Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications have been made to lift the no recourse to public funds restrictions by residents with leave to remain since 23 March 2020.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Migrants with limited leave to remain under the Family and Human Rights routes can apply to have the no recourse to public funds restriction lifted by making a ‘change of conditions’ application if there has been a change in their financial circumstances.
The information you have requested is not assured to the standard required by ONS for publication and as it would be too costly to do so, we are unable to provide it. However, my department has recently digitised the application form, to make sure it is accessible for those who need to remain at home, and I can assure you that the applications are being prioritised and dealt with swiftly and compassionately.
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, pursuant to Answer of 21 April 2020 to Question 34931 on Medical equipment: business, whether (a) his Department and (b) NHS England approached businesses to produce additional ventilators for the NHS between 1 December 2019 and 13 March 2020.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
At the start of the COVID-19 outbreak in March there were more than 8,000 mechanical ventilators in hospitals across the United Kingdom. These were mainly procured by National Health Service trusts through NHS Supply Chain which manages a framework contract with a number of manufacturers for the supply of mechanical ventilators into the NHS.
In March the decision was taken to move to a centralised model of procurement for the whole of the UK. All suppliers of non-invasive and invasive (mechanical) ventilators on the NHS Supply Chain framework were approached between 3 and 10 March, with a view to purchase any available ventilators. So far over 1,000 mechanical ventilators have been procured and made available to the NHS in the UK through this route, with thousands more on order and due to arrive in coming weeks.
These are in addition to ventilators made available from the private sector and those manufactured under the PM’s Ventilator Challenge programme. Including these, the NHS in the UK now has around 10,900 mechanical ventilators available for it to use in total.
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 - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
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 - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
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 - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
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 - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
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 - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
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 Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of convictions are were there for violent offences committed against the person (i) on retail premises and (ii) against retail workers in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Ministry of Justice publishes information on prosecutions and convictions in England and Wales. This data does not identify the specific context or location of offences, i.e. whether that offence has been carried out on a shop worker or on retail premises.