Covid-19 Update

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Why did it take so long to reduce isolation periods? How are NHS services coping with current pressures?

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The MP pays tribute to Professor Sir Jonathan Van-Tam for his service during the pandemic and questions the timing of the announcement, highlighting workforce shortages in the NHS due to testing issues. He also criticises the Government's delay in reducing isolation periods and blames them for not reading CDC guidelines. Asks if those waits are acceptable standards under the current situation.

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Welcomes today's announcement on reducing isolation periods and asks about the timeline for publishing the covid backlog plan. Inquires whether it will address workforce shortages and provide assurance that enough doctors and nurses are being trained.

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Responds to news about Tory MSPs calling for Prime Minister’s resignation following his violation of covid rules. Asks if attacks from members of the Government on critics are conducive to public compliance and questions the Health Secretary's support for the Prime Minister amidst a breach of regulations.

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Joins in tribute to Professor Jonathan Van-Tam and welcomes today's announcements. Asks if we are on track to lift plan B restrictions by 26 January, including advice on face masks in classrooms.

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Questions the high cost of authorising private sector providers, requesting details on funding sources and negotiations.

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Asks about care home visit guidelines, noting their detrimental impact on residents' physical and mental health.

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Welcomes the statement but draws attention to radiotherapy services and urges for additional resources.

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Asks doctors not on frontline to see patients face-to-face again and raises issue of false positives for travel.

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Expresses worry over staff shortages and under-investment in NHS before pandemic.

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Welcomes change in self-isolation rules and questions the approach on vaccine as a condition for health staff.

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Asks about access to free lateral flow tests for small businesses.

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I am very grateful to the excellent Secretary of State for coming to the Dispatch Box yet again to update the House and particularly for making an announcement first in the House rather than to the media. I wonder whether my right hon. Friend agrees with Lord Frost, who said: “I would like to see the Government ruling out lockdowns for the future, repealing the legislation, ending them…We can’t afford it, it doesn’t work, stop doing Covid theatre—vaccine passports, masks, stuff that doesn’t work”.

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I want to press the Secretary of State on the morale of our NHS and social care workforce. Between March 2020 and May 2021, 1,561 NHS and social care staff died from covid while working on the frontline. This is part of the reason I am campaigning for an NHS and social care covenant, just as we have for the armed forces and the police. What does he have to say to those key workers who saw colleagues die while the Prime Minister was at the law-breaking works party on 20 May?

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Despite my enormous respect for him, I voted against the introduction of covid passports before Christmas. I maintain my view that they are not effective. Will he please commit to dropping domestic certification at the earliest possible opportunity? Will he also make clear today from the Dispatch Box to NHS trusts up and down this country that he will not stand for the pandemic of arbitrary discrimination we are seeing against pregnant women and their partners, and parents who want to be with their children on paediatric wards but are being prevented by trusts in an illogical and unscientific manner from being with them?

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May I pay tribute to the services of Professor Sir Jonathan Van-Tam? The Government are still ignoring people who are clinically extremely vulnerable, and their concerns at the lack of guidance and support. Two thirds of housebound people have not received the booster. What are the Government doing to ensure that the vaccines are accessible to everybody, including the housebound?

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I thank the Secretary of State for his statement, which brings such positive news that will give confidence to individuals and businesses as they return to a more normal life as we learn to live with covid. My constituency has many small self-employed businesses and they were absolutely terrified in the run-up to Christmas that we were looking at lockdowns and severe restrictions. I thank him and the Prime Minister for the balanced, proportionate approach that the Government have taken in looking at how we move forward and for the steps they took during the Christmas period. May I seek assurances that this will continue?

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I am sure that the Secretary of State will want to join me in paying tribute to the staff at Cardiff and Vale University Health Board for their work on the booster programme. He will know that statistics show that Wales is joint first in Europe—we are actually ahead of the UK average—on delivery of boosters, which can only be a good thing for our population. Will he say a little about what the JCVI is discussing and his view on further boosters for people who are older and more vulnerable and the immunosuppressed, and the use of polyvalent vaccines going forward?

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I add to the chorus of approval for the decision to reduce self-isolation to five days. Can my right hon. Friend ensure that the NHS covid-19 app and the Government website are updated as soon as possible to avoid confusion around the reduction to seven-day isolation?

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Recent data suggest that just 4% of teachers say that readings on classroom carbon dioxide monitors are above the safe threshold set by the Department for Education. The Secretary of State will be aware that ventilation is becoming a massive challenge in schools, and in primary schools in particular. What conversations is he having with his colleagues at the Department for Education to ensure that children can continue to learn in classrooms but can do so as safely as possible?

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Would it not be better, rather than creating what seem to me to be the conditions for coercion and division, to say to the unvaccinated, “You’ve made your choice to take a greater risk and we are not going to be held back as a society by your choices. You will have to bear the consequences”? Would that not be a more consistent and humane way to deal with them, and to deal with us all, without creating division?

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What about a long-term strategy for staffing in our NHS to deal with current vacancies and those that will come as a result of the 1 April deadline? Where is the long-term plan, and where are we going to get qualified staff from in future?

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The Secretary of State will be aware from his visits that the atmosphere in the temporary hubs is extremely professional but can also be quite quiet and sombre. Will he look at whether the licensing conditions for radio can be lifted? Maybe he could speak to the BBC, Classic FM or Virgin Radio—Chris Evans might even be listening to our debate today. I hope the Secretary of State agrees that radio would help to lift spirits as we go about this important national effort.

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The Secretary of State is aware of the shortage of testing kits. He mentioned in his statement that the 120 million have now increased to 300 million. Can the Secretary of State confirm—guarantee, perhaps—that in the coming weeks there will be no issue with the supply of testing kits to our higher education sector?