Asked by: Mark Harper (Conservative - Forest of Dean)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the additional funding announced for health and social care over the next three years in paragraph 8 of the policy paper, Building Back Better: Our Plan for Health and Social care, published in September 2021, what assessment his Department has made of the process for determining how this funding will be allocated between acute trusts and mental health trusts.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The process for determining further allocations within the National Health Service settlement for the coming years will be confirmed to NHS trusts in due course, through the usual planning guidance process.
Asked by: Mark Harper (Conservative - Forest of Dean)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, if she plans to reintroduce a fund to help disabled people seek elected office.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Government is committed to see more disabled people become elected representatives.
Building on the experience of the Access to Elected Office fund and the EnAble fund, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities will support a new scheme from April 2022 to support those seeking to become candidates and – as importantly – once they have been elected to public office.
Political parties have primary responsibility for supporting their own disabled candidates, in line with their duties under the Equality Act 2010.
Asked by: Mark Harper (Conservative - Forest of Dean)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Department's Chief Scientific Adviser's oral evidence to the Science and Technology Committee on 26 October 2021, what progress has been made by his Department on formulating a plan C for covid-19 restrictions.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The Government has published the ‘COVID-19 Response: Autumn and Winter Plan 2021’ to sustain the progress made through the vaccination programme, avoiding the economic and social restrictions deployed in the past. However, in the event of unsustainable pressure on the National Health Service, we have set out a range of measures under ‘Plan B’. We will monitor the data closely, taking action to support and protect the NHS when necessary.
Asked by: Mark Harper (Conservative - Forest of Dean)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with representatives of (a) Ofgem, (b) the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority (GEMA) and (c) Competition and Markets Authority to help ensure protections for consumers off the gas grid from increases in gas prices.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Ministers and officials have been in close and regular discussions with Ofgem on gas prices, and Ofgem are keeping their board, GEMA, informed. BEIS and Ofgem officials also maintain regular contact with the CMA on energy markets.
If residents are off the gas grid, but on a default tariff for their electricity only supply, they will still be protected by the Energy Price Cap. The Energy Price Cap saves 15 million households on default tariffs up to £100 a year on average. The level of the price cap is set by Ofgem, the independent regulator.
Providing they are eligible households will also be able to access Warm Home Discount which provides £140 off energy bills over winter. Other energy bill support is available to qualifying households through the Winter Fuel Payment and Cold Weather Payment.
We recognise that some people continue to require extra support, which is why we have introduced a £421 million Household Support Fund to help vulnerable people in England with essential household costs over the winter as the economy recovers.
Asked by: Mark Harper (Conservative - Forest of Dean)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to then Minister for Care's oral contribution of 10 June 2021, Official Report, Column 491WH, when his Department will publish the delivery plan setting out how a 50 per cent reduction in occupancy of in-patient beds by people with learning disabilities and autism will be met.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
The Department is developing an action plan to achieve at least a 50% reduction in the number of people with a learning disability and autistic people who are inpatients in mental health hospitals by 2023/24. Once finalised, the action plan will set out the actions for the Department, other Government departments, the National Health Service, local government and other delivery partners to improve the treatment of autistic people and people with learning disabilities and support them to live well in the community, with clear ownership and timescales for delivery. We intend to publish the action plan before the end of the year, once we have concluded our engagement with stakeholders.
Asked by: Mark Harper (Conservative - Forest of Dean)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to help protect those consumers who are off the gas grid from increases in energy prices.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Customers who are off the gas grid will be protected by the energy price cap if they are on a default tariff with their electricity supplier.
The Government believes it is essential that consumers who are off the gas grid get a fair deal. There are open markets for the supply of heating oil and LPG in the UK as we believe this provides the best long-term guarantee of competitive prices. These markets are subject to UK competition law to ensure they operate efficiently for the consumer.
Asked by: Mark Harper (Conservative - Forest of Dean)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Public Health England document entitled Easy-read consent form for children, young people or parents and carers, for what reason that document does not mention more serious side effects of covid-19 vaccines, including myocarditis and pericarditis.
Answered by Maggie Throup
Public Health England’s COVID-19 vaccination consent form for children and young people or parents and carers is part of a suite of materials designed to assist an individual in making their decision about acceptance of vaccination. It is intended that this should be completed once an individual has been supplied with the easy-read information leaflet on COVID-19 vaccination in children and young people, which is available at the following link:
This contains the necessary information about potential side effects of COVID-19 vaccination, including myocarditis and pericarditis. These side effects are described in the patient information leaflet as ‘problems with their heart’; ‘pain in their chest’; and ‘breathing problems’.
Asked by: Mark Harper (Conservative - Forest of Dean)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Public Health England document entitled Easy-read consent form for children, young people or parents and carers, what the evidential basis is for the statement that there is a small chance of catching covid-19 if you have been vaccinated; and how the Government defines small in that context.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The evidence is based on published literature. In a recent trial of 2,260 adolescents aged 12 to 15 years old three COVID-19 cases were noted within 11 days after dose one among Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine recipients, as compared with 12 cases among those who had not received the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. There were no cases more than seven days after two doses, which is the recommended course for at-risk children. The study, ‘Safety, Immunogenicity, and Efficacy of the BNT162b2 Covid-19 Vaccine in Adolescents’, is available at the following link:
https://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMoa2107456
In this context, the definition of ‘small’ means that although individuals could still be infected with the virus, they are less likely to develop symptoms of COVID-19 after vaccination.
Asked by: Mark Harper (Conservative - Forest of Dean)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care whether, with reference to the consultation entitled Making vaccination a condition of deployment in the health and wider social care sector, whether he has plans to extend domestic vaccine certification to include flu vaccines.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The consultation ‘Making vaccination a condition of deployment in the health and wider social care sector’ relates specifically to health and care workers, not to wider use of domestic vaccine certification. There are no plans to extend domestic certification to include flu vaccination.
Asked by: Mark Harper (Conservative - Forest of Dean)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if the requirement for a person entering a CQC registered care home to be vaccinated against covid-19 will apply to people entering a care home who (a) don’t have contact with residents and (b) all other people.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The regulations will require all those who enter a care home to have received a complete course of their COVID-19 vaccination unless they are exempt. Any professionals visiting a care home will also be required to show they have been vaccinated before entering the home. The requirement does not apply to people who only work in the outdoor surrounding grounds of care home premises.
The condition also does not apply to service users and their visiting friends or relatives, under 18 year olds, members of the emergency services carrying out their duties, people who are providing emergency assistance, people undertaking urgent maintenance work or those visiting service users who are dying or experiencing bereavement. Individuals who should not be vaccinated for clinical reasons can secure an exemption from the requirement.