Contributions
1,745 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARD Covid-19 UpdateOn the right hon. Gentleman’s question about the under-18s, the proof of vaccination for travel is available from today. The individual or the parent can go online and request it,…13 Dec 2021HANSARD Covid-19 UpdateMy right hon. Friend is right to point to the distinction between, sadly, people who die with covid and those who die of covid. There is a difference. I have come to the Dispatch…13 Dec 2021HANSARD Covid-19 UpdateNo, I will not apologise for speeding up the booster programme to protect the health of the British public, and I will not apologise for asking the NHS to make it a priority. If…13 Dec 2021HANSARD Covid-19 UpdateThe UKHSA has removed many so-called providers of PCR tests from the listing on the Government website. It has set a minimum price that must be met to try to avoid misleading…13 Dec 2021HANSARD Covid-19 UpdateIt absolutely is. Work on this is being led by Lucy Chappell, in particular, in my Department and the UKHSA. One of the central focuses of her work has been to encourage more…13 Dec 2021HANSARD Covid-19 UpdateMy hon. Friend is right to talk about the importance of increasing capacity. The pandemic has brought that acutely to the front of our minds. There has been significant investment…13 Dec 2021HANSARD Covid-19 UpdateI am not aware of any plans for any further restrictions. As I told the House from this Dispatch Box last week, we are focused on the regulations that are coming before the House…13 Dec 2021HANSARD Covid-19 UpdateI remind the hon. Gentleman that the Government have already announced the biggest catch-up fund for electives that the country has ever seen in order to deal with that…13 Dec 2021HANSARD Covid-19 UpdateMy understanding is that antibody tests are available for the immunocompromised and the clinically extremely vulnerable if that is what their consultant believes is necessary.13 Dec 2021HANSARD Covid-19 UpdateFirst, I thank my right hon. Friend for being a vaccinator and for all the work he has done personally to help this country get through the pandemic. Of course there is a…13 Dec 2021HANSARD Covid-19 UpdateI welcome that question from my right hon. Friend. What I would say to her is that with the risk we see from omicron at this point in time—the rise in infections, the increased…13 Dec 2021HANSARD Covid-19 UpdateMy hon. Friend speaks with great experience, and he is right to ask how the training programme for vaccinators, especially volunteer vaccinators, can be streamlined. That work is…13 Dec 2021HANSARD Covid-19 UpdateWe will debate the SI in the House, and I shall be happy to talk more about it then, but I think that the number to which my hon. Friend referred is the number of people whom the…13 Dec 2021HANSARD Covid-19 UpdateIt is an important fund, and I will look into that.13 Dec 2021HANSARD Covid-19 UpdateFirst, may I say that I heard your request, Mr Speaker? I am happy to take that up with you directly, if that is okay. I thank the hon. Gentleman for his support of the need to…13 Dec 2021HANSARD Covid-19 UpdateI congratulate my hon. Friend on getting boosted. She may have heard me say earlier that we will be opening many more walk-in and pop-in centres. I have heard her representation…13 Dec 2021HANSARD Covid-19 UpdateThat is not a matter for my Department.13 Dec 2021HANSARD Covid-19 UpdateFirst, I agree with the objection I think the hon. Lady had to vaccine passports as a requirement for people to be vaccinated to enter a high-risk venue. It is important that we…13 Dec 2021HANSARD Covid-19 UpdateWe of course keep under review the support that is available throughout the pandemic. It is important that the House decided to extend the availability of sick pay from day one.…13 Dec 2021HANSARD Covid-19 UpdateI very much agree: the omicron emergency is UK-wide and all parts of the UK should respond by increasing whatever they are doing on the booster programme further. I think that…13 Dec 2021