Asked by: John Redwood (Conservative - Wokingham)
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 to strengthen infection control in hospitals treating covid-19 cases.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
National Health Service infection prevention and control (IPC) principles are applicable to all healthcare staff in all healthcare settings. The IPC measures recommended are underpinned by the National Infection Prevention and Control Manual practice guide and associated literature reviews and are aligned with World Health Organization guidance. The guidance sets out safe systems of working to reduce the risk of transmitting infection, including through administrative, environmental and engineering controls, as well as interventions such as cleaning and decontamination of the environment and shared equipment, social/physical distancing, hand hygiene personal protective equipment and ventilation.
The Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) completed its investigation into how hospitals can minimise the risk of patients catching COVID-19 on acute hospital wards. The HSIB has produced safety recommendations at a national level, as well as practical advice for trusts.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the Health and Safety Executive's response is to representations made to it by the Road Haulage Association on tightening guidance on the provision of toilet facilities to visiting truck drivers; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Early in the pandemic, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) produced guidance for drivers which can be found at https://www.hse.gov.uk/coronavirus/drivers-transport-delivery.htm. In addition, HSE published a joint letter with the Department for Transport on gov.uk in May 2020, reminding businesses of their legal obligation to provide toilet and handwashing facilities to drivers visiting their premises to deliver or collect goods as part of their work. The joint letter is available to download and print, via the following link:
This guidance continues to be reinforced with messages (for example that HSE is checking businesses in the transport sector are COVID-secure – https://press.hse.gov.uk/2020/11/23/hse-is-checking-businesses-in-the-transport-sector-are-covid-secure/ to explain expectations on businesses).
In mid-July 2020 HSE clarified that visiting workers must be allowed access to toilets in both their cleaning and hygiene guidance (https://www.hse.gov.uk/coronavirus/cleaning/bathrooms-toilets-washbasins.htm) and social distancing guidance (https://www.hse.gov.uk/coronavirus/social-distancing/common-areas.htm)
HSE has engaged extensively with industry associations and trade unions to set out the legal requirements. They used their communications channels including social media and newsletters to engage with stakeholders directly, and last year worked with other agencies such as Highways England and police forces to amplify our messaging on access to welfare facilities via their social media channels.
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department has taken to protect the safety of (a) frontline workers in the justice sector and (b) prisoners during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Government is very clear that our frontline staff are vital key workers, and they are going above and beyond the call of duty to keep the public, their colleagues, and service users safe . While we rightly celebrate our heroes in the NHS during this challenging period, our hidden heroes in the justice sector understandably can sometimes feel forgotten, and we extend our gratitude to all our leaders and staff for their bravery and dedication to public service.
The safety of our staff and service users remains our top priority. We are doing all that we can to be flexible and to support those who are more vulnerable to Covid-19, whether this be through age or an underlying health condition.
We continue to work with DHSC and the Welsh Government, to ensure that appropriate testing is made available to court, prison, and probation staff, to those service users in our care, and to those within our buildings.
In the prison system we continue to manage the risk to establishments through the use of cohorting and compartmentalisation, routine staff testing, and testing prisoners on both reception and transfer. Social distancing and basic hygiene are also used to reduce transmission and we continue to provide access to cleaning and hygiene products in prisons. We are following the public health advice on the use of medical face masks alongside other items of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) where close contact is sustained, essential and unavoidable. We also continue to operate reduced regimes, specifically designed with PHE, to reduce contact and support social distancing in prisons.
Probation staff and service users are already able to access testing as needed if they display any COVID-19 symptoms, and this will link them into the NHS Test and Trace system if they test positive. We will continue to work with DHSC and Welsh Government, to ensure that appropriate testing is made available to probation staff and service users. We have introduced regular asymptomatic testing of staff and residents in Approved Premises to limit the spread of the virus and protect the local NHS, and are rolling out lateral flow testing to all of our staff who cannot work from home.
In courts, we are spending £113m on a range of emergency measures to tackle the impact of COVID-19, and £142m to improve court and tribunal buildings and roll out new technology. This has enabled remote hearings where possible, and safety controls in every building for cases that need physical hearings. Safety controls include limitations on the number of people on sit, plexiglass screens, face coverings, and regular cleaning, to name just a few. Everything we do is kept under regular review and we continue to work closely with public health colleagues as part of that effort.
Asked by: John Redwood (Conservative - Wokingham)
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 (a) issue guidance on and (b) undertake modifications to hospitals in respect of reducing the risk of infection through (i) air flow and (ii) heating systems in those buildings.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The current National Health Service infection prevention control principles are applicable to all healthcare staff in all healthcare settings. The guidance is available the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/wuhan-novel-coronavirus-infection-prevention-and-control
The guidance sets out safe systems of working including administrative, environmental and engineering controls as well as interventions to reduce the risk of transmission of infection. This includes cleaning and decontamination of the environment and shared equipment, social/physical distancing, hand hygiene personal protective equipment and ventilation.
Asked by: Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps are being taken to promote the availability of hand sanitiser in buses, taxis and other modes of public transport.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Department has outlined, through guidance to operators, ways they can help reduce the spread of Covid-19 on the public transport network and boost confidence in the traveling public. These measures include increasing cleaning particularly in high touch areas, encouraging good hand hygiene and providing hand sanitiser at building entry/exit points.
Hand sanitiser points are available at most of the busiest stations. Hand sanitiser points have also been maintained across the 300 most used train stations, as well as 1000 units across the London Tube and Surface Transport network.
Asked by: Stephen Doughty (Labour (Co-op) - Cardiff South and Penarth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to taken to ensure the biosecurity of aircraft crews that may have been in a country on the red list during the covid-19 pandemic in the last 14 days.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The Government has put in place robust border measures to prevent people travelling into the UK if they have Covid-19, including the requirement to present a negative Covid-19 test before departure. An entry ban is currently in place for the 33 countries identified as high risk (otherwise known as the ‘red list’), as well as direct flight ban for 7 of these countries.
The Government has worked with the travel industry to put in place safer travel guidance for both operators and passengers.
This guidance is clear that robust social distancing, regular cleaning, and good hand and respiratory hygiene are the best ways of protecting against the transmission of coronavirus.
Where this may not be possible - such as on board an aircraft - airlines are advised to carry out a risk assessment and implement appropriate risk controls. For example, wearing a face covering can play a role in helping to protect passengers and crew, which is now mandatory.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has in place to make schools covid-19 secure when they reopen to students.
Answered by Nick Gibb
At each stage of its response to the COVID-19 outbreak, the Government has listened to and acted on the latest medical and scientific advice. The Government has always been clear that it will not hesitate to take swift and decisive action to control the virus and save lives.
The way to control this virus is the same, even with the current new variants. Current evidence suggests that the Public Health England-endorsed ‘system of controls’, that has been in use throughout the autumn term and which is set out in guidance, continues to be the right measures to take. This includes minimising contact with individuals who are unwell, use of face coverings in corridors and communal areas, cleaning hands and good respiratory hygiene, regular thorough cleaning of the school, minimising contact, ventilation and use of personal protective equipment where specifically advised. The latest schools’ guidance is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/957766/Restricting_attendance_during_the_national_lockdown-_schools.pdf.
Schools will already be familiar with much of this guidance, which they have been implementing since the start of the autumn term. If schools continue to assess risk and implement the measures set out in the guidance, they will effectively reduce risks in their school and create an inherently safer environment.
The Department will continue to keep our guidance and advice to schools under review to help ensure they remain as safe as possible.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to help ensure the safety of staff at early years settings during the covid-19 lockdown announced in January 2021.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Early years settings remain low risk environments for children and staff. The department has worked collaboratively with Public Health England (PHE) to develop a system of controls which, when implemented in line with a revised risk assessment, create an environment where the risk of transmission of infection is substantially reduced for children and staff.
Current evidence suggests that the PHE endorsed ‘system of controls’ that have been in use throughout the COVID-19 outbreak continue to be the right measures to take. These are set out in ‘Actions for early years and childcare providers during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak’, which includes:
Further guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-early-years-and-childcare-closures/coronavirus-covid-19-early-years-and-childcare-closures.
Settings must comply with health and safety law, which requires them to assess risks and put in place proportionate control measures. Settings should thoroughly review their health and safety risk assessment and draw up plans on re-opening, in the event that they have to close. Settings should have active arrangements in place to monitor that the controls are effective, working as planned, and updated appropriately, for example when any issues are identified, or when there are changes in public health advice.
When conducting risk assessments, settings should ensure consideration is given to staff and children with protected characteristics from groups where a disparity has been shown by the review of disparities in risks and outcomes (for example, age and sex, where someone lives, deprivation, ethnicity and/or people’s occupation).
The department is continuing to work closely with colleagues across government and local authorities to secure the most effective approach to asymptomatic testing for the whole of the early years sector. We are rolling out our asymptomatic testing programme to primary schools with deliveries of test kits which started from the week commencing 18 January 2021. The Department for Education’s asymptomatic testing programme will offer all primary school, schools-based nursery and maintained nursery school staff home lateral flow device test kits for twice weekly testing. This will help to break the chains of transmission of COVID-19 in education settings by identifying asymptomatic positive cases. Those who test positive will then self-isolate, helping to reduce transmission of the virus.
In addition, community testing programmes are currently being rolled out across the country. They are led by local authorities and provide asymptomatic testing through testing sites based in the local community. This testing is primarily focused on those who have to leave home to work during lockdown, with local authorities able to focus on the right people in their areas and decide how the testing is best delivered. The purpose is to help people who are playing essential roles to keep the country going, and to give them knowledge to protect themselves, loved ones and colleagues. Local authorities are in different stages of delivering community testing. We have encouraged local authorities to prioritise early years for community testing.
Early years staff, as critical workers, continue to have priority access to Department of Health and Social Care-led symptomatic polymerase chain reaction testing via the online portal: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-getting-tested.
We are having ongoing discussions about providing testing via the education testing programme as well as encouraging local authorities to consider prioritising appropriate testing for private, voluntary and independent settings and childminders via the community testing programme, which is being rolled out to all local authorities. Furthermore, regarding vaccinations, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advises that the first priorities for the COVID-19 vaccination programme should be the prevention of mortality and the maintenance of the health and social care systems. As the risk of mortality from COVID-19 increases with age, prioritisation is primarily based on age.
Under the priority groups for the first phase of vaccine rollout, those over 50 years of age, and all those 16 years of age and over in a risk group, would be eligible for vaccination within the first phase of the programme. This prioritisation captures almost all preventable deaths from COVID-19.
Regarding the next phase of vaccine rollout, the JCVI have asked that DHSC consider occupational vaccination in collaboration with other government departments. The department is inputting into this cross-governmental exercise.
Asked by: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that NHS estates can reduce the viral load of COVID-19 in the ambient air; and what plans they have to undertake wide-scale deployment of professional high-efficiency particulate air purifiers to reduce the risk of nosocomial infection.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The current National Health Service infection prevention control principles are applicable to all healthcare staff in all healthcare settings.
These set out safe systems of working including administrative, environmental and engineering controls and interventions to reduce the risk of transmission of infection. This includes cleaning and decontamination of the environment and shared equipment, social/physical distancing, hand hygiene, personal protective equipment and ventilation.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what policies are in place to ensure that individual risk assessments for prison staff members are conducted on the basis of input from the individuals concerned.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The safety of our staff and those in our care remains our top priority.
We are clear that staff who live with people who are clinically extremely vulnerable people should work from home wherever possible. If they are unable to work from home, staff will have an individual risk assessment completed by their line manager, over the phone or electronically if necessary, to ensure that appropriate health and safety measures and any reasonable adjustments are in place to protect them in the workplace. Social distancing and basic hygiene are effective controls to reduce transmission and we continue to provide access to the right cleaning and hygiene products in prisons as we move into recovery. We have also worked closely with suppliers to ensure adequate supply of soap, cleaning materials, and personal protective equipment for staff.
Guidance for staff and managers is clear that these risk assessments should be reviewed every 4 weeks, and in a range of situations. These include changes in personal circumstances, management, control measures where they work, the level of risk (such as an outbreak), or a change in published Gov.uk guidance.