Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Covid-19 Support: Armed Forces

Tuesday 12 May 2020 · 2 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 2 Partly answered 0 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Defence has assessed that an additional 16,000 troops are available at high readiness to support efforts against the covid-19 outbreak.
  • The military is prepared to assist local authorities in providing logistical support and PPE to care homes.
  • Discussions with the Prime Minister involve offering more military support to address infections in care homes and prevent community spread.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Stephen McPartland Con Stansted
Defence
Context

The UK is facing a significant outbreak of covid-19, and there are concerns about the strain on local care homes.

Question

What assessment has Defence made of the additional support that armed forces personnel could provide to help tackle the covid-19 outbreak?

Answer from The Minister for the Armed Forces, Ben Wallace

Defence remains ready to contribute however requested, with a further 16,000 troops available at high readiness if required. We keep our support under constant review and adjust the capabilities available to meet demand.

Answered
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Q2 Stephen McPartland Con Stansted
NHS Social Care Defence
Context

There is a growing concern about the infection rates in care homes and the need for logistical support to ensure proper PPE distribution.

Question

As the crisis develops in our care homes across the country, does my right hon. Friend agree that our military are ready and able to help our local authorities if they need that support to get into care homes and provide the logistical support to get PPE to the people who need it?

Answer from The Minister for the Armed Forces, Ben Wallace

My hon. Friend raises a very important point about care homes. There are two parts to the issue: one is infections in care homes; and one is, effectively, leakage of infections from care homes into the wider community. Only this morning I spoke to the Prime Minister about offering up more military support if needed to make sure that our local resilience fora and care homes get the assistance they need, whether that is bringing testing to care homes or helping them with the routine and structure of decontamination, so that staff can come and go better from care homes. We stand ready to do that as required by the Department of Health and Social Care and any other stakeholder.

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