Asked by: Matt Hancock (Independent - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS trusts have Chief Dieticians with responsibility for oversight of hospital food.
Answered by Will Quince
No specific assessment has been made. NHS England published updated NHS Food Standards on the 3 November 2022 and are considering the best way to measure the effectiveness of improvements as a result of those standards. No assessment has been made to date on many NHS trusts have Chief Dieticians with responsibility for oversight of hospital food how many NHS trusts have a named board member with responsibility for hospital food.
Trusts will be asked to self-declare its implementation status within NHS England’s internal reporting mechanisms, which will ask for the names of the board representative, catering dietetic liaison and food safety specialist. Data will be collected statistically through the Estates Return Information Collection and hospital food will also be included as part of the assessment by local people of service quality through the Patient Led Assessment of the Care Environment from late 2023.
Asked by: Matt Hancock (Independent - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS trusts have a named board member with responsibility for hospital food.
Answered by Will Quince
No specific assessment has been made. NHS England published updated NHS Food Standards on the 3 November 2022 and are considering the best way to measure the effectiveness of improvements as a result of those standards. No assessment has been made to date on many NHS trusts have Chief Dieticians with responsibility for oversight of hospital food how many NHS trusts have a named board member with responsibility for hospital food.
Trusts will be asked to self-declare its implementation status within NHS England’s internal reporting mechanisms, which will ask for the names of the board representative, catering dietetic liaison and food safety specialist. Data will be collected statistically through the Estates Return Information Collection and hospital food will also be included as part of the assessment by local people of service quality through the Patient Led Assessment of the Care Environment from late 2023.
Asked by: Matt Hancock (Independent - West Suffolk)
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 implications for his policies of levels of (a) patient and (b) staff satisfaction with hospital food.
Answered by Will Quince
No specific assessment has been made. NHS England published updated NHS Food Standards on the 3 November 2022 and are considering the best way to measure the effectiveness of improvements as a result of those standards. No assessment has been made to date on many NHS trusts have Chief Dieticians with responsibility for oversight of hospital food how many NHS trusts have a named board member with responsibility for hospital food.
Trusts will be asked to self-declare its implementation status within NHS England’s internal reporting mechanisms, which will ask for the names of the board representative, catering dietetic liaison and food safety specialist. Data will be collected statistically through the Estates Return Information Collection and hospital food will also be included as part of the assessment by local people of service quality through the Patient Led Assessment of the Care Environment from late 2023.
Asked by: Matt Hancock (Independent - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve the availability and use of data to prepare for a future pandemic.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is utilising strong surveillance capabilities, rooted in the highest-quality data systems, data architecture and analytics to anticipate, prepare for and respond to health risks. UKHSA will exploit the potential of new techniques and technologies across a range of disciplines.
We are continuously updating our pandemic plans to reflect the latest scientific information and lessons learned from exercises and our response to emergencies, including COVID-19.
Asked by: Matt Hancock (Independent - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to stockpile PPE for a future pandemic.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
An established clinical countermeasures programme is a core component of our pandemic preparedness and response capability. These clinical countermeasures include personal protective equipment (PPE) and hygiene consumables, vaccines (including an Advance Purchase Agreement to guarantee access to a pandemic specific influenza vaccine), and therapeutics, such as antivirals. The programme is informed by scientific and clinical assessment of the evidence base and is kept under review, building on lessons learned from previous outbreaks.
In December 2022, the Government and Moderna entered a strategic partnership to set up mRNA research and development and manufacturing facilities in the United Kingdom. Under the partnership, Moderna will build a new Innovation and Technology Centre in the UK, which will create more than 150 highly skilled jobs and have the capacity to produce up to 250 million vaccines per year in the event of a pandemic.
Asked by: Matt Hancock (Independent - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to invest in vaccines for a future pandemic.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
An established clinical countermeasures programme is a core component of our pandemic preparedness and response capability. These clinical countermeasures include personal protective equipment (PPE) and hygiene consumables, vaccines (including an Advance Purchase Agreement to guarantee access to a pandemic specific influenza vaccine), and therapeutics, such as antivirals. The programme is informed by scientific and clinical assessment of the evidence base and is kept under review, building on lessons learned from previous outbreaks.
In December 2022, the Government and Moderna entered a strategic partnership to set up mRNA research and development and manufacturing facilities in the United Kingdom. Under the partnership, Moderna will build a new Innovation and Technology Centre in the UK, which will create more than 150 highly skilled jobs and have the capacity to produce up to 250 million vaccines per year in the event of a pandemic.
Asked by: Matt Hancock (Independent - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to invest in antivirals for a future pandemic.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
An established clinical countermeasures programme is a core component of our pandemic preparedness and response capability. These clinical countermeasures include personal protective equipment (PPE) and hygiene consumables, vaccines (including an Advance Purchase Agreement to guarantee access to a pandemic specific influenza vaccine), and therapeutics, such as antivirals. The programme is informed by scientific and clinical assessment of the evidence base and is kept under review, building on lessons learned from previous outbreaks.
In December 2022, the Government and Moderna entered a strategic partnership to set up mRNA research and development and manufacturing facilities in the United Kingdom. Under the partnership, Moderna will build a new Innovation and Technology Centre in the UK, which will create more than 150 highly skilled jobs and have the capacity to produce up to 250 million vaccines per year in the event of a pandemic.
Asked by: Matt Hancock (Independent - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to fight misinformation to prepare for a future pandemic.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The UK Health Security Agency worked closely with public health and science experts during COVID-19 to ensure transparency and that the science behind advice is shared. Communication plans and countering misinformation will form a key part of pandemic preparedness.
We continue to monitor misinformation and disinformation that forms a barrier to the uptake of vaccinations, disruption to access, drivers of low uptake and public health measures in both on and offline forums. We also liaise with the World Health Organization, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to share reports and horizon scan for incoming threats and issues as part of our business-as-usual activity and ongoing disease surveillance and emergency preparedness.
Asked by: Matt Hancock (Independent - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve the UK's genomic sequencing capabilities to prepare for a future pandemic.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Alongside the UK Health Security Agency’s (UKHSA) COVID-19 genomic sequencing and analysis, the organisation continues to maintain and develop genomic sequencing for gastrointestinal pathogens, tuberculosis, polio and monkeypox. UKHSA will continue to develop a pathogen genomics programme with available resources, to transform and enable wider pathogen analysis and, integration with clinical and public health data analysis to ensure that we are able to detect new, and emerging threats to protect the population and health services.
UKHSA is already engaged in some important global partnerships to ensure we have strong surveillance systems in place. We work with the World Health Organization, the Wellcome Trust and with other public health agencies, and we are supporting the development of a network of hubs to increase surveillance and enhance genomic analysis and awareness. This builds on the success of UKHSA’s New Variant Assessment Platform set up during the pandemic and now working in 14 countries and with six regional collaborators to improve early detection of COVID variants and pathogens of pandemic potential. Further information is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/new-variant-assessment-platform#overview
Asked by: Matt Hancock (Independent - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve surveillance and reporting systems for future viruses.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
We are working to strengthen global surveillance through a range of initiatives. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is conducting a discovery phase for the National Biosurveillance Network to understand the capabilities across Government, where the gaps are, and how we fill them to improve existing biosurveillance.
UKHSA continues to deploy genomic sequencing capability around the world through our New Variant Assessment Platform, alongside participating in global initiatives such as the International Pathogen Surveillance Network. UKHSA also continues to scope and explore the development of wastewater surveillance.