Tobias Ellwood debates involving the Department of Health and Social Care during the 2019 Parliament

Urgent and Emergency Care Recovery Plan

Tobias Ellwood Excerpts
Monday 30th January 2023

(1 year, 1 month ago)

Commons Chamber
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Nigel Evans Portrait Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)
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Order. We are under a lot of time pressure today, so may I ask the remaining Members and those who are going to take part in the next statement to please think of very short, focused, single questions?

Tobias Ellwood Portrait Mr Tobias Ellwood (Bournemouth East) (Con)
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I welcome the statement and the extra investment in the NHS. It was a privilege to visit Bournemouth Hospital recently and meet the dedicated staff, and as the Secretary of State will know, it is expanding with a new A&E facility. Will he visit Bournemouth, meet the staff, and see the progress taking place?

Steve Barclay Portrait Steve Barclay
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I would be very keen to visit, subject to my diary. If it is not me, I am sure a ministerial colleague will do so.

NHS Industrial Action: Government Preparations

Tobias Ellwood Excerpts
Monday 12th December 2022

(1 year, 3 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.

Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.

This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record

Will Quince Portrait Will Quince
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I thank the hon. Gentleman for his question. My understanding is that the industrial action in Scotland has been suspended, not cancelled, as the hon. Gentleman suggested. The Scottish Government have made a considerably higher offer, partly because a politician has got involved in pay negotiations, directly in contrast to the independent pay review body, and it will be interesting to see whether the First Minister of Scotland is going to do this every single year and go against the recommendations of their pay review body.

Would the hon. Gentleman like to confirm—I appreciate he cannot do it now—whether the Scottish Government have also looked at things such as leave and working times? I think it is important to stress that every 1% increase for the “Agenda for Change” workforce equates to about £750 million. That is £750 million that will come out of the NHS budget and that we will not be able to spend on things such as tackling the elective backlog, which is so important to people up and down the country.

Tobias Ellwood Portrait Mr Tobias Ellwood (Bournemouth East) (Con)
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Our military actually enjoy stepping in when a Government Department occasionally cannot manage, such as with flooding and so forth, or on rare occasions when a strike takes place. However, what we are seeing this month is unprecedented, with so many sectors choosing to strike exactly at the same time, and this places a huge burden on our armed forces. Could I ask the Minister, first, whether all the units that may be required to mobilise have been informed already, and whether, if we are going to see strikes at this level, it is now time for Departments to introduce minimum service levels to make sure that our armed forces are not overwhelmed?

Will Quince Portrait Will Quince
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Representing the garrison city of Colchester, I have nothing but the utmost respect for our armed forces. It has not escaped my notice that many of them are on lower pay than NHS staff and will be giving up their time over Christmas to cover strike action. My right hon. Friend is right that to mitigate the impact of planned industrial action in the ambulance sector, NHS England has explored a range of measures, which include engaging with the Ministry of Defence on military support. As a contingency, a MACA request—a request for military aid to civil authorities—for a limited number of personnel has been submitted to the MOD. It was submitted at the end of last week, and the plan is that MOD personnel will be trained to drive ambulances, but only deployed where they are needed across the country.

Covid-19 Update

Tobias Ellwood Excerpts
Thursday 13th January 2022

(2 years, 2 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Sajid Javid Portrait Sajid Javid
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I hope that the hon. Gentleman heard my earlier comments about the importance of making sure that patients are as safe as possible in health and care settings; I hope that he agrees and therefore understands the new vaccination rules to whose importance he refers.

The hon. Gentleman is right to ask about the planning necessary to cope with the changes. I can reassure him that even before Parliament voted on them, the NHS had started planning in anticipation of its decision. It is working with each and every trust, but is rightly putting in most effort into convincing the 6% of people in NHS trusts who have not yet had a first dose of the covid-19 vaccine to do so. It is working to convince them in a positive way to make that positive choice, with all the information that they need about the vaccines being safe and effective. It is offering them meetings with clinicians, including one-on-one meetings. I hope that the hon. Gentleman supports that approach.

Tobias Ellwood Portrait Mr Tobias Ellwood (Bournemouth East) (Con)
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I very much welcome the reduction of the self-isolation time to five days, which will be appreciated by the hospitality industry, particularly in Bournemouth. I am proud to say that I am a vaccinator in Bournemouth and that tomorrow I will be doing my duty along with thousands of others across the country. It is a critical job if we are to tackle covid-19 and a rewarding one.

The Secretary of State will be aware from his visits that the atmosphere in the temporary hubs is extremely professional but can also be quite quiet and sombre. Will he look at whether the licensing conditions for radio can be lifted? Maybe he could speak to the BBC, Classic FM or Virgin Radio—Chris Evans might even be listening to our debate today. I hope the Secretary of State agrees that radio would help to lift spirits as we go about this important national effort.

Sajid Javid Portrait Sajid Javid
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I thank my right hon. Friend for his support for today’s measures and for being a volunteer vaccinator. People like him up and down the country have come forward in their thousands, especially in the past few weeks as we have made the call for the booster programme. Those volunteers are working alongside the NHS, helped by the soldiers and the military, with whom my right hon. Friend also has direct experience.

I listened carefully to my right hon. Friend’s suggestion, which I think is a very good one. It is not something that I had given any thought to, but I think it is absolutely right that we contact those organisations and see whether they would like to be helpful to our army of vaccinators across the country. It is a very good suggestion; I thank him for it, and we shall try our best to act on it.

Covid-Secure Borders

Tobias Ellwood Excerpts
Tuesday 15th June 2021

(2 years, 9 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Nadhim Zahawi Portrait Nadhim Zahawi
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Well, we shall see. As of today, 30 million-plus people have had two doses. We are at 72 million doses in the United Kingdom, and we aim in the next four weeks to offer the double dose to two thirds of all adults. That is delivery, my friend.

Sometimes taking all the steps necessary means making difficult decisions—not that the Labour party understands these things—such as the Prime Minister’s announcement yesterday of the decision, informed by the data, to pause the move to step 4 of the road map. We are clear that the public expect a clear message that these decisions are based on the science. Public health has always been our No. 1 priority and we will not risk throwing away our hard-won achievements through the vaccination programme that have only been possible through the work of the British people.

Being led by the data and the science has also informed our approach at the border. The Government have put in place some of the most stringent covid border measures in the world. Each of the measures that we have put in place—informed by the latest scientific advice—adds layers of protection against importing the virus, including through reducing the risk of importing new variants.

Tobias Ellwood Portrait Mr Tobias Ellwood (Bournemouth East) (Con)
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May I just praise the work that my hon. Friend is doing? It has been an incredible journey to vaccinate this nation. With his leadership, the team that he has put together have done a massive job. We all know that the way to get out of this dilemma is to vaccinate, so I pay tribute to him for what he has done.

We have spoken much about the Indian variant. Would my hon. Friend take a second or two to talk about a new variant that is coming on the horizon—the echo variant—which has been seen in Nepal?

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Tobias Ellwood Portrait Mr Tobias Ellwood (Bournemouth East) (Con)
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There almost comes a time in these debates at which points are repeated. I shall approach the debate from an internationalist and security perspective.

I intervened on the Minister and mentioned the echo variant. It is absolutely worth stressing the incredible capabilities that we in the UK have in genome sequencing, which mean that we can identify how this virus is changing, but the new variant illustrates how versatile it is in adapting and mutating again and again. We talk of imposing border controls, but we still know so little about this virus, which is why we had five-week increments for easing the restrictions. As my hon. Friend the Member for East Surrey (Claire Coutinho) mentioned in another intervention, even the toughest of border measures in Australia cannot contain its movement.

From a biosecurity perspective we need to learn more about the virus. I take this opportunity to stress the importance of asking China to open up its doors. We still do not know who patient zero was or where ground zero was. The World Health Organisation team was denied access for more than a year. It could not interview the original patients and certainly was not allowed properly to visit the Wuhan Institute of Virology, about which so many questions have now been raised.

The pandemic has shone a light on how frail our world order currently is, with countries retreating from global exposure and becoming more independent, international organisations almost paralysed in their ability to help, and the two most powerful nations—the biggest superpowers—clashing in a war of words rather than collaborating and working together. I therefore congratulate the Government on their G7 summit. The west has been distracted and there has been a lack of unity, but it is starting to regroup, as reflected in the G7 communiqué, which prioritised the need to end the pandemic and prepare for the future. It recognised how OECD countries must help by driving an intensified international effort to vaccinate the world by getting as many safe vaccines to as many people as possible, as fast as possible. The UK is leading that approach through the COVAX initiative, which is absolutely to be welcomed.

At the same time, the G7 will create the appropriate frameworks to strengthen our collective defences against threats to global health by increasing and co-ordinating global manufacturing capability on all continents, improving the warning systems and supporting science to shorten the cycle for the development of safe and effective vaccines. If we do not do that, it will not be the echo, golf or hotel variants but something further down the line that affects us and prevents us from finally turning our back on this pandemic.

The Prime Minister was right to extend the road map, which was created back in February and was always going to be subject to conditions. It was written well before the Indian variant emerged but with new hurdles in mind. In announcing any road map, there is always the risk of disappointment if we have to deviate from it. That is the toughest of calls for any Government to make, with the nation so understandably exhausted and eager to return to normal. The incredible vaccination programme has given us a sense of security and perhaps optimism that we can move forward, but the impact of the Indian variant must be taken seriously, as should the echo variant, about which we still do not know much.

I stress to the Minister and the Government that it is the vaccinations that will get us out of here. I absolutely applaud the work that we are doing internationally, but can we start to move, in September, to vaccinate teenagers as well? Finally, so many people want to travel abroad, so can we co-ordinate efforts and join a travel system with our European partners so that if someone has had two vaccines, they can travel unimpeded and holiday abroad?

Covid-19 Update

Tobias Ellwood Excerpts
Monday 17th May 2021

(2 years, 10 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Nigel Evans Portrait Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)
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The time limit in the Queen’s Speech debate following this statement will start at five minutes, but I am sure it will go down thereafter.

Tobias Ellwood Portrait Mr Tobias Ellwood (Bournemouth East) (Con)
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I look forward to welcoming my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State when he visits the vaccination hub in Bournemouth. Today’s partial liberation of covid restrictions will be welcome up and down the country, and not least in Bournemouth where hospitality and tourism are so important, but the development of yet another mutation in the Indian variant illustrates that until this pandemic is brought under control globally, other more deadly mutations may develop. Does my right hon. Friend agree that this is a shared global adversary? Will it be raised at the G7 summit, and when does he think our spare vaccine capacity can start to be directed abroad?

NHS Staff Pay

Tobias Ellwood Excerpts
Monday 8th March 2021

(3 years ago)

Commons Chamber
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Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.

Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.

This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record

Helen Whately Portrait Helen Whately
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As I say, this discussion is against the backdrop of many people receiving a pay cut in parts of our economy, people losing their jobs and a wider pay freeze in the public sector. Against that backdrop, we recognise the enormous work that the NHS workforce have done, and that is why they are exempt from the pay freeze and will be getting a pay rise.

Tobias Ellwood Portrait Mr Tobias Ellwood (Bournemouth East) (Con)
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I thank the Chancellor for the scale of economic intervention that he has provided for businesses and livelihoods in these unprecedented times, and I join others in paying tribute to our incredible NHS staff; the nation owes them a debt of gratitude for what they have done and continue to do. I understand that no decision on NHS pay will be made until May. Will the Minister wait for and heed the advice of the independent pay review body before confirming the scale of the pay rise that NHS staff can expect?

Covid-19 Update

Tobias Ellwood Excerpts
Tuesday 2nd February 2021

(3 years, 1 month ago)

Commons Chamber
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Matt Hancock Portrait Matt Hancock
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We have taken action very rapidly when we have seen rises in cases. The most recent example here in England was, of course, right at the start of this year, when we saw the sharp spike in cases and took very rapid action to close schools after some of them had been open for just one day. We do not take such measures lightly and we understand the impact that they have, but they were absolutely necessary.

Tobias Ellwood Portrait Mr Tobias Ellwood (Bournemouth East) (Con)
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I congratulate my right hon. Friend and the entire team on doing such a phenomenal job in rolling out the life-saving vaccine right throughout the country. It is not, though, in our interest or indeed our character to become a vaccinated island; we have both the means and the desire to help others who do not have such advanced public health infrastructure systems as ours. We are heavily involved in COVAX, Gavi and the encouraging of global vaccine disbursement, but I invite the Secretary of State to go a step further and work with the Secretary of State for Defence and the Foreign Secretary to allocate overseas funds to create an international vaccination taskforce, utilising RFA Argus, our hospital ship, and other military assets to assist practically with the international roll-out of vaccines to developing countries. The UK set an example by stepping forward during the Ebola crisis; I hope we can do the same again today.

Matt Hancock Portrait Matt Hancock
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I would be happy to talk to the Secretary of State for Defence about that idea, because we are leaning into the global vaccination effort, not just with the funding to COVAX and Gavi that my right hon. Friend mentioned but with practical support—including, of course, the Oxford vaccine itself, which is the most deployable vaccine and the only one currently being used that has been distributed at cost. AstraZeneca took the decision to license the Oxford vaccine around the world at cost rather than making a profit on it and should be commended for that.

Covid-19 Update

Tobias Ellwood Excerpts
Monday 14th December 2020

(3 years, 3 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Matt Hancock Portrait Matt Hancock
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Believe me, I would love to be able to answer that question. We do not know, because it depends on the speed of manufacture of the vaccines and the approval or not of the Oxford vaccine by the MHRA. But the essence of the way that my hon. Friend asks the question is exactly how we are thinking about it in Government.

Tobias Ellwood Portrait Mr Tobias Ellwood (Bournemouth East) (Con)
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I echo the request from my hon. Friend the Member for West Dorset (Chris Loder) for Dorset and indeed Bournemouth to be considered to be moved to tier 1. The stats support this, and the hospitality industry would be most grateful. While 2020 has been the most testing of years, 2021 should be different because of the vaccine. My concern is that letting down our guard for five days during Christmas could be very dangerous indeed. Will the Secretary of State review those conditions, which were put together some time ago, and come back to the House to present an updated version so that we do not begin the new year with a third wave?

Matt Hancock Portrait Matt Hancock
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I take my right hon. Friend’s views on this very seriously. I would say to everybody in Bournemouth and across the country that the best way they can help their area to go into a lower tier is by exercising personal restraint—not seeing the rules as something to push against but rather acting well within them as much as possible to ensure that this virus does not spread.

Covid-19 Update

Tobias Ellwood Excerpts
Monday 5th October 2020

(3 years, 5 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Matt Hancock Portrait Matt Hancock
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As I have said, we have been putting the extra money into local councils, as well as using, frankly, all the tools at our disposal, public or private sector—whether people are in the NHS, PHE, a local council or a firm that can bring a capability to bear on this problem. It is one big team effort.

Tobias Ellwood Portrait Mr Tobias Ellwood (Bournemouth East) (Con)
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Talking of tools at my hon. Friend’s disposal, Bournemouth University stands ready to help with lab testing. However, it is covid testing in schools that I would like to address. Today the rules state that the entire year group must stay out of school for 14 days if one of the pupils in it tests positive. That causes huge disruption not only to learning, but to working parents, who have to provide childcare. With better testing systems now in place, please can we review this 14-day rule that sends entire year groups home, so that we can keep children both safe and in school?

Matt Hancock Portrait Matt Hancock
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I would love to be able to review that, but only when it is clinically safe to do so. However, I would just point out to both my right hon. Friend and also to all those in education who are following this, including in schools across Bournemouth, that schools do not necessarily have to send the whole year group home; they have to send the bubble home. By ensuring that the way in which they operate keeps people safe, schools can ensure that bubbles are smaller than the whole year group. Many schools do that. The first immediate port of call would be to try to get the bubble smaller within a school, and then we should of course work together on other ways to solve the problem.

Covid-19

Tobias Ellwood Excerpts
Monday 28th September 2020

(3 years, 6 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Tobias Ellwood Portrait Mr Tobias Ellwood (Bournemouth East) (Con)
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My hon. Friend can intervene on me if he likes; I will give way to him.

I join others in calling, six months on, for this place to have greater oversight as we deal with this pandemic. We face six more months of hardship, and it is absolutely right that this Parliament should play its role in scrutinising the Executive.

I would like to focus on the roll-out of a vaccine. That may seem a little premature, given that we are contemplating a second wave of the pandemic and further economic intervention, but a vaccine is potentially six months away. China is already mass producing a product, and it has another 10 others online. Oxford is heading into its phase 3 tests, with tens of thousands of people being tested, and other institutions around the globe are doing the same.

The scale and complexity of the challenge is up there with the D-day landings and Dunkirk. To put it politely, we must learn the lessons of the PPE roll-out, testing and track and trace. Mass vaccine roll-out is an enormous responsibility, and we need to get it right. Planning must start immediately, and I have written to the Prime Minister recommending that he consider calling on the Ministry of Defence to establish a small taskforce, led by a senior empowered voice of authority, to begin the planning and design of a draft blueprint. The armed forces have the capacity, the logistical experience and the national reach to take on this mammoth, incredible task, and they are not overburdened by any current duties involving tackling covid-19.

Let us pause to consider what is involved: the logistics of shifting millions of refrigerated vaccines across the country; creating regional distribution hubs, which then feed into mobile testing centres; developing a national database to track progress and issue vaccination certificates, which will probably have to be internationally recognised in order to allow international travel; establishing an order of priority for who receives the vaccine first—key workers, the vulnerable and teachers, for example—and answering more detailed questions about potentially using schools to vaccinate children. All those things must be planned for. With the co-ordination of Whitehall Departments, local authorities, the private sector, policing and security to consider, as well as military support, I hope I make the case for why we need to start thinking about this now.

I believe that the biggest challenge will be in managing the transition period—potentially up to a year—when parts of our society have been liberated from the threat of covid-19 and seek to return to normality, but those who have yet to be vaccinated are still subject to social distancing rules. We need to get the planning right today so we can avoid the logistical challenges that we suffered with PPE and testing. In the spirit of global Britain, we can then share our blueprint and plans with other nations, especially those without such advanced logistical capabilities as ours.

I stress that there is huge scope for this to go wrong if we do not start to plan now. The west was slow to understand the impact of the pandemic, the pace at which it moved through society and its lethality, but Britain has an opportunity to be an exemplar in the management of covid-19’s departure. Let us task the Ministry of Defence now, appoint a leader to plan and prepare for this complex and critical national project, and ensure that we efficiently defeat this pandemic when we are finally armed with a workable vaccine.

Eleanor Laing Portrait Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)
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Before I call the next hon. Member, I should warn the hon. Member for Heywood and Middleton (Chris Clarkson) and all those who will follow that I have to reduce the time limit to four minutes, which is still a long time.