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, how many claims to the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme relating to covid-19 vaccinations have been (a) received, (b) successful, (c) unsuccessful due to a failure to meet the 60% disability threshold, (d) rejected and (e) are still awaiting resolution.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
As of 31 January 2024, the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS) has received 9172 COVID-19 related claims. Within these claims, 163 have received an award and 4421 have been rejected. Of these rejected claims: 300 claims were rejected for not meeting the 60% disability threshold; 339 claims were found invalid, either outside the scope of the VDPS or a duplicate claim; and 4249 claims are awaiting resolution.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what discussions he has had with the Scottish Government on the use of electronic communications during the covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Scottish Government’s use of electronic communications is a matter for the Scottish Government.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what rules and regulations apply to the operation of Bounce Back Loan Scheme agreements as of 24 January 2024; and whether lenders may (a) levy fees and (b) charge additional interest under the scheme.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Bounce Back Loan scheme provided financial support to businesses across the UK that faced disruption as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
A lender could provide a six-year term loan from £2,000 up to 25% of a business’ turnover, up to a maximum of £50,000. The scheme gave the lender a full (100%) government-backed guarantee against the outstanding balance of the facility.
As part of the scheme design, no early repayment fees or other lender-levied fees of any type following drawdown were permitted. The Government covered the first 12 months of interest, which meant that borrowers paid 0% interest for the first year. Following that, an interest rate of 2.5% per annum applies.
A list of frequently asked questions is available on the British Business Bank’s website: https://www.british-business-bank.co.uk/ourpartners/coronavirus-business-interruption-loan-schemes/bounce-back-loans/faqs-for-small-businesses/.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made a recent assessment of the potential impact of one-to-one learning for pupils who need to catch up on time missed in school as a result of the covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The department is investing over £1 billion in tutoring via its flagship National Tutoring Programme (NTP). This has seen nearly five million tutoring courses commence since the programme started in November 2020, including over two million in each of the last two academic years. In the current academic year, 346,000 courses have started up to 5 October 2023. Just under half of pupils who have received tutoring are disadvantaged, which means that the programme is disproportionately targeting these pupils.
There is extensive evidence that tutoring is one of the most effective ways to accelerate academic progress. The Education Endowment Foundation has found that, on average, pupils who receive small group tutoring may make four months additional progress. The department’s external evaluation of year two of the NTP, carried out by the National Foundation for Educational Research, shows that School Led Tutoring has had a positive impact on pupil attainment at both key stage 2 and key stage 4.
The department’s Implementation and Process Evaluation for the third year of the programme found that 78 per cent of senior leaders, teachers and tutors perceived that the NTP had a positive impact on pupils’ attainment and that 74 per cent felt the NTP was helping to reduce the attainment gap for disadvantaged pupils.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has had recent discussions with headteachers on the effectiveness of one-to-one learning for pupils who need to catch up on time missed in school as a result of the covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The department is investing over £1 billion in tutoring via its flagship National Tutoring Programme (NTP). This has seen nearly five million tutoring courses commence since the programme started in November 2020, including over two million in each of the last two academic years. In the current academic year, 346,000 courses have started up to 5 October 2023. Just under half of pupils who have received tutoring are disadvantaged, which means that the programme is disproportionately targeting these pupils.
There is extensive evidence that tutoring is one of the most effective ways to accelerate academic progress. The Education Endowment Foundation has found that, on average, pupils who receive small group tutoring may make four months additional progress. The department’s external evaluation of year two of the NTP, carried out by the National Foundation for Educational Research, shows that School Led Tutoring has had a positive impact on pupil attainment at both key stage 2 and key stage 4.
The department’s Implementation and Process Evaluation for the third year of the programme found that 78 per cent of senior leaders, teachers and tutors perceived that the NTP had a positive impact on pupils’ attainment and that 74 per cent felt the NTP was helping to reduce the attainment gap for disadvantaged pupils.
Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the guidance by NICE entitled Covid-19 rapid guideline: managing symptoms (including at the end of life) in the community, NG163, published on 3 April 2020, which medical experts were consulted during the commissioning process.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guideline NG163, published in 2020, was commissioned in accordance with an established agreement between NHS England and NICE. The focus at that time was given to providing rapid guidance on the management of affected patients with COVID-19. The following organisations were consulted on the guideline:
- Association for Palliative Medicine;
- Palliative Care Formulary;
- Wolfson Palliative Care Research Centre;
- Cicely Saunders Institute;
- NHS England;
- ICU Steps;
- Macmillan Cancer Support;
- Marie Curie;
- National Audit for Care at the End of Life;
- Palliative Care for Wales;
- Royal College of General Practitioners;
- Royal College of Physicians; and
- Sue Ryder.
The following organisations provided general practice consultation on the guidance:
- NICE GP Reference Group; and
- RCGP Network.
A number of NICE’s COVID-19 rapid guidelines were subsequently incorporated into a single guideline, NG191, for the management of COVID-19 in children and adults. The list of panel members for this guideline is available at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng191/documents/register-of-interests-2
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions she has had with pharmaceutical companies on making the Covid vaccine commercially available.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Government is committed to protecting those most at risk from COVID-19 through vaccination, as guided by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). Those eligible receive vaccination for free through the National Health Service. Whether and when a private market for COVID-19 vaccines emerges is a matter for private companies, and the Government has no formal role in this. However, the Government is supportive of the emergence of a private market for COVID-19 vaccines to increase choice for consumers. I have engaged with relevant interested parties who may seek to enter the private market this year, including vaccine manufacturers and pharmacies.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent estimate he has made of the total value of fraudulent claims under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme; and how much and what proportion of those claims the Government has recovered as of 17 January 2024.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Information on His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs estimates regarding the rate of error and fraud for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and the other COVID-19 support schemes administered by HMRC is available at the following link : https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/measuring-error-and-fraud-in-the-covid-19-schemes/error-and-fraud-in-the-covid-19-schemes-methodology-and-approach-an-update-for-2023
Information regarding HMRC’s compliance activity in the COVID-19 support schemes is available at the following link:
committees.parliament.uk/publications/42603/documents/211751/default/
Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much warehouse space was required to house (1) the total contents of the COVID Strategic Intensive Care Unit Reserve on 31 December 2023, and (2) the ventilators that make up part of that reserve.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The warehousing of the COVID Strategic Intensive Care Unit Reserve is managed by NHS Supply Chain on behalf of the Department. The requirement is based on number of pallets. On 31 December 2023, the reserve totalled 29,844 pallets, of which 3,317 related to ventilators.
Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what were the contents of the COVID Strategic Intensive Care Unit Reserve on 31 December 2023.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows the contents of the COVID Strategic Intensive Care Unit Reserve as of the first week of December 2023, the latest period for which data is available:
Equipment | December 2023 |
Enteral feed pumps | 1140 |
Humidifiers | 4714 |
Mechanical ventilator - Anaesthetic | 53 |
Mechanical ventilator - Emergency | 5093 |
Mechanical ventilator - ICU | 3083 |
Mechanical ventilator - Transport | 949 |
Non-invasive Ventilator (NIV) bilevel positive airway pressure (BiPaP) | 3339 |
NIV continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) | 6682 |
NIV high flow nasal oxygen (HFNO) | 187 |
Oxygen concentrators | 2874 |
Oxygen regulators | 1564 |
Patient monitors | 2439 |
Suction pumps | 307 |
Syringe drivers | 21319 |
Volumetric pumps | 1588 |