Commons Sense

House of Commons · PMQs

PMQs

Wednesday 13 May 2020 · 11 questions

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

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 11 Partly answered 0 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Keir Starmer questioned the Prime Minister on the Government's response to protecting people in care homes during the pandemic.
  • The Prime Minister stated that the UK is closely monitoring other countries and learning from their experiences regarding lockdown measures and their aftermath.
  • The Prime Minister committed to providing necessary funds to ensure that the 90% of rough sleepers moved into temporary accommodation remain housed and supported.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Keir Starmer Lab Holborn and St Pancras
Care & Healthcare Workers NHS
Context

Keir Starmer criticizes the Government's handling of care homes during the pandemic.

Question

Keir Starmer questions the Prime Minister on whether he accepts that the Government was too slow to protect people in care homes, highlighting a cardiologist's quote about discharging infected patients into unprepared care homes without proper warnings or equipment.

Answer from Boris Johnson

No, Mr Speaker, and it was not true that the advice said that—and actually, we brought the lockdown in care homes ahead of the general lockdown, and what we have seen is a concerted action plan to tackle what has unquestionably been an appalling epidemic in care homes, and a huge exercise in testing is going on—a further £600 million, I can announce today, for infection control in care homes.

Answered

Not addressed: The Prime Minister does not directly address the issue of discharging infected patients into unprepared care homes without warnings or testing.

How: Redirecting To Positive Actions Taken

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Q2 Keir Starmer Lab Holborn and St Pancras
NHS Education Employment
Context

The Government has been using slides for seven weeks to compare the UK's situation with that of other European countries, but stopped doing so when the UK had one of the highest numbers of cases.

Question

Keir Starmer asks why the Prime Minister stopped comparing UK's statistics with those of other European countries when these comparisons were used for learning and improvement before reaching the position of having some of the highest numbers in Europe. He quotes Professor Spiegelhalter's advice to learn from other countries, emphasizing that dropping the comparison means losing opportunities for learning.

Answer from The Prime Minister Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson responds by stating that the UK is closely watching other countries and learning from their experiences, particularly noting increases in R rates following relaxations. He acknowledges people's anxieties about returning to work without adequate childcare, emphasizing that employers must be understanding if employees cannot return due to lack of childcare.

Answered
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Q3 Julian Smith Con Berwick-upon-Tweed
Housing
Context

The question pertains to the Government's efforts in providing temporary accommodation for rough sleepers.

Question

More than 5,000 rough sleepers—90% of the homeless population in the UK—are now in temporary accommodation as a result of action taken by the Government at the start of this crisis. Will the Prime Minister commit to providing all funds necessary and taking all action needed to ensure that this positive way of dealing with the homelessness crisis can be made permanent and that each of those individuals can be given a long-term home?

Answer from The Prime Minister (Boris Johnson)

As my right hon. Friend knows, it is this Government's ambition to end rough sleeping by 2024. It is great to see the progress that has been made even in this very difficult time—as he says, 90% of rough sleepers are now in accommodation or have been offered accommodation. We will be investing considerable sums to make sure that we build the housing and address the social issues to tackle that problem for good.

Answered
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Q4 Edward Davey Lib Dem Kingston upon Hull East
Employment
Context

The extension of support schemes to protect jobs has been under discussion.

Question

I thank the Government for listening to representations from the Liberal Democrats and others on protecting jobs by extending the scheme yesterday. Will the Government now do the same for the self-employed? People such as cleaners, childminders, taxi drivers and hairdressers have all seen their incomes devastated and are only now able to apply for help for the past three months, but millions of these families now have no help in the future. Surely, self-employed people must have their support extended, too.

Answer from The Prime Minister (Boris Johnson)

I admire the right hon. Gentleman's brilliant attempt to take the credit from my right hon. Friend the Chancellor for his extension of the coronavirus job retention scheme, which has been one of the most extraordinary features of this country's—our collective—response to the crisis. The right hon. Gentleman is right to draw attention to the position of the self-employed; we are making sure that they get payments, over three months, of up to £7,500 as well.

Answered
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Q5 Jamie Wallis Lab Bridgend
Wales
Context

The Welsh Government's response to the crisis has been questioned.

Question

I congratulate the Prime Minister on being straight with the British people and spelling out a clear and cautious roadmap to the lifting of the lockdown measures in England. Unfortunately for my constituents in Bridgend, the Welsh Government have not set out any such plan or vision. Does he agree that the people of Wales deserve a Government who are honest and clear about the road ahead?

Answer from The Prime Minister (Boris Johnson)

I thank my hon. Friend very much, and I agree with him, but whatever the defects of the Labour Government in Wales, my experience is that we have been working very well together across all the four nations and will continue to do so. My honest view is that all those who talk about confusion or mixed messages are grossly overstating the position. The common sense of the British people is shining through this argument. They can see where we want to go and where we need to go.

Answered
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Q6 John Spellar Lab Coventry North West
Immigration Foreign Affairs
Context

There is concern over the repatriation efforts for British nationals abroad, particularly in South Asia.

Question

At the end of March, I asked the Prime Minister to help the thousands of our people stranded abroad, notably in south Asia and especially in the Punjab. Grudgingly, and much slower than other countries, the Foreign Office organised fights back, but many are still stranded. Furthermore, the FCO now seems to be washing its hands of those with indefinite leave to remain, even though they may have lived and worked here for years and are the husbands, wives, parents and grandparents of British citizens. Some have described it as another Windrush scandal waiting to happen. Will Prime Minister will sort this out?

Answer from The Prime Minister (Boris Johnson)

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his question. He actually nabbed me behind the Speaker's Chair after he last put it to me. I can tell him that we estimate that 1.3 million British nationals have now been returned. I know that he would like the RAF to be more involved, but I can also tell him that we have put £75 million into a charter arrangement, and a whole range of airlines have signed up to it. We are doing everything that we can to bring people back as fast as we can.

Answered
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Q7 Stewart Hosie SNP Dundee East
Brexit
Context

Hosie raises concerns about the economic impact of both COVID-19 and Brexit, suggesting that an extended transitional period could mitigate some damage.

Question

Both covid and Brexit are suppressing trade and damaging jobs and the economy and while we hope that, as covid ends, global trade will bounce back, there is no guarantee that that will happen quickly. The Prime Minister could mitigate some of this damage by seeking an extension to the Brexit transitional period. Will he explain to the House why he is being so negligent in not seeking that transitional extension now?

Answer from The Prime Minister (Boris Johnson)

As I have said, one of the most remarkable things about this crisis has been the way that the whole country has come together to deal with it. There has been a spirit of unity and sharing that we have not seen for a very long time. I do not think that a lot of people in this country want to see the Brexit argument reopened. They want to see it settled, they want to see it done, and that is what this Government intend to do.

Answered
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Q8 Neil Gray SNP Airdrie and Shotts
Employment Benefits & Welfare
Context

Gray mentions cases where employers are refusing to furlough staff, leaving individuals without job or financial support.

Question

I have a number of cases where employers are refusing to furlough staff, either because they do not understand or are unwilling to follow the guidance. Seventeen-year-old Ben Edgar has now found himself without a job or furlough support and is classed as ineligible for social security because of his age. The employer is refusing to engage with my correspondence. For such cases, will the Prime Minister consider a furlough appeals process to assist employees, ex-employees and employers to ensure that people are treated fairly, according to the guidance, to save unnecessary redundancies or hardship?

Answer from The Prime Minister (Boris Johnson)

The hon. Gentleman is making an excellent point. If he could send me details, we will be very happy to take up the case that he describes.

Answered
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Q9 Kate Griffiths Con Burton
NHS
Context

Griffiths asks about the steps taken to ensure NHS adherence to Public Health England's calls regarding BAME staff risk assessments and non-patient facing roles.

Question

In Burton and Uttoxeter, and across the country, we have seen the incredible dedication of our NHS workers in dealing with covid-19—dedication that has tragically cost some their lives. What steps is the Prime Minister taking to ensure that the NHS is adhering to Public Health England calls to risk-assess black, Asian and minority ethnic staff on the frontline and where possible to make appropriate arrangements to move them to non-patient facing roles?

Answer from The Prime Minister (Boris Johnson)

I thank my hon. Friend. I think I understood very clearly what she was saying. It is obvious from the data that coronavirus, as I said earlier, is falling disproportionately on certain groups, and not just the elderly. We need to examine exactly what is happening. We need to protect all the most vulnerable groups, and we will take steps to ensure that NHS staff and others are properly protected, advised and screened.

Answered
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Q10 Caroline Lucas Green Brighton Pavilion
Climate
Context

Lucas discusses the economic recovery and its impact on climate change, asking if the PM agrees that airlines should meet robust climate goals to receive taxpayer handouts.

Question

Last week, climate experts reported that green economic recovery packages deliver far higher returns than conventional stimulus spending. They also warned that how we emerge from this coronavirus crisis must not be in a way that deepens the climate and nature emergencies. Does the Prime Minister agree? Will he commit to action that will help us to build back better, and start by confirming that any airline queuing up for a taxpayer handout must be required to meet robust climate goals?

Answer from The Prime Minister (Boris Johnson)

I think the best and shortest answer I can give to the hon. Lady is that we totally understand the situation with aviation. Clearly, inadvertently this year the planet will greatly reduce its carbon dioxide emissions, and she is absolutely right that we need to entrench those gains. I do not want to see us going back to an era of the same type of emissions as we have had in the past. Aviation, like every other sector, must keep its carbon lower. We are certainly working on technological solutions to ensure that we can do that.

Answered
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Q11 William Wragg Con Crewe and Nantwich
NHS
Context

Wragg pays tribute to staff at Stepping Hill Hospital and highlights that many people are not attending hospitals as usual, asking how this can be addressed.

Question

Will my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister join me in paying fulsome tribute to all the staff at Stepping Hill Hospital, particularly those caring for patients with covid-19? Does he recognise that many people have not been attending hospital as usual? How will he be assisting hospitals, such as Stepping Hill, in ensuring that my constituents can access healthcare as usual?

Answer from The Prime Minister (Boris Johnson)

I thank my hon. Friend. One of the most important features of the way this country responded to the epidemic was that we did protect the NHS. We maintained capacity in the NHS throughout. Nobody went without a ventilator. There was space in intensive care units throughout the crisis, but we have a situation now, as he rightly says, where too many people are not going to hospital or the doctor to seek the treatment they need and deserve. I certainly encourage people with conditions that need medical treatment to go and get that treatment now. That will help us to reduce deaths this year and throughout the crisis.

Answered
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