Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Future Pandemic Preparedness

Tuesday 5 December 2023 · 3 questions

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

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 0 Partly answered 3 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Ministerial responses indicated that lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic are being integrated into planning for future pandemics.
  • Mechanisms to learn from the ongoing COVID inquiry are in place to prevent past mistakes from recurring in future health crises.
  • The government acknowledged that each pandemic may require different responses, noting that while lockdowns were necessary for COVID-19, they may not be appropriate for other future infections.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Michael Fabricant Con
NHS
Context

The MP is concerned about the government's readiness for future pandemics following the lessons learned from the covid-19 pandemic.

Question

What recent steps have been taken to help prepare for a future pandemic? I am concerned about the government's readiness and the measures in place based on the lessons learned during the covid-19 crisis.

Answer from Maria Caulfield

Lessons from covid-19 have been incorporated into our planning for any future pandemics across a range of areas. That includes the need to prepare for infections through all five routes of transmission, and for the health and social care sectors to have flexible capabilities that can adapt to a range of health threats.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Specific measures or policies implemented are not detailed

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Q2 Michael Fabricant Con
NHS
Context

The MP is concerned about mechanisms to learn from the ongoing covid inquiry and prevent similar mistakes in future pandemics. He references news emerging from China of a new respiratory disease.

Question

My hon. Friend may have heard that news is emerging from China of yet another respiratory disease spreading through that country. What mechanisms are in place to learn from the covid inquiry when it finishes its work, so that if mistakes were made, we do not make them again in the event that, God forbid, we have another pandemic?

Answer from Maria Caulfield

First, early indications show that the respiratory illnesses in China are likely to be due to increasing levels of endemic infection. These are normal infections but at a higher level. Secondly, we are not waiting for the covid inquiry before we implement lessons learned. One of the key changes we have already made is the introduction of the UK Health Security Agency, which carries out surveillance on both national and international threats.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Specific mechanisms to learn from the inquiry are not detailed

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Q3 Jim Shannon DUP Strangford
NHS
Context

The MP references two recommendations from the ongoing covid inquiry: earlier lockdowns and avoiding sending those with covid to care homes. He highlights personal loss experienced during the pandemic.

Question

For all of us who lost loved ones, covid-19 is still very raw. I have been following the covid inquiry, and two recommendations have so far come forward. The first is that the lockdown should have been earlier, and the second is that those with covid should not have been sent to care homes—covid went through care homes and cast death everywhere. Has the Minister taken those two lessons on board?

Answer from Maria Caulfield

I know the hon. Gentleman had a personal loss to covid, and he is absolutely right to highlight those lessons learned. We are learning lessons, but each pandemic or increase in infection is different. It may have been appropriate to have lockdowns for covid-19, but lockdowns may not be appropriate for other infections, such as strep A or other respiratory illnesses.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Specific actions based on the recommendations are not detailed

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