Asked by: Paul Girvan (Democratic Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will commit £50 million over five years to establish and operate a motor neurone disease translational research institute.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The next Spending Review will set out the Government’s spending plans for health and social care for future years.
Over the past five years, the Department has spent over £10 million on motor neurone disease (MND) research through the National Institute for Health Research. Additionally, UK Research and Innovation, through the Medical Research Council, has spent £49.5 million on MND research over the past five years. This includes research which aims to increase our understanding of the causes and genetic mechanisms of MND. We are currently working on ways to significantly increase further research on dementia and neurodegeneration including medical and care interventions.
Asked by: Paul Girvan (Democratic Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to support earlier engagement and horizon scanning between NHS England and the pharmaceutical industry, to identify solutions to drug pricing challenges that may be faced by new innovative treatments exceeding the Budget Impact Test threshold.
Answered by Edward Argar
The 2019 Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing and Access made a joint commitment between the Government and the pharmaceutical industry for the National Health Service to have complete and accurate information about the products coming through the development pipeline. NHS England and NHS Improvement and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) committed to working together and with industry to develop and implement a joined-up approach to earlier engagement and case management. On 23 February 2021, NHS England and NHS Improvement published the NHS commercial framework for new medicines setting out the opportunities for companies to engage with NHS England and NHS Improvement and NICE and the commercial options available.
Asked by: Paul Girvan (Democratic Unionist Party - South Antrim)
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 (a) the covid-19 vaccines affect fertility and (b) those vaccines can safely be taken by pregnant women; and if he will publish available research on those issues.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is supporting the first United Kingdom COVID-19 vaccine study for pregnant women, funded by Pfizer. The NIHR continues to welcome funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including COVID vaccination and fertility or pregnancy. There is also a breadth of research supported by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) on COVID-19 and vaccines.
In the United States of America over 90,000 pregnant women have been vaccinated, mainly with Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, with data collected via the “v-safe COVID-19 Vaccine Pregnancy Registry”; these data have subsequently been analysed and the findings published in The New England Journal of Medicine (see Shimabukuro et al., 2021 and can be found at the following link: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2104983). This concluded that no obvious safety signals were observed among pregnant persons who received these COVID-19 vaccines. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation have therefore advised that pregnant women should be offered COVID-19 vaccines at the same time as people of the same age or risk group. There is no evidence that COVID-19 vaccines have any effect on fertility or your chances of becoming pregnant.
Asked by: Paul Girvan (Democratic Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when his Department plans to publish the Government’s Vaccine Strategy.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The vaccine strategy is being refreshed to reflect new developments from the COVID-19 vaccine rollout and the extended National Health Service flu programme. The vaccine strategy will be published in due course.
Asked by: Paul Girvan (Democratic Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether all staff employed in care homes, including cooks and cleaners will receive the covid-19 vaccination at the same time as nurses and care assistants.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) consists of independent experts who advise the Government on which vaccine/s the United Kingdom should use, including prioritisation at a population level. The JCVI has advised that the first priorities for any COVID-19 vaccination programme should be the prevention of COVID-19 mortality and the protection of health and social care staff and systems.
Therefore, in line with the recommendations of the JCVI, the vaccine will be initially rolled out to the priority groups including care home residents and staff, people over 80 years old and health and care workers, followed by the rest of the population. As set out in the green book, this includes staff involved in direct care, as well as non-clinical ancillary staff in secondary or primary care/community healthcare settings.
Asked by: Paul Girvan (Democratic Unionist Party - South Antrim)
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 with Cabinet colleagues to ensure that the people of Northern Ireland can access timely covid-19 testing.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Testing and tracing are central to the COVID-19 recovery strategy. Across the United Kingdom, testing via NHS Test and Trace is available to everyone with symptoms, whatever their age.
We have worked with the Northern Ireland Executive to improve the availability of testing for all residents of Northern Ireland. There are four regional testing sites and seven mobile testing units operating in Northern Ireland, and a local test site was recently opened in Belfast. Home test kits are also available to order.
Asked by: Paul Girvan (Democratic Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when his Department plans to publish the Government’s vaccine strategy.
Answered by Jo Churchill
Publication of England’s draft Vaccine Strategy has been delayed as we have rightly been focusing on responding to the unprecedented global COVID-19 pandemic.
We will keep the Vaccine Strategy under review in light of the ongoing pandemic response. Our current ambition is to update and refresh the strategy in 2021 to reflect the changing landscape and investment in vaccine development through the Vaccines Taskforce.
Asked by: Paul Girvan (Democratic Unionist Party - South Antrim)
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 the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on the health of veterans.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
In June, the Office of Veterans Affairs announced a study with King’s College London to understand the effect of COVID-19 on former service personnel.
The study will look at whether COVID-19 has had any specific impact on the veteran community in the United Kingdom. This will allow policy makers across Government to understand potential issues affecting veterans and respond accordingly based on expert advice and evidence.
The first results are expected to be published in autumn/winter 2020.
Asked by: Paul Girvan (Democratic Unionist Party - South Antrim)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the covid-19 outbreak, if he will increase the level of funding allocated from the public purse for the provision of mental health counselling for NHS staff.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
At the beginning of the COVID-19 response, the Department commissioned NHS England and NHS Improvement to develop a comprehensive package of emotional, psychological, and practical support for National Health Service staff.
In response, NHS England and NHS Improvement have invested in a range of services to support the health and mental wellbeing of NHS staff, including virtual staff common rooms for mutual support, a dedicated support helpline and text service (in partnership with Samaritans), and a separate helpline offering bereavement support (in partnership with Hospice UK).
More information on support available to all NHS staff is online at the following link:
people.nhs.uk/help