Asked by: Matt Hancock (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has taken steps to establish a UK-wide vaccinology research network.
Answered by Will Quince
Following the successful national COVID-19 vaccine research delivery programme, United Kingdom research infrastructure is developing a streamlined Vaccine Innovation Pathway for clinical trials. As a first step, two UK Forums have been established to connect expert investigators and key research delivery partners with commercial companies to grow capacity and capability in mRNA vaccines for infectious diseases and cancer.
Asked by: Matt Hancock (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to include people who are immunocompromised in clinical trials for vaccines.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department funds research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and the NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including vaccines and immunosuppression. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made based on the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality.
The NIHR has recently commissioned the new STRAVINSKY study with £2.8 million of funding which will involve 3000 immunocompromised participants over two years looking at which immunosuppressed people remain at greatest risk of severe COVID-19 infection after vaccinations. The UK Research and Innovation, Vaccines Taskforce and NIHR have also together funded OCTAVE and OCTAVE-DUO which examine the immune response to COVID-19 vaccines and durability of this protection in patients who are immunosuppressed.
Asked by: Matt Hancock (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to fund research into mucosal immunity.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department, commissions research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Since 2018, the NIHR has allocated over £25 million in funding for a broad portfolio of immunology research that has included mucosal immunity as a consideration. Whilst it is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics or conditions, the NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including mucosal immunity.
Asked by: Matt Hancock (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will ensure that his Department's work on pandemic preparedness planning includes immunogenicity research.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
An established clinical countermeasures programme, including arrangements for vaccines, is a core component of our pandemic preparedness and response capability. The programme is informed by scientific and clinical assessment of the evidence base, including the latest evidence on vaccine-induced immunogenicity, 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.
The Department, commissions research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Since 2018, the NIHR has allocated over £80 million in funding for a broad portfolio of immunology research that has included immunogenicity as a consideration. Whilst it is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics or conditions, the NIHR welcomes funding application for research into any aspect of human health, including immunogenicity.
The Office for Life Sciences new £38 million biomanufacturing fund will incentivise investment to bolster the UK’s onshore capacity and capability across the biomanufacturing supply chain for vaccines and other medicines.
Asked by: Matt Hancock (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish a vaccine strategy.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
Development of a vaccine strategy remains under review given the evolving understanding from the COVID-19 vaccination programme, the existing seasonal flu and the 12 national immunisation programmes.
Asked by: Matt Hancock (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish data on (a) staff and (b) patient satisfaction with hospital food; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Will Quince
Hospital food will be included as part of the assessment by local people of service quality through the Patient Led Assessment of the Care Environment (PLACE) from late 2023.
We have no plans to publish data on staff satisfaction with hospital food. Through the updated NHS Food and Drink Standards we are improving the quality and availability of healthy, nutritious food for National Health Service staff, patients and visitors. This includes suitable food and drink options for staff over a 24 hours a day, seven days a week service period.
Asked by: Matt Hancock (Conservative - 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 ventilators to prepare for a future pandemic.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
As part of its response to COVID-19, the Government procured a large range of essential respiratory equipment, including ventilators, for use in the NHS across the UK. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) continues to maintain this Intensive Care Unit (ICU) equipment reserve, which includes a range of mechanical and non-invasive ventilators. These ventilators are available to be deployed to the NHS, in the event of surges in acute COVID or respiratory cases.
Learning the lessons from COVID-19, we are working with the Centre for Pandemic Preparedness (CPP) in the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) to ensure a flexible and capabilities-based approach to pandemic preparedness.
The Government’s strategic approach to pandemic preparedness constantly evolves in response to new scientific information, lessons learned from prior pandemics, as well as responses to other infectious disease outbreaks and rigorous exercising to test our response mechanisms.
Asked by: Matt Hancock (Conservative - 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 disease testing for a future pandemic.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is applying the learning from the COVID-19 pandemic to increase capability to respond to future threats. The specific plans for testing will be dependent on whether the threat is a known or novel pathogen, as this will dictate if existing tests can be utilised or a new test will need to be developed.
UKHSA hold reserves of COVID-19 lateral flow and Polymerase Chain Reaction test kits, for use as part of a contingency response. The extent of this capability is subject to constant review.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, testing services for the UKHSA and Sentinel National Health Service laboratories were established in approximately six weeks and surge testing was established in a further six weeks.
Asked by: Matt Hancock (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding his Department provides to the UK Health Security Agency to support that agency's future pandemic preparedness.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is the United Kingdom’s permanent standing capacity to prepare for, prevent and respond to threats to public health and pandemics. Pandemic preparedness is a core part of this mission in keeping the nation’s health secure.
To deliver its remit, UKHSA was allocated funding of c.£450 million in financial year 2022/23 for core activities, which included funding for critical capabilities that enable the UK to prepare for future pandemics, and investment in wider capabilities that will support a pandemic response, such as a dedicated Centre for Pandemic Preparedness function which brings together a network of expertise across Government, academia and the private sector. This network, supported by UKHSA’s core capabilities, helps provide high quality scientific evidence to enable the Government to identify, assess and mitigate the impact of future pandemics, and strong surveillance, genomics, and analysis capabilities, supported by laboratories, that enable us to detect, identify and monitor cases.
Other wider capabilities include scientific and clinical expertise that can analyse, classify, and provide advice on the health threat, and provide guidance on appropriate mitigations; and frontline response teams that provide outbreak response, supporting local authorities and other health bodies.
Asked by: Matt Hancock (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish the measurement criteria for the effectiveness of improvements in 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.