Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the the impact of housing of an increased number of asylum seekers in Shrewsbury on the local health economy.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The provision of healthcare for asylum-seekers is the statutory responsibility of the Department of Health and Social Care.
All asylum seekers undergo a health check upon arrival and hospitalised if required. Home Office provides 24/7 health facilities including, vaccinations, trained medical staff and a doctor for those on site.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential occupational health impacts of the proposed increases in housing for asylum seekers in Shrewsbury.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The provision of healthcare for asylum-seekers is the statutory responsibility of the Department of Health and Social Care.
All asylum seekers undergo a health check upon arrival and hospitalised if required. Home Office provides 24/7 health facilities including, vaccinations, trained medical staff and a doctor for those on site.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure people (a) aged over 75 and (b) aged over 75 who require disabled access are able to access local covid-19 booster vaccinations.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
There are many vaccination sites available to help ensure that people aged over 75 years old and those who require disabled access can receive COVID-19 booster vaccinations in a convenient way. Flexible delivery models such walk-in and mobile vaccination clinics are available to increase access and convenience of the vaccination offer for everyone eligible. NHS England continue to do everything to ensure access to COVID-19 vaccination is convenient and easy for all who are eligible, including offering home vaccinations to those who are housebound.
The National Booking Service and 119 telephone service allows people to communicate access requirements to find a vaccination site which meets their needs.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to increase access to dental care for Ukrainian refugees.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Ukrainians in the United Kingdom are guaranteed free access to National Health Service healthcare, including screening, vaccinations, mental health support, dental and hospital services. In September 2022 the Government announced ‘Our plan for patients’ which aims to improve patient access to NHS dental care. This includes access for Ukrainians. Information on how to access NHS dental care is outlined in the Welcome Pack provided to all Ukrainian arrivals.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies on covid-19 vaccinations of the study by Fraiman, J., et al., entitled Serious adverse events of special interest following mRNA COVID-19 vaccination in randomized trials in adults published in the journal Vaccine on 22 September 2022.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Each COVID-19 vaccine candidate is assessed by teams of scientists and clinicians and only authorised once it has met robust standards of safety, quality, and effectiveness set by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
The MHRA and the UK Health Security Agency continuously monitor the safety of all COVID-19 vaccines, including through reviewing all suspected Adverse Drug Reaction reports, and other data from the United Kingdom and internationally. Since the start of the pandemic, the National Institute for Health and Care Research has also allocated more than £110 million in funding for COVID-19 vaccine research, including consideration of vaccine safety.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether counselling support is being provided to children from Afghanistan who are separated from parents who remain in Afghanistan.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
resettled under ACRS and ARAP have been dealt with on a case-by-case basis. Where this has happened, we have worked in close collaboration with social services and the relevant Local Authority.
The Government provides a warm welcome to Afghans arriving in the UK and all guests are registered with a GP or are being helped to do so. A full range of vaccinations are offered, alongside mental health support and other services.
We know just how much of an adjustment Afghan children and young people will be facing. Schools and colleges have access to a range of government support programmes to help children and young people with their mental health and we are rolling out Mental Health Support Teams that work with groups of schools and colleges to identify specialist needs of pupils in their areas.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the statement by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation COVID-19 vaccination programme for 2023: JCVI interim advice, 8 November 2022, what estimate they have made of the number of vaccinations required to prevent a COVID-19 hospital admission for individuals in clinical risk groups, as outlined in the Green Book; and whether they will provide a link to Appendix A of this statement.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The numbers needed to vaccinate (NNV) for the prevention of hospitalisation was calculated to consider the benefits of continued offers of primary vaccination, booster vaccination, the autumn booster and potential boosting in the spring of 2023, for example, for those newly entering a risk group. This calculation estimates the number of people in a particular group who would need to be vaccinated in order to prevent one hospitalisation. The lower the number, the more beneficial vaccination of that group would be.
Strong age effects were seen, as well as large differences within adult ages, by clinical risk group. The oldest age groups and the older individuals in clinical risk groups had the lowest NNV for prevention of hospitalisation. There is also a trend for higher NNV for prevention of hospitalisation when moving from the primary to each booster dose.
The spring 2023 booster is for immunosuppressed people at risk rather than all individuals in a clinical risk group.
The results of NNV by age and clinical risk group are shown in Tables 3b and 4a of Appendix 1, which is attached.
These cover all individuals in a risk group based on analysis of data including the national immunisation register. The NNV has not been broken down into separate clinical risk groups, as outlined in the Green Book.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
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 (a) to tackle vaccine hesitancy in minority communities and (b) with local healthcare partners to help increase uptake of vaccines in minority communities.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
To assess confidence of the public in vaccinations programmes, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) undertakes research to understand how knowledge, beliefs and attitudes towards immunisation, vaccine safety and disease severity influence vaccine uptake decision-making. This includes working with partners in the NIHR Health Protection Research Unit for Vaccines exploring issues within specific minority communities.
Vaccine hesitancy is only part of the issue; ensuring good access to health care, particularly for inclusion health groups who face multiple barriers to care, is also critical. This includes efforts to improve access to mainstream services and specialist outreach services.
Some members of under-served communities can find accessing healthcare and vaccination services more challenging. UKHSA, in partnership with NHS England and the Department, undertakes a range of actions to improve vaccination coverage for all ages in England. This includes initiatives to improve access to the immunisation programme, data to better identify under-served individuals and populations, training for healthcare professionals and communication with the public. To support this, a range of leaflets and other promotional materials are available, in several languages, in print form and for download from our Health Publications website.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 20 March to Question 166115 on Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme, what steps his Department has taken in response to safety concerns about Covid-19 vaccinations as a result of the 23 successful claims in respect of deaths recorded by Coroners as having been caused by a Covid-19 vaccination.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Vaccine safety remains at the forefront of the COVID-19 vaccine programme. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has a robust safety surveillance strategy in place for monitoring the safety of all COVID-19 vaccines approved in the United Kingdom. This includes closely considering all coroners' reports sent to MHRA that list vaccination as a possible contributing factor of death. Coroners' verdicts are part of the wide range of evidence continuously gathered and analysed by MHRA, including self-reporting tools such as the Yellow Card Reporting Scheme.
Should any information indicate a possible new safety concern, the system is well placed to rapidly and thoroughly investigate this, with advice for healthcare professionals and patients updated where appropriate.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to procure flu vaccinations for winter 2023-24.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
For the children’s flu programme, the UK Health Security Agency has contracts in place for the supply of flu vaccines throughout the 2023/24 season.
For all other eligible groups, general practitioners and other providers are responsible for ordering flu vaccines directly from suppliers to deliver the national flu programme.