Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
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 whether there was any scenario used in routine pandemic planning where the number of critical beds would meet increased demand.
Answered by Edward Argar
Planning for pandemics, like all civil emergencies, is based on a Reasonable Worst-Case Scenario (RWCS). The UK Influenza Pandemic Preparedness Strategy 2011 sets out a United Kingdom-wide strategic approach to planning for and responding to the demands of a future RWCS scale influenza pandemic within which 50% of the population become ill.
The 2011 Strategy recognises that, without mitigation, critical care capacity might be insufficient in some scenarios. Influenza pandemic preparedness is therefore based on a ‘defence in depth’ strategy to minimise spread of infection and treat individual cases. In addition to plans to surge National Health Service provision, including critical care, this includes measures to reduce the demand on those NHS services by reducing the risk of transmission and minimising serious illness.
Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, on what dates his Department approached businesses to produce more ventilators for the NHS between 1 December 2019 and 24 March 2020.
Answered by Edward Argar
Work preparing the National Health Service has been ongoing and we have already doubled ventilator capacity. New and existing suppliers are being asked to build as many as they can. The Prime Minister has issued a call to United Kingdom industry to produce additional ventilators and the Department asked appropriate potential manufacturers on Friday 13 March to come forward with proposals for ramping up the production of existing designs or new ventilation machines.
Nearly 4,000 companies have responded and around a dozen potential prototypes have now been presented to the Department which we are currently pursuing.
Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what function public health laboratories have in covid-19 testing.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
Public health laboratories are providing diagnostic testing to the National Health Service, supporting community-based surveillance programmes, undertaking testing to support outbreaks in critical settings such as prisons and care homes and providing a testing referral service to NHS laboratories testing for COVID-19 for difficult or unclear results.
Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion figure for asymptomatic transmission the Government is using in its modelling of covid-19 contagion.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
On 20 March, the Government published scientific evidence supporting the United Kingdom Government’s response on COVID-19, including modelling on the dynamics of transmission of the virus. Each day, the models are refined and improved as more data becomes available.
Information about the scientific evidence used to support the UK Government’s response can be found at the following link:
Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many public health laboratories have closed in England and Wales from 2010 to 2020.
Answered by Jo Churchill
Since 2010 the Health Protection Agency (HPA) and Public Health England (PHE) have withdrawn from the direct management of four regional laboratories. In each instance HPA and PHE then commissioned arrangements with the National Health Service laboratories in these regions to support the required public health functions.
Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will include student paramedics on the NHS scheme for claiming student placement expenses.
Answered by Edward Argar
The Department has not undertaken an impact assessment on excluding paramedics from re-imbursement of clinical placement expenses. From September 2020, new and continuing pre-registration paramedic science students will be eligible for the expenses incurred on clinical placements, as currently covered by the Learning Support Fund. The NHS Business Services Authority will publish the rules for the next academic year as soon as possible, as the funding provided as part of the current Learning Support Fund needs to be incorporated into the additional maintenance and childcare funding announced in December 2019.
Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has undertaken an impact assessment on the effect on student paramedic recruitment of the decision to exclude student paramedics from the NHS scheme for claiming student placement expenses.
Answered by Edward Argar
The Department has not undertaken an impact assessment on excluding paramedics from re-imbursement of clinical placement expenses. From September 2020, new and continuing pre-registration paramedic science students will be eligible for the expenses incurred on clinical placements, as currently covered by the Learning Support Fund. The NHS Business Services Authority will publish the rules for the next academic year as soon as possible, as the funding provided as part of the current Learning Support Fund needs to be incorporated into the additional maintenance and childcare funding announced in December 2019.