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 the operational false positive test rates are of PCR testing for covid-19 identified in quality assurance processes; and how such (a) quality assurance processes and (b) results have changed over time.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In June 2020 the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies published a briefing paper on the impact of false positives and false negatives in the United Kingdom’s COVID-19 reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction testing programme, which is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/gos-impact-of-false-positives-and-negatives-3-june-2020
The briefing paper states that the UK operational false positive rate is unknown.
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 proportion of patients reported as being covid-19 patients in intensive care have (a) had a positive covid-19 test result, (b) respiratory symptoms and (c) both, by (i) hospital trust and (ii) English region.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Based on data from 15 March 2020 to week ending 1 November 2020 submitted to Public Health England’s Severe Acute Respiratory Infection-Watch, 30% of new admissions for acute respiratory infection (ARI) to any ward, including intensive care units, (ICU) and high dependency units (HDU), in hospitals in England had a laboratory confirmed COVID-19 test.
Over the same time period, 42% of new admissions to ICU/HDU for ARI had a laboratory confirmed COVID-19 test.
Further information on ICU/HDU admission rates by region and by trust in the weekly surveillance reports is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-flu-and-covid-19-surveillance-reports
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 made at the time of the March 2020 lockdown of the capacity of the NHS to cope with a second wave of covid-19.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The focus in March 2020 was on the required National Health Service capacity to respond to the first wave of COVID-19 cases, rather than a potential second wave.
Guidance issued by the NHS in March had set out an operational aim to expand critical care capacity to the maximum and free up 30,000 or more general and acute beds.
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 proportion of positive covid-19 test results in the last six weeks are from students in higher education settings in England, by (a) region and (b) local authority area.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Public Health England (PHE) does not publish data on COVID-19 cases in higher education settings in the format requested.
PHE publishes incidence data for educational aged cohorts at the following link:
In week 43, there were 311 confirmed COVID-19 clusters or outbreaks in educational settings. Further information can be found at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-flu-and-covid-19-surveillance-reports
Asked by: Marcus Fysh (Conservative - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment he has made of whether any of the covid-19 vaccine candidates for which the Government has provided funding are on track to produce a vaccine that provides immunity that prevents the vaccinated from (a) contracting and (b) spreading that virus.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Progress is being made at an extraordinary pace to secure a safe and effective vaccine. We monitor trial results on a continuous basis and the trials look to establish different things depending on how they are designed and what they specifically look at. The outcomes of the clinical trials will not be fully known until phase 3 trials have concluded.
Asked by: Marcus Fysh (Conservative - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps (a) his Department and (b) other public bodies (i) have taken and (ii) are planning to take to help ensure that the (A) objective and (B) outcome of covid-19 candidate vaccine trials are preventing (1) covid-19 transmission and (2) serious covid-19 cases and fatalities.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The National Institute for Health Research provides support and critical infrastructure for clinical trials – making the UK well-suited to facilitate clinical trials that are essential to the development of any vaccine.
All vaccines are tested through three phases of clinical trials, to ensure they meet the usual rigorous standards, data must include the results of clinical trials, animal studies, manufacturing and in-process quality controls, consistency in batches production, and testing data. Clinical trials of any vaccine must follow a predefined development pathway, with regulatory oversight provided by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The MHRA will seek advice from the independent expert advisors on the Commission on Human Medicines and its Expert Advisory Group on the risks and benefits of any vaccine. A vaccine will only be deployed once it has been proved to be safe and effective.
Asked by: Marcus Fysh (Conservative - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps (a) his Department and (b) other public bodies are taking to help ensure that emerging covid-19 vaccine candidates (a) research, (b) production and (c) administration capacity is used by vaccine candidates which have the prevention of contraction, transmission and fatal impact of covid-19 within their clinical trial objectives and outcomes for that candidate vaccine.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Government is working at pace to secure a safe and effective vaccine for all. To date, we have secured 350 million doses through six different vaccine developers.
The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) are helping to fund and/or deliver a range of 'rapid response' research to better understand and tackle COVID-19, including research into vaccines, treatments and diagnostic tests. The government has also invested over £230 million in manufacturing facilities, to manufacture a vaccine quickly, if and when a candidate becomes successful. Manufacturers and wholesalers of COVID-19 vaccine candidates must meet the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s (MHRA) standards of good manufacturing practice (GMP) and good distribution practice (GDP). MHRA carries out inspections to check if manufacturing and distribution sites comply with GMP or GDP.
Asked by: Marcus Fysh (Conservative - Yeovil)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, for what reason, by what methodology, and with what data the Office for National Statistics adjusts raw data from its sample population testing for covid-19 and implements those adjustments in reporting the prevalence of covid-19 for the different regions of England.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have therefore asked the Authority to respond.
Asked by: Marcus Fysh (Conservative - Yeovil)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of re-allocating the funding for legal aid for immigration cases to domestic family law mediation cases.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Mediation for family law cases is already available under Part I of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO).
The department recently conducted an extensive review of LASPO and has announced several changes as part of the Legal Support Action Plan. These included expanding the scope of legal aid in family law to cover representation for special guardianship orders and placement orders.
Data is not held on successful cases, but the Legal Aid Agency does hold data on cases that have started (and are funded by legal aid). These statistics are included below for both family law mediation and immigration cases for the last three years:
Legal aid in cases involving family law mediation |
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Financial Year | Family Mediation | |||||||||||||||||||||||
2016-17 | 7,611 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
2017-18 | 6,302 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
2018-19 | 6,515 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Note: ‘Proportion started’ data is not held for family mediation matters, as the application process and decision on whether to grant funding is devolved to the solicitor in question (the provider). |
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Legal aid in cases involving Immigration |
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Legal help | Civil representation | |||||||||||||||||||||
Financial Year | Grants | Applications | Grants | Proportion granted |
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2016-17 | 29,111 | 1,904 | 1,404 | 74% |
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2017-18 | 26,609 | 1,596 | 1,203 | 75% |
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2018-19 | 28,821 | 1,535 | 1,155 | 75% |
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Legal help is assistance short of representation. Note: ‘Proportion granted’ data is not held for Legal Help matters, as the application process and decision on whether to grant funding is devolved to the solicitor in question (the provider). |
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Asked by: Marcus Fysh (Conservative - Yeovil)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of applications for legal aid in relation to (a) family law mediation costs and (b) immigration cases were successful since 2016.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Mediation for family law cases is already available under Part I of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO).
The department recently conducted an extensive review of LASPO and has announced several changes as part of the Legal Support Action Plan. These included expanding the scope of legal aid in family law to cover representation for special guardianship orders and placement orders.
Data is not held on successful cases, but the Legal Aid Agency does hold data on cases that have started (and are funded by legal aid). These statistics are included below for both family law mediation and immigration cases for the last three years:
Legal aid in cases involving family law mediation |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
Financial Year | Family Mediation | |||||||||||||||||||||||
2016-17 | 7,611 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
2017-18 | 6,302 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
2018-19 | 6,515 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Note: ‘Proportion started’ data is not held for family mediation matters, as the application process and decision on whether to grant funding is devolved to the solicitor in question (the provider). |
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Legal aid in cases involving Immigration |
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Legal help | Civil representation | |||||||||||||||||||||
Financial Year | Grants | Applications | Grants | Proportion granted |
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2016-17 | 29,111 | 1,904 | 1,404 | 74% |
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2017-18 | 26,609 | 1,596 | 1,203 | 75% |
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2018-19 | 28,821 | 1,535 | 1,155 | 75% |
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Legal help is assistance short of representation. Note: ‘Proportion granted’ data is not held for Legal Help matters, as the application process and decision on whether to grant funding is devolved to the solicitor in question (the provider). |
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