Vaccine Roll-out

Debate between Richard Drax and Matt Hancock

Thursday 21st January 2021 Commons Chamber

[Richard Drax (South Dorset) (Con) [V]]

First, can I praise and thank all the NHS staff in Dorset, who are doing a wonderful job fighting this pandemic? Secondly, we hear from some scientists that they want the country locked down until June, when 70% of the population will have been inoculated, and according to Sir Patrick Vallance, vaccines are not going to do all the “heavy lifting”, but what are we vaccinating for if we cannot begin to reopen our devastated economy and regain our freedoms? Does my right hon. Friend agree that this is about risk mitigation, not elimination, and that a path out of this lockdown is a decision for politicians, not scientists and modellers?

[Matt Hancock]

The decisions that we take are decisions, rightly, for politicians, guided by the best possible science. The challenge is how to get back the freedoms my hon. Friend rightly refers to as quickly and as safely as possible. The safety element of that is paramount, as is the speed. The one thing that will help on both is to roll out the vaccines as quickly as possible and to monitor their roll-out very closely so that we can see the effect of the vaccine on transmission. As we see more and more information about that, we will be able to make clearer judgments about the release and when we are able to lift some of these restrictions under which we are all having to live.

Covid-19: Winter Plan

Debate between Richard Drax and Matt Hancock

Monday 23rd November 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

The vaccines programme is a UK programme, and of course the costs of the roll-out incur Barnett consequentials and will therefore be available across the whole of the UK. We are working closely with the NHS in Wales to make sure that happens as smoothly as possible, but it will be the most almighty huge logistical effort for everyone involved.

[Richard Drax (South Dorset) (Con)]

As my right hon. Friend knows, I do not support lockdowns, tiered or otherwise, but I welcome the move to get these vaccines. That is very good news. As I understand it, the Government’s main weapon is test and trace. May I suggest that test and quick result is equally important? When will the Government be able to tell the House when the whole country can be tested and get a quick result, so that when it is negative we can all get on with our lives?

[Matt Hancock]

I hope that the system for people to test daily if they have been in close contact with somebody who has tested positive, as the Prime Minister has, instead of having to isolate, will be in place in January. As the Prime Minister set out, we are piloting it from this week, and then we will roll it out over December. I hope it will be available nationwide from January.

Covid-19 Update

Debate between Richard Drax and Matt Hancock

Thursday 15th October 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

The hon. Lady talks about the testing system, and the UK-wide testing system is an example of the whole country working together to keep people safe. The UK system provides the majority of tests into Scotland, and it works very closely with the NHS in Scotland, which also provides important testing capacity. That is an example of the local system in Scotland and the UK system nationwide working together for the people of Scotland.

The hon. Lady mentions isolation payments, and I strongly agree with her about their importance. Again, this is a proposal that we have worked on together, with the UK Government providing the funding that is being delivered across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. I think the best approach to tackling this pandemic is for people across the whole country to come together, and for the UK Government and Scottish Government to work together, as we do, where an issue is devolved to deliver for the people of Scotland.

[Richard Drax (South Dorset) (Con)]

First, may I tell the Secretary of State that no one wants to let the virus rip, and that such language is unhelpful? Secondly, as I understand it, the Government’s intention is to continue shutting down our country’s economy to a greater or lesser extent, destroying the lives and livelihoods of millions of people in the process, until a vaccine is found. That might never happen, and even if it does, there is no guarantee that it will work. We need a plan B, and I would be grateful if my right hon. Friend could tell the House what that is.

[Matt Hancock]

The plan is that, as my hon. Friend and I agree, we cannot let the virus rip, and therefore we must act to suppress it. Suppressing it through local action, in the first instance, is our best tool while we work with the scientists on technology that can help us to do that better. I put it to him that not only is that best for health outcomes, although that is undoubtedly true for both covid and non-covid health outcomes, but it is best for economic outcomes. Even though the restrictions have their impacts—I understand that, and I feel that—they are better than the consequences of the action that would have to be taken to keep the virus under control were it to get out of hand once again.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Richard Drax and Matt Hancock

Tuesday 5th May 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

We are making public the membership of SAGE and a lot of the science. I know that my right hon. Friend is also able to scrutinise the scientists before the Select Committee on Health and Social Care, as he and his team did again this morning. The overall approach of transparency, which has been a lodestar of the Government’s response to this crisis, is important. Of course, different scientists have different views, and they make those plain, but, as he said, we are guided by the science in the decisions that we take, and that has been an important part of the response.

[Richard Drax (South Dorset) (Con)]

If he will allocate urgent additional funding to community hospitals as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.

Covid-19 Update

Debate between Richard Drax and Matt Hancock

Tuesday 24th March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

I will look into that point. The masks need to be clinically right; it is not for me to make that decision, but I will take this up with the chief medical officer.

[Richard Drax (South Dorset) (Con)]

May I personally thank my right hon. Friend and the Department for the rapid response he has given to every inquiry that I have made on behalf of my constituents? I also praise the NHS in Dorset and, of course, throughout the country for all the fantastic work that everyone is doing in the face of this appalling virus.

First, we are still having problems getting PPE; I heard the Secretary of State say that the phone line, to which he kindly referred me, is still the best way to try to follow up on that. Secondly, supermarkets are impossible to get hold of so that food banks can go online to request regular deliveries. Is there some way that we can get a message to all supermarkets to help out in that regard?

[Matt Hancock]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his first point. He is right that the hotline is the best way to sort out the PPE supply issues. I am told that it has already responded to more than 2,000 inquiries, is moving through inquiries fast and has a lot of people on the other end of the line to make sure that people can get hold of somebody. I shall take up the latter point with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Wuhan Coronavirus

Debate between Richard Drax and Matt Hancock

Tuesday 11th February 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

The estimates vary and the answer is uncertain. There are promising signs of the very early stages of development seeing breakthroughs, but after the early stages of development, there need to be pre-clinical trials and then clinical trials to make sure that any vaccine is safe, especially given that—thankfully—the mortality rate from this coronavirus appears to be relatively low, at around 2%. Therefore, it is very important that a vaccine does not do more harm than good. I am pushing as fast as I can on the development of a vaccine, but I am also highly cognisant of the scientific advice and the need to ensure that it is safe.

[Richard Drax (South Dorset) (Con)]

On the point about mortality, leaked reports are coming out of China that the number of those who are dying is considerably higher than we first anticipated. Is that true? Is that what my right hon. Friend is hearing? Will he also tell the House, and thereby the country, who is most vulnerable? Who is most likely to be seriously affected by this terrible disease?

[Matt Hancock]

It is difficult in a country dealing with a very large-scale outbreak, as China is, for the information to be completely accurate. However, a report published in the last 48 hours of a study of 1,099 cases from China has demonstrated that in those cases, the number of children who have been affected and symptomatic is very small. That gives us hope—and some evidence—that the impact is largely on the elderly and frail, less so on people of working age and much less so on children, which is a very good thing for children themselves and for everyone else, because with the flu, if children are spreaders, they tend to spread fast. That is the latest scientific advice coming out of China, although given the nature of the challenges the Chinese health system is facing, it is difficult to get an entirely clear picture.

NHS Funding Bill

Debate between Richard Drax and Matt Hancock

2nd reading & 2nd reading: House of Commons
Monday 27th January 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

That is clearly set out in the operational guidance to the NHS—that it must be. That will be auditable, and I am sure that my right hon. Friend will look to ensure that that has happened. This is an issue where the levers from the Secretary of State’s office to the NHS frontline are extremely well connected.

[Richard Drax (South Dorset) (Con)]

One way to ensure that patients can be best served is to make the software more compatible, and I know that my right hon. Friend is doing a huge amount to make that happen. Can he brief the House about where we are when it comes to making the system more compatible throughout the whole UK?

[Matt Hancock]

Yes. My hon. Friend makes a really important point. The issue is not just the quantity of money but how we spend it. Making sure that we get the best value for every pound put in is incredibly important. One way to do that is by using the best modern technology—ensuring that the different systems are required to talk to each other, for instance. We will be introducing a system with standards of interoperability mandating that the only systems that can be used are those that allow the information—appropriately and with appropriate privacy safeguards—to flow between different NHS organisations. People have had the experience so many times of informing one part of the NHS about what is going on and having to say everything all over again to another part of it. I want to end that.