Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had discussions with relevant stakeholders on the potential removal of the covid-19 vaccination facility at Askham Bar in York, in the context of Nimbuscare requiring that site for the provision of services; what estimate he has made of the potential cost to the public purse of removing that site from the current provider and installing a replacement site for a new provider; and if he will take steps to prevent this.

Due to the success of the vaccination programme in Humber and North Yorkshire the York Askham Bar facility closed on 16 December 2022. There remains plenty of alternative provision for vaccinations at community pharmacies in the area and no specific consultation was carried out on the closure of this site.

There is no cost to the local vaccination programme of removing the site at Askham Bar, and as there is no current intention to replace this centre with another there are no further costs associated with delivery of the programme.

No assessment has been made. NHS England regional teams have been charged with identifying temporary vaccination sites and have been advised that vaccination sites should where possible use existing National Health Service infrastructure.