Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of social care capacity in Bermondsey and Old Southwark constituency.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
No specific assessment has been made. Local authorities have a responsibility under the Care Act 2014 to ensure that the care needs of the local population are met.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure there is greater clarity and transparency on legitimate expenses paid for UK surrogacy, including (a) compensation paid to a surrogate and (b) a recuperation holiday.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Department is currently sponsoring an independent multi-year joint project of the Law Commissions for England and Wales and Scotland to review and update surrogacy legislation. The Commissions' public consultation covered proposals for greater clarity and transparency around legal parenthood provisions and expenses paid for United Kingdom surrogacy. We expect their final recommendations to include changes in these key areas. The Law Commissions intend to publish a report and draft Bill by autumn 2022.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that, subject to appropriate safeguards, children born through surrogacy in the UK are legally recognised as their intended parents’ children immediately from birth.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Department is currently sponsoring an independent multi-year joint project of the Law Commissions for England and Wales and Scotland to review and update surrogacy legislation. The Commissions' public consultation covered proposals for greater clarity and transparency around legal parenthood provisions and expenses paid for United Kingdom surrogacy. We expect their final recommendations to include changes in these key areas. The Law Commissions intend to publish a report and draft Bill by autumn 2022.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reform surrogacy law in response to the proposals set out in the Law Commission’s 2019 Consultation Paper Building families through surrogacy: a new law; and what plans his Department has to support people currently involved in surrogacy until any changes to surrogacy law come into force.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Department is currently sponsoring an independent multi-year joint project of the Law Commissions for England and Wales and Scotland to review and update surrogacy legislation. The Commissions' public consultation covered proposals for greater clarity and transparency around legal parenthood provisions and expenses paid for United Kingdom surrogacy. We expect their final recommendations to include changes in these key areas. The Law Commissions intend to publish a report and draft Bill by autumn 2022.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help prevent children from being born stateless and parentless in international surrogacy cases because their British parents are not currently recognised as their legal parents by UK law.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Sections 54 and 54A of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 provide for the transfer of legal parenthood from the surrogate to the intended parents by means of a parental order. This route for acquiring legal parenthood is available to residents of the United Kingdom who have undertaken an international surrogacy arrangement. The Law Commissions of England and Wales and Scotland are considering whether the current arrangements require amending as part of their review of surrogacy. Where a child does not acquire British citizenship automatically, because the intended parent is not their legal parent in UK law, there are registration options once the relationship has been formalised.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people acquired covid-19 in hospital in each of the last four weeks; and what steps is his Department is taking to prevent further cases.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
NHS England and NHS Improvement do not hold the data requested. This is because the incubation period of the virus and local differences in application of testing protocols mean it is not possible to definitively determine the number of people who contracted the virus while in hospital.
NHS England and NHS Improvement collect data as part of a daily COVID-19 SITREP on time between admission to hospital and first positive swab. Since October 2020, NHS England and NHS Improvement have published data relating to the number of daily new hospital COVID-19 admissions and cases, the number of patients admitted from the community with the virus and patients who tested positive within seven days of admission.
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/covid-19-hospital-activity/
Data is also published for community admissions including cases diagnosed less than eight days after admission. It is therefore possible to determine the number of cases diagnosed eight or more days after admission. However, it should be noted that the definition of an infection definitely contracted because of an infection or toxin which exists in a certain location, such as a hospital, is greater than 15 days. Therefore, some of these cases diagnosed between eight and 14 days will be community acquired.
Mechanisms for infection prevention including physical distancing, optimal hand hygiene, equipment and environment decontamination and measures such as extended use of face masks by healthcare staff, patients and visitors, are continually reviewed in line with infection prevention and control guidance. NHS England and NHS Improvement continue to ensure effective infection prevention and control in all areas.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how people with a (a) medical and (b) other exemption from the covid-19 vaccine will be able to prove their status through the NHS apps.
Answered by Maggie Throup
Individuals registered with a general practitioner in England can apply for official proof that, for medical reasons, they are unable to be vaccinated or vaccinated and tested for COVID-19. Individuals with this proof can access the domestic NHS COVID Pass. Residents in England who have taken part, or are taking part, in an official COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial can access a domestic NHS COVID Pass. Clinical trial participants who have been unblinded can get a NHS COVID Pass for travel once their vaccine details have been uploaded to the National Health Service vaccine database. Clinical trial participants do not need to apply for a medical exemption. Children under 18 years old are also exempt from certification requirements in England.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to avoid a winter crisis in hospitals given the associated additional risks of a potential rise in covid-19 cases.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
A range of measures are being employed to mitigate potential demand pressures on the National Health Service this winter, including COVID-19 booster vaccines for priority groups and the largest ever seasonal flu vaccination programme. NHS England and NHS Improvement are working with NHS providers to ensure appropriate operational plans are in place, including meeting potential increases in the demand for emergency care driven by seasonal flu and COVID-19.
The NHS will receive an extra £5.4 billion over the next six months to support its response to COVID-19. This includes £2.8 billion to cover related costs such as enhanced infection control measures and £478 million to continue the enhanced hospital discharge programme, to maintain capacity.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people have died with covid-19 after receiving (a) one and (b) two doses of a covid-19 vaccine since the covid-19 outbreak began.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Public Health England (PHE) monitors the number of people who have been admitted to hospital and died from COVID-19 who have received one or two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine and will publish this data in due course.
PHE’s technical briefing provides the latest data regarding deaths by vaccination status among Delta confirmed cases in England from 1 February 2021, which is available at the following link:
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many health and social care workers who are required to register for the EU Settlement Scheme have not yet done so; and what estimate he has made of the number of people who are unlikely to do so before the deadline of 30 June 2021.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested is not collected centrally.