Helen Whately: Guidance from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists sets out that healthcare staff caring for women requesting abortion should identify those who require more support in the decision-making process and pathways to additional support, including counselling and social services. Abortions provided by independent sector abortion providers must meet the Required Standard...
Helen Whately: The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues on the issues facing social care. We are working closely with the Cabinet Office Disability Unit on the development of a National Strategy for Disabled People. The Strategy will take into account the impacts of the pandemic on disabled people and will be aimed at improving the lives of disabled...
Helen Whately: A range of Government officials conducted the negotiations for the contracts awarded to Medacs.
Helen Whately: A range of Government officials conducted the negotiations for the contracts awarded to Randox.
Helen Whately: Community testing in Hull was launched in December 2020.
Helen Whately: We have had no such discussions. Community Testing is a case detection strategy we are implementing as a public health intervention, screening has different clinical considerations.
Helen Whately: The Department has taken the decision not to proceed with a contract for Ecolog to provide deployable laboratory and testing services. For reasons of commercial confidentiality, we are unable to provide further details on this specific contract.
Helen Whately: The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has issued an exceptional use authorisation to the Department, who have taken on the role of legal manufacturer. The devices deployed for daily contact testing at workplaces such as Jaguar Land Rover have received a CE mark for supervised use. As long as use of the devices is supervised, as is the case at Jaguar Land Rover, the...
Helen Whately: The Government keeps all elements of its COVID-19 response under review, including the Test and Trace Support Payment scheme. We continue to listen to feedback from charities and support groups. We are working closely with the 314 local authorities in England to monitor the effectiveness of the scheme, including the potential impact on groups who are ineligible to claim.
Helen Whately: No service credits have been applied.
Helen Whately: All fertility clinics were able to re-open from May 2020, provided that they could demonstrate to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) that they could offer a safe service for patients and clinic staff during the ongoing pandemic. The HFEA has advised that, as of 31 January 2021, a small number of clinics have been affected by staff redeployment and other COVID-19...
Helen Whately: The NHS Test and Trace Senior Responsible Owner for the Leamington Spa laboratory is Head of Laboratories, Dame Anna Dominiczak, who reports to the Director of Testing Operations Mark Hewlett. Consideration is being given to the longer term structural placement of this laboratory in the context of the future of Test and Trace, National Institute for Health Protection and NHS England. We have...
Helen Whately: We are unable to provide the information requested as it is commercially sensitive.
Helen Whately: The tests processed at Milton Keynes Lighthouse Laboratory will detect the South African variant as a SARS-CoV-2 RNA Positive result. Once SARS-CoV-2 RNA is positive, these samples are sent away to the Sanger Institute for sequencing to identify whether they are the South African or any other variant.
Helen Whately: The Royal Leamington Spa laboratory will be run by the Department which will hold supply contracts for resourcing, equipment, machinery, facilities and waste management. These contracts will be published on the Governments Contract Finder website.
Helen Whately: We do not publish data in the format requested.
Helen Whately: There are many different SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR assays in use across the United Kingdom. Each assay will have a slightly different limit of detection. The lowest concentration of virus that can be reliably and consistently detected by the assay and will be configured according to local arrangements. Some RT-PCRs are designed to identify a single gene target and others will detect multiple targets.
Helen Whately: We do not publish data in the format requested. We have dispatched more than seven million home test kits including supporting testing at schools and universities, batch testing in outbreak areas, elective surgery at National Health Service hospital trusts and the Oxford vaccine clinical evaluation.
Helen Whately: The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) have advised that the last three years that full data is available, including outcomes of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment, are 2016-2018. The following table shows the number of patients having IVF treatment and the number of successful cycles. Year of Treatment Patient Count Cycles Live Births 2016 51,219 68,064 19,122...
Helen Whately: We introduced the Test and Trace Support Payment (TTSP) scheme to support those where financial concerns can make it difficult to self-isolate. We continue to work closely with the 314 local authorities in England to monitor the efficacy and payments made under the TTSP scheme. The discretionary element of TTSP is specifically designed to address the needs of people on low incomes,...