c) distribution and (d) administration.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In terms of the six supply agreements that have and are being negotiated, these cannot be provided at this time due to commercial sensitivity. We are currently also unable to provide information on funding allocated to each potential vaccine for marketing, manufacturing, distribution and administration, as they have not yet been finalised.
Asked by: Marcus Fysh (Conservative - Yeovil)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the (a) sensitivity and (b) specificity of the different methods and products used in testing for covid-19 infection; and by what methodologies each of those assessments were so made.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
On-going assessment of quality, sensitivity and specificity are monitored using quality control materials. Public Health England and the National Health Service have a national quality assurance network and issues with assay performance are managed through an alert system which may result in informing appropriate authorities such as the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
When independently introducing new tests into service, laboratories assess the performance of assays including sensitivity and specificity according to the manufacturers stated performance in the Instructions for Use. The standard methodology is available at the following link: