Asked by: Michael Fabricant (Conservative - Lichfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what collaboration is taking place between the UK and Israel in the digital health sector; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
Digital health collaboration between the United Kingdom and Israel includes the UK-Israel Tech Corridor, where the Leeds Corridor pairs National Health Service organisations with Israeli health technology companies to advance their product or clinical work. The UK also plans to host a UK-Israel Innovation Summit next year, where digital health will feature.
Asked by: Michael Fabricant (Conservative - Lichfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the NHS Covid Travel pass on the NHS App in England will be adapted to show the date of the third and any subsequent booster shots.
Answered by Maggie Throup
From 19 November, the NHS COVID Pass can now be used to demonstrate proof of a booster or third dose for outbound international travel. This record is available through the NHS App and NHS.UK and includes the date of each vaccination. Booster vaccinations are not required for domestic certification in England. In light of recent advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation to extend the booster programme, we will keep the inclusion of boosters for domestic certification under review.
Asked by: Michael Fabricant (Conservative - Lichfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the proposed autumn Covid-19 booster vaccination programme will include a modified vaccine with improved efficacy against the (a) delta and (b) other covid-19 variants.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’s (JCVI) interim advice on a potential COVID-19 booster vaccination programme states that vaccines designed specifically against variants of concern will not be available in time for booster revaccination this autumn. The use of variant vaccines will be considered by the JCVI in due course.
Final decisions on the timing, scope and cohort eligibility of any COVID-19 vaccine booster programme will be confirmed once the JCVI has provided their final advice. The JCVI’s advice will take into account the latest epidemiological situation, additional scientific data from trials such as COV-Boost, surveillance of the effectiveness of the vaccines over time and emerging variants.
Asked by: Michael Fabricant (Conservative - Lichfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, who (a) installed and (b) gave the authority for the installation of a surveillance camera in the office of the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care; and whether the Secretary of State was made aware of that camera.
Answered by Edward Argar
The closed circuit television camera was installed by the Department as part of the office fit prior to moving into the building in 2017. The camera was authorised as part of an approval for the installation of cameras by the Department’s internal governance. The previous Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (the Rt hon. Matt Hancock MP) was not made aware of the camera.
Asked by: Michael Fabricant (Conservative - Lichfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether dentists will be able to return to normal working practices in (a) Step 3 or (b) Step 4 of the national covid-19 roadmap.
Answered by Jo Churchill
We are working with NHS England and NHS Improvement to increase levels of dental activity as fast as is safely possible. Contractual arrangements for the first six months of the 2021/22 financial year have been introduced by NHS England and NHS Improvement. The revised unit of dental activity threshold set at 60% is based on data that indicates practices may now have capacity to safely achieve more dental activity. Arrangements will be monitored on a monthly basis and are expected to be in place for six months in order to provide increased stability for dental practices. National Health Service commissioners have the discretion to make exceptions, for instance in cases where a dental practice has been impacted by staff being required to self-isolate.
We are working to address oral health inequalities. NHS England and NHS Improvement have provided local commissioners with a flexible commissioning toolkit to illustrate how best to use current flexibilities in commissioning to target capacity on improving access to urgent care and delivering care to high risk patient groups.
Asked by: Michael Fabricant (Conservative - Lichfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he issue guidance to dentists on when they might be expected to return to normal working.
Answered by Jo Churchill
Dentistry has been particularly affected by the risk of COVID-19 transmission due to the number of aerosol generating procedures carried out. This has resulted in the need for an enhanced level of personal protective equipment and reduced throughput to allow for thorough cleaning and resting of rooms between patients, as set out in Public Health England’s Infection Prevention and Control guidance.
The Department is working closely with NHS England and NHS Improvement and the Chief Dental Officer for England to increase levels of service, as fast as is safely possible. We have been closely monitoring what has been possible and on 29 March announced that the threshold for full National Health Service contractual payment would be raised to 60% of normal activity. We continue to explore what more can be done to increase capacity including piloting pre-appointment testing.
Asked by: Michael Fabricant (Conservative - Lichfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, further to the Answer of 3 March to Question 154738, what support his Department is providing for (a) research on and (b) trials of vaccines offering immunity to covid-19 which can be delivered by gradual absorption through the skin using an adhesive patch.
Answered by Edward Argar
The Department has not currently commissioned any research into COVID-19 vaccines which can be delivered through an adhesive patch but the National Institute for Health Research, as the biggest public funder of health research in the United Kingdom, continues to welcome funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including on COVID-19 vaccine related research.
Asked by: Michael Fabricant (Conservative - Lichfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when an outstanding payment of £483,393 dating from July 2020 will be paid to St Giles Hospice of Whittington near Lichfield.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
NHS England and Improvement are in the process of reconciling the final payments covering July 2020 from this scheme. NHS England and NHS Improvement have not yet set a date by which final payments will be made but advise they expect the process to be completed and payments made, including any final funding due to St Giles Hospice, shortly.