Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what criteria have been applied in the awarding of contracts via the high priority lane for procurement since 1 March 2020.
Answered by Jo Churchill
In March 2020 the Government issued a public call to action to support the increased requirements of personal protective equipment (PPE). This resulted in over 15,000 suppliers offering their help and support. The cross-government PPE team considered that leads referred by Government officials, Ministers’ offices, Parliamentarians, senior National Health Service staff and other health professionals were likely to be the more credible and needed to be initially reviewed with more urgency. This was commonly referred to as a ‘high priority’ or ‘VIP’ channel.
At the point of being prioritised these offers went into exactly the same due diligence, technical assurance, closing or contract negotiation and contract award process as all the other offers. About one in ten suppliers processed through this channel - 47 out of 493 - obtained contracts.
We do not intend to publish the list of these suppliers as there may be associated commercial implications. The Department has to consider the position of suppliers in terms of the recognition that disclosure of their names may damage the supplier’s reputation, affecting their competitive position and could have a potentially detrimental impact on their revenue and/or their ability to obtain future contracts. Contract Award Notices and the contracts themselves have now been published for all the PPE contracts awarded by the Department which contain the details of the supplier, the value of the contract and the items ordered under the contract.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many contracts have been awarded via the high priority lane for procurement since 1 March 2020.
Answered by Jo Churchill
In March 2020 the Government issued a public call to action to support the increased requirements of personal protective equipment (PPE). This resulted in over 15,000 suppliers offering their help and support. The cross-government PPE team considered that leads referred by Government officials, Ministers’ offices, Parliamentarians, senior National Health Service staff and other health professionals were likely to be the more credible and needed to be initially reviewed with more urgency. This was commonly referred to as a ‘high priority’ or ‘VIP’ channel.
At the point of being prioritised these offers went into exactly the same due diligence, technical assurance, closing or contract negotiation and contract award process as all the other offers. About one in ten suppliers processed through this channel - 47 out of 493 - obtained contracts.
We do not intend to publish the list of these suppliers as there may be associated commercial implications. The Department has to consider the position of suppliers in terms of the recognition that disclosure of their names may damage the supplier’s reputation, affecting their competitive position and could have a potentially detrimental impact on their revenue and/or their ability to obtain future contracts. Contract Award Notices and the contracts themselves have now been published for all the PPE contracts awarded by the Department which contain the details of the supplier, the value of the contract and the items ordered under the contract.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to protect covid-19 testing site workers on outsourced contracts carrying out aerosol generating procedures.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
A COVID-19 test is not an aerosol generating procedure, nor is processing of lateral flow devices. We have a number of measures in place to maintain health and safety at sites. These include strict social distancing, sites are cleaned multiple times a day to ensure very high standards of hygiene and the use of personal protective equipment in line with the latest guidance.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether any service level credits have been applied to contracts to run the Isolation Assurance Service.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
There have been no service level credits awarded by Public Health England to the contractor working on the Isolation Assurance Service (IAS) and no refunds have been sought. The IAS contractor has met all obligations under the contract to present.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much money has been refunded from contracts to run the Isolation Assurance Service as a result of failures to meet Public Health England's target of monitoring one in five arrivals with three daily phone calls.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
There have been no service level credits awarded by Public Health England to the contractor working on the Isolation Assurance Service (IAS) and no refunds have been sought. The IAS contractor has met all obligations under the contract to present.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what facilities are available at covid-19 testing sites for workers to change their clothes when entering and leaving those locations.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Changing facilities have been provided at each regional test site and local test site. Staff members are also provided with a uniform. Service providers have been instructed to advise staff to change into their uniform on arrival and before leaving the test site.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken to ensure that covid-19 testing site workers are adequately supported to self-isolate in the event that they are required to.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Test sites have clear guidance for treating suspected COVID-19 cases to ensure individuals are self-isolating whenever it is necessary to do so. Our commercial partners have their own measures in place to support staff members who are ill or otherwise unable to work. In addition, eligible test site workers who have to self-isolate can apply for the NHS Test and Trace support payment.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what criminal background checks are undertaken against (a) covid-19 testing site workers who interact with children under 12 years old and (b) other testing site workers.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
We expect our providers to have rigorous recruitment practices to ensure that the staff they recruit to work on test sites are appropriate for the role. Children must be accompanied by their parent or guardian at a test site. Test site staff are not permitted to test children aged under 12 years old. In all test settings other than a National Health Service setting such as in hospital or a general practitioner surgery, children aged under 12 years old must only be tested by their parent or guardian.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Government’s national Track and Trace system routinely uses shared surname and household data to identify the close contacts of people who are required to self-isolate.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Individuals who test positive for COVID-19 are contacted by NHS Test and Trace and asked to provide the details of people who are their recent close contacts, including all other members of their household. The information they are asked to provide about their close contacts includes: their name, phone number, email address, whether they are under 18 years of age or an adult, and how and where the individual came into contact with them. If this was through work, school, college or university, or another activity outside their home, such as a hospital or care home visit, a sports or leisure activity, or a visit to an event or a place of worship, the individual is asked to provide the location name and postcode.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much on average the companies that the Government has outsourced to carry out covid-19 testing are paying testing site workers.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
We are unable to provide this information as it is commercially confidential.