Mr Speaker
Before I call the Minister to make his statement, I have to say
that I am far from happy that yesterday the House heard from a
Health Minister giving an update with no mention at all of the
NHS pay deal, which is a point of great political interest. I
find it hard to believe that any negotiations were still going on
beyond that time. I urge the Government again to ensure that the
House is the first, not the last, to know. It is not my fault
that the Secretary of State got pinged, and if he wants to make
announcements from his garden, he can do so, but somebody could
have been here and Ministers could have shared that information
with us. Glorying in the sunshine should not detract from this
House hearing an announcement when it is made. It matters to all
of us—we all have hospitals in our constituencies, and we all
have constituents who work for the NHS, so the clear message once
again is that this House should be told. Now then, let us come to
a man who has come to the House to make a statement. I call
Minister to make a statement.
The Minister for Covid Vaccine Deployment ()
Thank you, Mr Speaker, and may I offer the apologies of the
Secretary of State and the Department of Health and Social Care
on the inability of the Department to make a statement on the
acceptance by the independent pay review body that NHS staff
should get 3%? I hope you will accept my apology on behalf of the
Secretary of State, as he is self-isolating.
Mr Speaker
I really do appreciate that, and the Minister is so courteous,
but it makes it worse that a Minister was actually at the
Dispatch Box when all that was going on outside, and for them to
turn to the House and say, “I can’t tell you”—not “I don’t know”,
but “I can’t tell you”—is even more worrying.
You make a very powerful point, Mr Speaker.
Before I turn to my remarks today, I want to say something to
you, Mr Speaker. I want to take a moment ahead of the House
rising for the summer recess to thank you, sir, and everyone who
works here in Parliament, your whole team, for everything you
have done to keep us all safe over the past few months. The fact
that we have kept our democracy running, and running safely, at
this time of crisis is an incredible achievement, and we are all
extremely grateful to you and your team.
With permission, Mr Speaker, I would like to make a statement on
the covid-19 pandemic. This week, we have taken a decisive step
forward, taking step 4 on our road map and carefully easing more
of the restrictions that have governed our daily lives. Although
we are moving forward, we must remember that we are doing so with
caution, because the pandemic is not yet over. The average number
of daily cases in England is around 41,000 and hospitalisations
and deaths are rising too, although at a much lower level than
when we had that number of cases during previous waves. So even
as we take step 4, we urge everyone to think about what they can
do to make a real difference.
Today, we are launching a new campaign to encourage everyone to
keep taking the little steps that have got us this far, such as
wearing face coverings in crowded public areas, making sure that
rooms are well ventilated and getting regular rapid tests. We are
also supporting businesses and organisations, helping them to
manage the risk of transmission within their venues, including
through the use of the NHS covid pass for domestic use. I know
that this has been of great interest to Members and want to use
this opportunity to reiterate the policy and offer the House the
chance to have its say.
This week, after a successful trial, we have rolled out the NHS
covid pass, which allows people safely and securely to
demonstrate their covid status, whether that is proof of
vaccination status, test results or natural immunity. Anyone can
access a pass via the NHS app, the NHS website or by calling 119
and asking for a letter to demonstrate vaccine status. People
will also be able to demonstrate proof of a negative test result.
Although we do not encourage its use in essential settings such
as supermarkets, other businesses and organisations in England
can adopt the pass as a means of entry, where it is suitable for
their venue or premises and when they can see its potential to
keep their clients or customers safe. For proprietors of venues
and events where large numbers are likely to gather and mix with
people from outside their household for prolonged periods,
deploying the pass is the right thing to do. The pass has an
important role to play in slowing the spread of the virus, so we
reserve the right to mandate its use in future.
Next, I wish to update the House on vaccination as a condition of
entry. We all know the benefits that both doses of a vaccine can
bring. Data from Public Health England estimates that two doses
of a covid vaccine offers protection of around 96% against
hospitalisation. Today, we have new data from Public Health
England that estimates that the vaccination programme in England
alone has prevented 52,600 hospitalisations. That is up 6,300
from two weeks ago and is a fitting example of the protective
wall that our vaccination programme has given us—a wall that is
getting stronger every day. That protection has allowed us
carefully to ease restrictions over the past few months, but we
must do so in a way that is mindful of the benefits that both
doses of the vaccine can bring. This strategy—this
philosophy—will underpin our approach over the critical next few
months.
This week, as part of our step 4 measures, we allowed fully
vaccinated adults and all children to return from amber-list
countries without quarantine—with the exception of those
returning from France, because of the persistent presence of
cases of the beta variant. From 16 August, children, under-18s
and people who are fully vaccinated will no longer need to
self-isolate as contacts, given their reduced risk of catching
and passing on the disease.
As I said when I updated the House on Monday, at the end of
September we plan to make full vaccination a condition of entry
to those high-risk settings where large crowds gather and
interact. By that point everyone aged 18 and over will have had
the chance to be fully vaccinated, so everyone will have had the
opportunity to gain the maximum possible protection.
As a condition of entry to such venues, people will have to show
that they are fully vaccinated, and proof of a negative test will
no longer be sufficient. This is not a step that we take lightly,
but throughout the pandemic, like Governments across the world—in
Singapore, Australia, Germany and France—we have had to adapt our
approach to meet the threats of this deadly virus. This step is
no different. We will always keep all our measures under review,
with the goal of returning to the freedoms we love and cherish.
We should all be proud of the enthusiasm for and uptake of our
vaccination programme. Now, 88% of all adults have had a first
dose and 69% have had both. That uptake means that the latest
Office for National Statistics data shows that nine in 10 adults
now have covid-19 antibodies. However, there are still many
people who are unprotected, including 34% of people aged 18 to 29
who have not had either dose. Ahead of the summer recess, I would
like once again to urge everyone to come forward and get both
doses, to protect themselves and to protect their loved ones and
their community.
Our battle against this virus is not the kind of battle where we
can simply declare victory and move on with our lives. Instead,
we must learn to live with the virus, doing whatever we can to
slow its spread while we maintain the vital defences that will
keep us safe. That is exactly what this Government will do and I
commend the statement to the House.
10:46:00
(Leicester South) (Lab/Co-op) [V]
I thank the Minister for advance sight of his statement. Let us
be frank: it was a shambles yesterday. It was an insult to the
House and a let-down for health and care staff.
Ministers have been dragged kicking and screaming to this 3%
settlement. Can the Minister accept—and does he accept—that it is
not an NHS-wide settlement, as it does not cover the health and
care workforce who do not fall under the pay review body? For
example, it does not cover our junior doctors who have had an
intense year caring for sick patients on ventilators, who have
been redeployed to other sites across the NHS and who have seen
their training disrupted. Will the junior doctors get a pay rise,
especially given that the pay review body, in paragraph 10.6 of
its report, urges the Government to recognise the role of doctors
who are out of scope? Will all health staff who work in public
health receive the settlement? Care workers are obviously not
covered by the pay review, and we know how valuable they are, so
will care workers finally get the real living wage that they
deserve?
How will the pay settlement be funded? NHS trusts do not even
know what their budget will be beyond September. The Health
Secretary has said that the pay settlement costs £2.2 billion, so
where is that £2.2 billion coming from? Is he expecting trusts
and general practice to find it from their existing budgets? At a
time when the NHS is in a summer crisis, with covid admissions
increasing and more patients on ventilators in hospitals, with
operations being cancelled again and waiting times growing
because of the pressures the NHS is under, rather than getting a
funded settlement for the NHS we have seen this week briefing and
counter-briefing from the Health Secretary, the Chancellor and
Downing Street about what may or may not be coming for health and
social care.
The NHS needs more investment now to cope with the pressures that
it is under. Will the Minister confirm that the Government will
break their manifesto pledge to increase national insurance, or
is the Business Secretary correct in what he said this morning?
He said:
“I don’t see how we could increase national insurance”.
The Prime Minister promised, on the steps of Downing Street two
years ago this Saturday, that he would have a social care plan,
but this is not a plan for health and social care; it is a
Government in disarray.
That brings me on to the so-called “endemic” problems of
isolation. The problems of isolation that we are seeing are a
symptom of what happens when Ministers allow infections to get
out of control. The Government are apparently U-turning today and
agreeing a list of workers who could be exempt from isolation,
based on a negative PCR test. With infections running at more
than 50,000 a day, and possibly on the way up to 100,000 a day,
can the Minister absolutely guarantee that PCR testing capacity
will be available to cope with the inevitable increased demand
this summer?
If the Minister wants to avoid shutting society down, he needs to
bring infections down, so why have the Government ruled out
extending statutory sick pay to the lowest-paid, and what is he
doing to drive up the vaccination rate among younger adults? He
knows that allowing infections to rise among that cohort sets his
vaccination programme back, given that somebody has to wait 28
days post-infection for vaccination.
Today the Minister has repeated his support for vaccine
passports. Can he explain why he thinks it is safe to go out
clubbing into the early hours this Friday, but in September it is
only safe to go out clubbing if everybody is double-jabbed? Can
he confirm when the relevant statutory instrument will be laid,
and when the vote will be on introducing those passports?
The Minister has a proposal for nightclubs in September, but does
he have a proposal for schools in September? A million children
have been off school recently, so, as we asked him on Monday,
will he use this summer to install air filtration units in
schools in time for September, and is he considering bringing
mask-wearing back in schools?
Finally, Mr Speaker, may I, like the Minister and others across
the House, thank you, and all the staff especially, for the
extraordinary work that you have put in, in these last 12 months,
to ensure the smooth running of Parliament in these most
unprecedented of circumstances? I hope you are all able to have a
suitable rest over the summer recess.
The right hon. Gentleman asks who is included in the 3% pay rise
recommended by the independent NHS Pay Review Body. They are the
1 million NHS staff, including nurses, paramedics, consultants
and, of course, salaried GPs. The junior doctors he mentions have
a separate, multi-year pay rise over three years, amounting to
8%.
The right hon. Gentleman asks about the capacity for testing. I
looked at that before coming to the House, and the capacity
currently for PCR tests is not 600,000 but 640,000 a day,
according to the latest data that I looked at. He asks about
schools. There will be two supervised tests for schools. He knows
that in Monday’s statement we announced our acceptance of the
JCVI guidelines on vaccinating vulnerable children, vaccinating
children who live with vulnerable adults, and vaccinating those
who are 17 but within three months of their 18th birthday. The
JCVI will keep under review the vaccination of healthy children
as more data becomes available from countries such as the United
States of America and Israel.
The right hon. Gentleman asked a question around the covid
vaccination pass and nightclubs, other crowded unstructured
indoor settings such as music venues, large unstructured outdoor
events such as business events and festivals, and very large
structured events, such as business events, music and spectator
sport events. They are the ones that we are most concerned about.
We have seen other countries, whether it is Holland or Italy,
opening nightclubs and having to reverse that decision rapidly.
What we are attempting to do, and the reason we have the covid
vaccination pass in place, is to work with industry while we give
people over the age of 18 the chance to become double-vaccinated.
It would be hugely unfair to bring in that policy immediately.
Giving people until the end of September is the right thing to
do, while at the same time allowing businesses to open safely,
using the app now—because the app went live and the industry is
very much engaging with it.
There are no easy decisions on anything to do with this virus.
That is the one thing we have learned. The most effective tool we
have against the virus is, of course, the vaccine programme,
followed by the tool of self-isolation. If we want to get back to
normal and get our lives back, we need to transition this virus
from pandemic to endemic—from pandemic to manageable menace—as
quickly and as safely as possible. If we release all restrictions
now, including self-isolation, which I am sure a number of
colleagues will ask about today, we risk the number of
infections, which the shadow Secretary of State worries about as
I do, rising rapidly. That could risk the transition of this
virus.
We are working flat out with industry. I commend companies such
as Lidl, which knows it is under pressure but will work through
it with us. We will allow critical, frontline and key workers and
health and social care workers to get back to work if they take a
negative test, as I announced on Monday. By 16 August, everyone
who is double-vaccinated will be able to do that.
(South West Surrey) (Con)
May I start by wishing you and your family a ping-free summer, Mr
Speaker? Thank you for upholding the values of this House over
the past few months.
The Minister of State will have heard of YouGov, which said this
week that a tenth of the people who had the NHS covid app have
deleted it, and that a further fifth are considering doing so.
Given that he made his living from listening to public opinion,
does he not think it is time for the Government to listen to
public opinion and immediately scrap the 10-day isolation
requirement for double-jabbed people who are pinged, in favour of
having to isolate until they take a negative PCR test? Otherwise
we risk losing social consent for this very important weapon
against the virus.
With your permission, Mr Speaker, I would briefly like to ask you
about the issue we were not able to ask Ministers about in the
House yesterday, which is the decision on NHS pay. I support the
decision to accept the pay review body’s recommendations. It is
the right thing to do, but it costs £1.5 billion. Can the
Minister confirm it will not be paid for by cuts to other parts
of the NHS budget? If it is going to be funded through a new
national insurance rise for health and social care, as The Times
says today, will he confirm that the funding for social care will
be ring-fenced, so that we do not have a situation in which
social care, once again, loses out because of pressures in the
NHS?
Mr Speaker
The right hon. Gentleman said “you,” but I was not responsible
for the decision yesterday.
I will take those questions in reverse order. I thank the
Chairman of the Select Committee, my right hon. Friend the Member
for South West Surrey (), for his always diligent and thoughtful questions. As
he will know, we gave the NHS in England an historic settlement
in 2018 that will see its budget rise by £33.9 billion by
2023-24. We have provided over £27 billion to support the NHS in
England since the start of the pandemic, including £9.7 billion
so far for 2021-22. We will continue to make sure the NHS has
everything it needs to continue supporting its staff and
providing excellent care to the public, throughout the pandemic
and beyond.
My right hon. Friend specifically asked about social care, and I
know the Secretary of State and the Prime Minister are committed
to making sure we deliver on our social care promise by the end
of this year.
Public compliance is incredibly important, and I thank each and
every person who has come forward and got themselves protected.
Over the past few days, we have seen an almost doubling of the
number of people going on to the NHS website to book
appointments. There has almost been a doubling of appointments,
too, which is incredible, considering where we are at the
moment—we are almost touching 90% of all adults. These are the
hard yards, and people are still coming forward.
There are no easy decisions on this, as I said in answer to the
shadow Health Secretary. We know that our most effective tool is
the vaccination, but the second most effective is self-isolation.
We are attempting to transition this virus from pandemic to
endemic status. If we allow all these things to happen too
rapidly and people then decide not to self-isolate, we run the
risk of infection rates running away with us and challenging the
strategy of our being the first major economy to transition. So
we are working with business, and we are working flat out with
the frontline critical infrastructure and key workers to get that
guidance out. I am sure that colleagues in this House will be the
first to receive it—I will make sure of that, even during recess.
(Central
Ayrshire) (SNP) [V]
I wish you, colleagues and all the House staff a safe and happy
summer recess, Mr Speaker. Clearly, vaccination is critical to
fighting this pandemic. We all need to encourage uptake among
younger adults, but is the Minister in a position to guarantee
sufficient supplies of Pfizer or Moderna vaccines to vaccinate
them before the end of September? Whether this is done legally,
as in the case of care homes staff, or through excluding people
from social activities, does he recognise that making vaccination
mandatory can increase distrust among those who are hesitant and
drive them to become outright vaccine refusers? Despite the talk
about caution, covid cases in England were already surging when
the Government ploughed ahead with lifting all legal restrictions
on Monday. Although vaccination has reduced the hospitalisation
rate to between 2% and 3%, the Secretary of State suggested that
covid cases could soar to 100,000 a day, which would result in
2,000 to 3,000 admissions, which is similar to what happened in
the first wave. Does the Minister really not recognise that that
would put health services under enormous pressure and cause the
patient backlog to grow further? Are the Government even
considering the impact of uncontrolled virus spread on vulnerable
people, the incidence of long covid or the risk of generating yet
another variant, with even greater vaccine resistance than delta?
Finally, what contingencies are being put in place in case during
recess the Government need to reintroduce covid restrictions, as
has happened in Israel and the Netherlands?
The hon. Lady makes a number of important points, especially the
final one, where she reminded the House, as I did in my
statement, that a number of countries have opened up and then had
to reverse some of their decisions, which is why we are being
very careful to ensure that this transition is successful and
then that transitioning the virus from pandemic to endemic status
is as successful as possible. She asked about children’s
vaccination. She will know that the Scottish Health Minister,
, has accepted, as the Welsh, Northern Irish and
ourselves in England have done, the JCVI guidelines on
vaccinating vulnerable children, children living with vulnerable
adults and those approaching their 18th birthday. If the JCVI
goes further, as it is reviewing more data on vaccinating all
children, I assure her that we have available the supply of
Pfizer and Moderna to undertake that, while we also continue to
deliver on the double vaccinations of all adults by the end of
September. She asked about the immunosuppressed and of course the
guidelines have gone out on the precautionary measures that
immunosuppressed people would take; similar to the rest of the
country, they should be careful and wear masks in crowded indoor
spaces—there is advice on ventilation as well. The JCVI has gone
further in its interim advice for our booster campaign, where it
has placed the immunosuppressed at the top of the priority list.
That campaign will begin in early September—that is the
operational target we are working to for beginning boosting and
of course co-administering, wherever possible, the flu
vaccination.
(Orkney
and Shetland) (LD)
Given the massive opposition that there is among those who
operate nightclubs and events, the decision of the Government to
make the introduction of covid identity cards voluntary is
probably a sensible one, but may I explore with the Minister what
he means when he says, “We reserve the right to mandate their use
in the future”? We might have hoped, Mr Speaker, that the right
that the Government sought to reserve was the right to seek the
permission of this House to make their use mandatory in the
future. I hope that this was just a small piece of ministerial
arrogance that led the Minister to mis-speak, but I would like
his assurance that we will be given the opportunity to express a
view on this before the mandatory use of covid identity cards is
introduced.
Last week, I asked the Secretary of State for Health and Social
Care a whole range of questions about the practical consequences
of this voluntary scheme. I asked what constituted large events,
who would be the judge of what they were, what was meant by
encouraging businesses, and what would be the consequences for
any businesses that resisted the encouragement from the
Government. The Secretary of State had no answers to those
questions. Will the Minister today answer the questions, if not
necessarily for the benefit of the people in this House, then at
least with a bit of respect to those who operate nightclubs, big
events, restaurants, bars and others who have absolutely no idea
what is going to be required of them?
It is unlike the right hon. Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr
Carmichael) to accuse any colleague of being arrogant, and I
certainly hope that I did not come across as such. He is always
courteous and polite—I have certainly found him to be so over the
years. He asks several important questions. On reserving the
right, the Government will of course come back to the House if
the decision is to mandate the double vaccination requirement for
nightclubs, crowded unstructured indoor settings, large
unstructured outdoor settings and, of course, the very large
events such as business, music hall, and spectator sports events.
In the meantime, we encourage the use of the NHS covid pass in
facilities or at events where people are likely to be in close
proximity to large numbers of people from other households. We
are working with the sector. Indeed, the Under-Secretary of State
for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, my hon. Friend the
Member for Sutton and Cheam (), met
people from the sector yesterday, as he does regularly. The
sector itself will have seen what has happened in other countries
such as the Netherlands. It is in the interests of all of the
sector and of businesses to reopen and reopen permanently, and
not have to open and close, open and close, which is why we are
working with the sector in this period and giving people a chance
to get their double vaccinations by the end of September.
(Forest of Dean) (Con)
Just on that last point about the decision, the statement is very
clear that the Government have decided. It says, “We plan to make
full vaccination a condition of entry”. My reading of that is
that a decision has been taken, so the Government need to come to
the House to ask the House’s permission to legislate; the right
hon. Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr Carmichael) was exactly
right.
May I ask the Minister about the pingdemic? We have just had the
data for last week. More than 600,000 people using the app were
told to self-isolate. The Minister has set out clearly that, on
16 August, the right way to proceed is that those who have been
double vaccinated will be advised to take a PCR test, and, if
that is negative, they can then go about their business,
reflecting the reduced risk of their being infected and therefore
passing on the disease.
In a discussion this morning on the “Today” programme, the
Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
was told that businesses in a key sector were operating in that
way now, with the advice from the app, and he was asked whether
that was appropriate and safe. He said that it was not. If it is
not safe now—I think it is safe—how does it suddenly become safe
on 16 August? Given that it is safe on 16 August, because that is
the Government’s policy, can we not just implement it now? The
danger is that large numbers of people will either delete or stop
listening to the app, and then, when we get to 16 August, they
will not be getting the advice to take a PCR test, and we will
have actually made ourselves less safe and less well protected. I
urge the Minister to think again and to bring it forward now,
because people will then be taking tests when they are advised
to. If he does not do that, people will simply stop listening,
which is very dangerous for public health.
I am grateful for my right hon. Friend’s questions, as always:
challenging but nevertheless the right challenges to think
through. As I said, there are no easy decisions in what we are
attempting to do. We will, I hope, be one of the first nations,
certainly one of the largest economies in the world, that will
see a transition of this virus from pandemic to endemic status—to
manageable menace—through our vaccination programme, which is our
primary tool.
The second most effective method is to make sure that people do
self-isolate: I take on board his point and the point made by my
right hon. Friend the Member for South West Surrey (). That is why we are working flat out with critical
infrastructure and key workers—of course with frontline NHS and
social care staff, as I announced on Monday—to make sure that
people have the ability to do a PCR test and then follow it up
with a week or up to 10 days of daily lateral flow testing
instead of self-isolation for 10 days. The honest truth is that
there are no easy answers, because the very clear clinical advice
and evidence is that if we do not do this carefully and slowly,
we could risk the transition of the virus.
On the requirement around nightclubs by the end of September, I
assure my right hon. Friend that we will be coming back to the
House to make sure that it has an appropriate say on the matter.
As we have seen with this virus in other countries, it is the
right thing to do.
(Strangford) (DUP)
I thank the Minister for his statement and for all that has been
done on the covid-19 vaccine roll-out. The Northern Ireland
Assembly’s Health Minister recently stated that at the end of
July the closure of mass vaccination centres—for example, the SSE
centre in Belfast—will come into force. The Minister in this
House has today taken the opportunity through the press to urge
people one last time to get the vaccine. Has he come to an
assessment on the closure of mass vaccination centres in England,
given the clear success of the vaccination process, and ever
mindful that this autumn we will be doing a covid-19 vaccine
booster process, which, along with the flu process, will add
pressure to the health system? Will he ensure that there are
options in place—for example, pharmacies and community centres—to
bridge the gap?
I thank the hon. Member for his excellent question. He is
absolutely right. We are preparing a pretty ambitious vaccination
programme, beginning in early September, for the covid boost. The
interim advice from the JCVI could adjust as more clinical data
comes through from the cov-boost trials that we are currently
conducting. Wherever possible, we will co-administer flu vaccines
at large scale. My big concern is that we have not had much flu
circulating in communities and we could be in a position where in
a bad flu year we could lose 20,000-plus people. Hence our
ambitions are equally high for flu. We will look to co-administer
wherever possible. We are looking to increase the number of
pharmacies as well. We currently have over 600 pharmacies in the
covid vaccination infrastructure, as well as the brilliant
primary care networks, the hospitals and the vaccination centres.
The cov-boost and the flu process will be equally ambitious as we
look at the whole of the structure and how we utilise it, as well
as making sure that GPs are able to get back to doing the work
they need to do—looking after their patients.
(Hyndburn) (Con)
I am seeing in Hyndburn and Haslingden that, as has been
mentioned, there is a hesitancy in my age group to take up the
vaccine. What work is being done with local authorities to target
these groups and alleviate their fears, because the only way out
is the vaccine and we really need to get that message across?
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for her excellent question and
for the work that she does in her constituency to highlight the
benefits of being vaccinated—and fully vaccinated. The work that
has gone on in Hyndburn is tremendous. We are working with local
government to ensure that the NHS has flexibility, whether that
is to launch pop-up sites or to increase the hours of vaccination
during this period of Eid celebration in order to encourage more
of our Muslim fellow citizens to come forward and get vaccinated.
Of course, we are ensuring that there is lots of messaging and
that people are just pointed to information, including through
hyper-local media as well as some of the media with which my hon.
Friend’s generation will be more familiar than mine, such as
TikTok, social media influencers and YouTubers. That is all
happening at scale. It is great to see that the number of
appointments booked under the national booking system has almost
doubled in the last couple of days, but there are also the
walk-in centres, where people can just walk in and get their jab
without an appointment.
(Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath) (Alba)
Mr Speaker, may I add my party’s thanks to you, to the House
staff and to everyone across these islands who has worked so hard
to save and preserve life during the pandemic?
I want to pick up on a vital component of vaccination that I
believe the Government need to give great attention to. It will
not have escaped the Minister’s attention, and anyone who has
attended the regular briefings that we have had around the virus
will have seen in Professor Van-Tam’s heat maps the distribution
and upward spread of the virus, whereby it seeds in the younger
population and exponentially grows up through the ages.
I really want to ask the Minister why he thinks the JCVI are
being extremely cautious in extending vaccination to 12 to
17-year-olds, given that the US Centres for Disease Control and
Prevention has now been vaccinating that population in the
States—with some concerns, but, I think, manageable numbers of
concerns—and why we are not progressing more vigorously to
vaccinate that population and are limiting it to those with
underlying health concerns or those related to people with
underlying health concerns. There is a fundamental advantage to
vaccinating this group, because it will increase their wellbeing
and improve their access to schooling after their holidays, but,
more importantly, it acts as—
Mr Speaker
Order. We have to be quicker if we can or nobody else is going to
get in today; that is not fair to other Members. Questions in a
statement have to be short. I hope that the hon. Gentleman is
going to finish in a second.
I will finish now, Mr Speaker; I apologise.
Does the Minister not see the advantage of delivering those
vaccines now, and what do we do if we decide that that needs to
go live during the recess?
That is a very important question. The JCVI is constantly
reviewing the data from other countries that are vaccinating all
children of 12 to 15 years old. Its concern has been centred
around vaccinating healthy children. There is a very rare signal
of myocarditis on first dose. The JCVI is awaiting more data on
second dose. It will continue to review that and will come back
to us, and, of course, we will come back to the House.
(Cleethorpes) (Con)
In north-east Lincolnshire, the infection rates has been hovering
at around 1,000 per 100,000 for the last couple of weeks, which
is of obvious concern to my constituents. I am in regular touch
with the Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust,
which is doing an excellent job, but could the Minister reassure
my constituents that if additional resources are required by the
trust, the Department will provide them? The trust has had a big
expansion in demand for A&E over the last few days and the
trust management asks whether the Department could step up the
campaign to encourage people to use the 111 service.
My hon. Friend’s constituency of Cleethorpes has now done 122,397
cumulative total of doses, which is a tremendous achievement. I
will take away his request and come back to him once I have had
the chance to discuss it with NHS England.
(Ealing
Central and Acton) (Lab)
I must thank the Minister for our Friday mornings together. It is
not just me; every Member of this House is grateful for that
weekly fixture—the highlight Zoom-fest. Is he aware that there
are already glitches in the shiny new NHS covid passport that he
mentioned? Two of my constituents, Konnie and Charlie, have been
going for a year for Novavax trials and now they are being
treated as if they are vax deniers, with the texts they get from
the NHS, and they are grounded. Another guy, Karl, returned to
his native US to have his two jabs because he is not eligible for
NHS treatment. He says that it is xenophobia that he cannot
access events that Brits can. I am sure it is unintentional.
People think that they are being punished for doing the right
thing. Will the Minister rectify that?
I am really grateful to the hon. Member for that excellent
question, and I am grateful for her comments about our Friday
morning meetings. Her constituents can rest assured that those
who are in clinical trials, including the Novavax trial, will
have their data on the NHS covid app as being fully vaccinated,
whether they are receiving the placebo or the vaccine, across all
trials. That is happening. I will take it offline to look at her
constituents’ case to make sure that that happens for them,
because I am assured that the system already recognises that.
By the end of this month, UK nationals who have been vaccinated
overseas will be able to talk to their GP, go through what
vaccine they have had, and have it registered with the NHS that
they have been vaccinated. The reason for the conversation with
the GP is to make sure that whatever vaccine they have had is
approved in the United Kingdom. Ultimately, there will be a
co-ordination between the World Health Organisation, ourselves,
the European regulator, the US regulator and other regulators
around the world. Because we are working at speed, at the moment
it is UK nationals and citizens who have had UK vaccinations who
will be able to travel to amber list countries other than France
and come back and not quarantine. We want to offer the same
reciprocity as the 33 countries that recognise our app, and that
will also happen very soon.
(Kettering)
(Con)
I warmly congratulate the Minister for working his socks off over
the last year and doing such a tremendous job in vaccinating the
nation. In Northamptonshire, the vaccine roll-out has been a
tremendous success, with between 90% and 100% of each of the
five-year cohorts above age 50 receiving both jabs, and over 67%
of 18 to 24-year-olds already having received their first dose.
Will the Minister join me in congratulating all the professionals
and volunteers locally who have made possible that tremendous
local success?
I thank my hon. Friend for his work locally and for taking that
local leadership, like many colleagues have, to get the message
out that vaccines are safe and our way out of this pandemic. Of
course I join him in congratulating the whole team—the
professionals and the volunteers—on the tremendous effort they
have made. The figure I have is 124,042 in the Northamptonshire
sustainability and transformation partnership. Its numbers are
tremendous; even among 18 to 24-year-olds, it is leading the way,
at 67%. We want to get that number even higher as quickly as we
can.
(Warley)
(Lab)
I welcome the Minister’s acknowledgement that the virus is now
endemic; indeed, the Government of Singapore have acknowledged
that too. Unfortunately, Government dither on that may have
scuppered the vaccine pass. Has the Minister had any indication
from its diverse opponents of how the country can otherwise take
a risk management approach, rather than the risk avoidance
approach that has led, for example, to the pingdemic, or the wild
west approach advocated by some on his own side, leading to a
possible further lockdown? Will he also indicate whether the
Treasury is actually engaged in this debate on the side of the
economy and public finances—or is it still in Yellow Submarine
mode, disappearing under the waves?
I am grateful for the right hon. Member’s question. I would just
remind him that the Treasury has put £407 billion to work to
shelter the economy and people’s livelihoods and, of course,
protect jobs. He raises a number of important questions about
looking at other countries. As I said earlier, these are all
difficult decisions, but I think we are making the right,
cautious decision as we transition—I hope—and see this virus move
from pandemic to endemic status.
(Bolton
West) (Con)
Can my right hon. Friend give me a better sense of the scope of
how the covid ID card may be used in the future? Would it apply
to the London marathon? Would it apply to political gatherings:
would someone need an ID card to attend a political gathering,
whether supportive of or in opposition to the Government? Could
he please rule out its use in educational settings such as
sixth-form colleges or universities, which should be excluded?
The focus now is on young adults, and the ID card should not be a
passport to education or a denial of education.
On the last question, I can certainly give my hon. Friend the
assurance that in education or in any public buildings this will
not be applicable. As to things such as the transport system or
essential retail, that is our very strong commitment. Look, I
keep repeating this message, but we know what we need to do. Part
of what we are learning from the data here and around the world
is about trying to work with industries, such as the nightclub
industry and sports bodies, to make sure that we reopen fully as
safely as possible and continue to be open. The worst thing for
any industry or for any sport is to open and then, sadly, to have
to shut down again, as people have seen around the world.
(Midlothian) (SNP)
I listened very carefully to the Minister when he was saying
that, for events where large numbers are likely to gather
together and be mixing with people from outside their own
household, deploying the pass would be the right thing to do.
Given that, and to ensure that we keep in step with the public,
do the Government intend that to apply here? Might they even
reserve the right to mandate the adoption of the pass in this
place, or is this another example of us and them?
I am grateful for the hon. Member’s question. As I said in answer
to the previous question, in public buildings such as this place,
and of course in essential travel and essential retail, that will
not be applicable. That is very clear.
(South West
Wiltshire) (Con) [V]
Some 22,000 people died from seasonal flu in 2017-18, and the
modelling suggests that this year’s season will start early, be
severe and affect younger people—a demographic that tends to go
to mass events—than covid does. Have the Government also been
considering mandating proof of flu vaccination, and can the
Minister ensure that vaccination records are transportable
between the NHS records of each of the home nations? That is not
the case at the moment, to the huge frustration of those seeking
second jabs or anticipating the need for the proof of vaccination
that he has confirmed today.
I am grateful for my right hon. Friend’s question, and for what
he has done during this pandemic in vaccinating and protecting
people and helping with the covid vaccination programme. He
raises an important question about flu, which I addressed
earlier. I am concerned about the flu season, which is why we are
being ambitious and looking to co-administer wherever possible.
The operational plan is to go early—in early September—for both
the covid boost and the flu campaign. However, he will know that
flu is not in the covid category in that it is endemic. We are
hoping to transition covid towards where flu is with an annual
vaccination programme, but it is a very different virus to deal
with.
(Worsley and Eccles South) (Lab) [V]
On the vaccine roll-out, I would like to ask for the
prioritisation of two groups. First, can unpaid carers be
prioritised for boosters in the autumn? The JCVI has not put them
on the priority list, but they were put in cohort 6 for earlier
vaccines. Secondly, can I join my hon. Friend the Member for
Ealing Central and Acton (Dr Huq) in asking for a solution to be
found for the wonderful volunteers on the Novavax vaccine trial?
They now find themselves not able to travel as they cannot get a
vaccine certificate and their vaccines are not recognised in the
EU. Will the Minister prioritise boosters for unpaid carers to
ensure that they are fully protected this autumn? Will he also
enable those trialists who have received live Novavax vaccines to
have vaccine certificates?
I am grateful for the hon. Member’s question. The Novavax trial
participants will have their vaccine pass in the United Kingdom.
We are working with other countries to make sure that that is
recognised, but as far as the UK is concerned, they will be
considered fully vaccinated, whether they have had the placebo or
the vaccine. On her very good question on the booster campaign,
the JCVI’s interim advice is that phase 1 should be the old
categories 1 to 4, plus the immuno-suppressed, and phase 2 should
be categories 5 to 9, which include unpaid carers in category 6.
Mr Speaker
Order. May I just say to everybody who is left, if we are short
and quick on answers and questions, I will get everyone in? We
are due to finish now, but I will give it a try.
(Colne Valley) (Con) [V]
Will the Minister join me in thanking Sylvia, Fahad and all the
fantastic local team who have vaccinated more than 47,000 people
in Honley, Slaithwaite and other pop-up sites across Kirklees?
Can he respond to one of the questions they are regularly being
asked, which is about the rationale of the JCVI guidance that
there should be an eight-week minimum interval between jabs?
I certainly join my hon. Friend in thanking Sylvia, Fahad and all
the local team on the extraordinary work they have done. The JCVI
advice on the eight-week interval is based on real-world data
that suggests that it offers the highest level of protection in
terms of antibodies and T cells. Anything below that—I know a
number of colleagues have asked me this question—would not be
advisable.
(Lewisham, Deptford) (Lab) [V]
Ministers should be aware of the fears of immuno-compromised
people. Unlike the Health Secretary, I know that the Minister is
aware of the OCTAVE study. Does he know when it will be
published? Can we have some plans for antibody testing?
Immuno-compromised people need to be allowed to make informed
decisions. Has a ministerial directive been issued to the JCVI to
investigate that? If people are seen to have low protection, what
extra support are the Government looking to deliver for them?
I am grateful for the hon. Member’s questions. She knows—she and
I discussed this on Friday morning—that there is OCTAVE and
OCTAVE DUO as well. I know that OCTAVE is to report imminently,
and I will share that data with colleagues on our group even when
the House is in recess. I will make sure that happens as soon as
we receive that data. We want to make sure that people are
protected. There was some very encouraging data from Public
Health England on the immuno-compromised, with 74% production for
some, not all, after two doses, but the hon. Member is quite
right to point this out. We will look to vaccinate and protect
them with a third dose—a booster dose—as the top of group 1 in
phase 1 in September.
(Gloucester) (Con) [V]
Nobody underestimates the huge challenges the Government face or
the great success of the vaccination programme, but does the
Minister recognise the frustration of the many hundreds of
thousands who have been double-dosed but are pinged and
self-isolating—following the guidelines— when they learn of the
data suggesting how many people are turning off or deleting the
NHS app, with Ministers reportedly advising businesses that this
is only guidance? Does he not share my view that surely what is
right on 16 August for the double-dosed is right now? Will he
agree to consider implementing the measure as soon as possible so
that businesses do not have to close, the hospitality sector does
not suffer, and many of us do not self-isolate unnecessarily?
My hon. Friend makes a very powerful point that he has made to me
many times. It is important clinical guidance to people. It is
important that people take personal and corporate responsibility,
as we are seeing with some great companies, such as Lidl, which
are coming under pressure at the moment because staff are having
to self-isolate. As I said earlier, there are no easy decisions
on this, but to be able to transition the virus from pandemic to
endemic, we just need that careful, little bit more time until 16
August—it is not long to go—when everyone who is double-dosed
will not have to self-isolate for 10 days.
(Sefton Central) (Lab) [V]
We all know that a negative test is a crucial risk indicator. NHS
staff are off work, restaurants and pubs are being forced to
close, and there are empty supermarket shelves. This is a
time-critical problem in essential parts of society, so when are
the Government going to publish a list of sectors where staff can
use a negative test result so that they can go to work now?
Making employers apply for an exemption is simply not going to be
enough, and the economy and society simply cannot wait until 16
August.
In the interests of time, I should say that I have addressed this
question fully. Suffice it to say that I gently disagree with the
hon. Member in that society came together, as we saw with the
vaccination programme, with 80,000 vaccinator volunteers and
200,000 other volunteers. People are doing the right thing, as
are corporates. We are working flat out in terms of the critical
workforce, critical infrastructure and the frontline, and we
announced on Monday that this would apply also to NHS and social
care staff.
(Southend West) (Con)
I applaud the vaccination programme, but a number of my
constituents have received the AstraZeneca vaccine from batches
made in India, which is not recognised by the European Medical
Agency. Will my hon. Friend reassure those constituents that they
will be able to travel to Europe—to France and Italy, for
instance?
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his championing of his
constituents’ concerns. He is absolutely right to raise them,
although I would say to him that the European regulator
recognises all AstraZeneca Oxford vaccinations in the United
Kingdom and recognises our pass. France has now issued clear
guidance that it recognises all batches of the AstraZeneca Oxford
vaccine, as well as most of the rest of Europe, and our regulator
and the EMA are working with the Italian authorities to get that
right. Suffice it to say that I also had a vaccine from one of
those batches and it is an excellent vaccine.
(Warrington North) (Lab) [V]
Today it was announced that Australia and New Zealand have
withdrawn from autumn’s rugby league world cup, which we are
proud to be hosting, citing safety concerns given the shambolic
pandemic response by the UK Government. The New Zealand rugby
league chief executive has said:
“The tournament organisers have moved heaven and earth to make
this work, so it is not an easy decision, but the Covid-19
situation in the UK shows no sign of improving, and it’s simply
too unsafe to send teams and staff over.”
Will the Minister therefore commit to meet rugby league MPs and
officials to ensure that a safe and competitive tournament can
take place with appropriate measures to protect and reassure team
and fans alike?
Mr Speaker
Just for the record, I am meeting the rugby league chief
executive in an hour’s time.
I am grateful to you, Mr Speaker. I know that this is something
that you focus on and that is important to you and your
constituents. I will happily do the same and meet them, and bring
the relevant officials to ensure that we reassure them as well.
(Clwyd South) (Con)
Will the Minister join me in thanking the many scientists and
staff involved in developing and producing the covid vaccines in
the UK, including the Wockhardt employees in my constituency, as
their achievements have been truly world-beating and remarkable?
I am grateful to my hon. Friend and I would certainly join him in
congratulating Dame Sarah Gilbert and her team and, of course,
the team at Wockhardt, whom I know the Prime Minister has also
visited and thanked on behalf of the whole nation.
(Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab) [V]
Further to the question from the hon. Member for Southend West
(
), what does the Minister suggest that a constituent of
mine who has had the Indian-manufactured Covishield jab should do
if they are planning to travel to Portugal or Italy in the next
two weeks?
The MHRA, our regulator the EMA and, of course, officials are
working with the Commission. Wherever we spot these inaccuracies
we address them—we have addressed them with Malta and now France.
I am assured, as of last night, that pretty much the whole of
Europe, other than the Italian authorities—which we are working
with—will accept the AstraZeneca vaccine from any batch, because
all batches, all factories, are approved by our regulator before
they enter the United Kingdom.
(Winchester) (Con)
Today you could go to the Latitude Festival with a negative test
or two jabs, and you could go to the open golf last weekend with
the same, yet you cannot report for work in the NHS or put food
on supermarket shelves. We are rightly worried about the 3
million healthy 18 to 30-year-olds who have yet to get a vaccine,
but let us put ourselves in their shoes: they see us all get a
jab and wonder what they get in return. So I ask the Minister: do
we believe in our vaccine or not, and what is the scientific
evidence to explain the difference between 19 July and 16 August
when it comes to isolation for the double jab?
I thank my hon. Friend, who always asks important yet challenging
questions. The 18-year-olds can now look forward to travelling to
33 countries that have accepted double-jabbed Brits who can
demonstrate that. If they have their jab now, they can go to
those countries from mid-September. They can look forward to
clubbing by the end of September as well—enjoying the Winchester
nightlife. I hope I have made it clear to the House that giving
ourselves that additional few weeks, given that self-isolation is
probably the second most effective tool after vaccines, makes a
huge difference as we transition this virus. It is not easy, but
I certainly think we are doing the right thing by giving
ourselves the space and time to transition this virus from
pandemic to endemic status.
(South Shields) (Lab)
The app forcing self-isolation is making our country grind to a
halt. Delivery drivers, shops, transport, hospitality, factories,
and essential public and blue-light services are at breaking
point. The Minister has said that there will be no more
exemptions to self-isolating. The Business Secretary said the
same just this morning. Then, just over an hour ago, he told the
press—not this House—that he had changed his mind. Who are we to
believe—this Minister or the Business Secretary?
I think the hon. Lady has just demonstrated how difficult these
decisions are. I would just say to her that we are working flat
out, in the Department of Health and Social Care and the
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, to work
with business—whether it is the critical infrastructure that the
Business Secretary spoke about, or any other part of the
economy—so that we can safely return to a place where we open up,
and open up permanently.
(Redcar) (Con)
Redcar and Cleveland had the highest covid rates in the country,
at more than 1,500 per 100,000, yet in the past 28 days we have
not seen a single death from covid, such is the protection
provided by the vaccine. We need more people to get the jab to
ensure that our hospitalisations and deaths stay low, so will the
Minister work with me and Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council to
ensure that we have the additional centres, supplies and
vaccinators? Also, will he consider the chemical industry as part
of our critical infrastructure, producing the pharmaceuticals for
vaccines and the plastics for syringes, for exemption from the
usual isolation rules, ahead of 16 August?
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his championing of his
businesses and his constituents. There is no shortage of the
vaccine. I will happily work with him on the workforce and making
sure that there is the resource to make it possible to continue
to vaccinate at scale; and of course the industries that are
delivering some of the essential products for the vaccination
programme are incredibly important in that effort.
(Glasgow South West) (SNP)
In order to beat this virus, the Government must take care of not
only their domestic responsibilities but their international
ones. Will the Minister update us on what is being done to ensure
vaccine supply to middle-income and lower-income countries, and
update us on the international approach?
I am grateful to the hon. Member for his excellent question. It
is incredibly important, because we pledged to deliver 100
million excess doses, beginning with 5 million immediately and 20
million by the end of the year, and then the balance next year,
as well as the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine being delivered around
the world at no profit to AstraZeneca or Oxford. To update him,
we have sent out our first deliveries of the Oxford-AstraZeneca
vaccine, as per the Prime Minister’s pledge, and speaking to the
Serum Institute of India, they are now not producing 100 million
doses a month of that vaccine but are up at 200 million doses a
month. It really is an extraordinary achievement by Sarah Gilbert
and her team and AstraZeneca in saving the world from this awful
virus.
(Stoke-on-Trent North) (Con)
We were very grateful to the Minister for helping us to secure
the Tunstall mass vaccination centre, which has delivered over
50,000 jabs into the arms of people and is the city of
Stoke-on-Trent’s mass vaccination centre. As part of the autumn
roll-out, when we will be getting a third dose into the arms of
many residents, will the Minister confirm that the Tunstall mass
vaccination centre will stay in place over the autumn and winter
this year?
I thank my hon. Friend for his effort in getting 116,657 jabs
into the arms of his constituents and offering them that
protection. I will certainly have a look at the vaccination
centre as part of our infrastructure. We have a very ambitious
programme to deliver to about 15 million people in the first
phase and, with the second phase, a cumulative 32 million people.
So we will be doing that at scale as well as, of course, flu
vaccination wherever possible.
