argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-12-30
Topic: Health
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): It is not easy moving from tier 3 to tier 4. I understand that, but the rates in South Shields are going up sharply. With the support of the council and, indeed, all the councils across the north-east, we have taken this action. The evidence base is that for those areas that have been in tier 4 the longest, we are starting to see a reduction in the rate of increase and in some places a fall, particularly in some parts of Kent, but there is still an awful lot more to do. This new variant, which we can now sadly see in the north-east of England—much in the way that it started in the south-east—spreads so much more easily. It is much harder to keep control of. The job of suppressing the virus has got harder with the new variant at the same time as the approval of the vaccines has made the job of getting out of this easier. That is the challenge we face.
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-12-30
Topic: Health
Paul Bristow (Conservative, Centre-right): Yesterday, I went to visit the vaccination hub at Peterborough City Hospital. After everything we have been through, and after seeing hope behind the smiles of those waiting for the jab, I must confess to feeling almost emotional during my visit. I place on record my thanks to everyone working at the hub and within the wider Peterborough NHS. With the superb news today of the approval of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, is now the time to prioritise the vaccination of NHS staff to prevent staff shortages and ease NHS winter pressures?
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-12-30
Topic: Health
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): Yes. My hon. Friend speaks so powerfully for Peterborough. I am glad that the vaccination centre is working well in Peterborough. This new vaccine does mean that we can accelerate the roll-out of the vaccine to NHS staff, and that is good news in Peterborough and across the country.
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-12-30
Topic: Health
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): For areas in tier 4 where we still need to get the infection rate down, the most important thing we can all do is take responsibility to restrict the spread of infection, because this new variant spreads so easily from person to person. Everybody has to behave. If everybody behaves like they might have the virus and therefore restricts their social contact, that is the best way we can get these rates down. It does take all of us do this; it is not just about the rules that are set out from this Dispatch Box and voted on by this House I know that people in Wallasey and across Liverpool have done so much and got the rates right down under control, but unfortunately they have started to rise again, and with the new variant, it has been necessary to put Liverpool into tier 3. I just hope, like the rest of the country, that we can get out of this after the next few difficult weeks.
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-12-30
Topic: Health
Cheryl Elise Kendall Gillan (Conservative, Centre-right): Buckinghamshire health services are under severe pressure with escalating rates of covid and hospital admissions. On behalf of all my colleagues in Buckinghamshire, may I give an enormous public thank you to our healthcare staff, who are working round the clock in a growing emergency, as well as providing testing and vaccinations at multiple sites in the county? Despite those pressures, the trust is establishing a centre to help people with the effects of long covid, which are now causing increased concern. It will be at Stoke Mandeville. What extra resources can the Secretary of State make available to support our valiant health workers and, in particular, to help those now suffering from the effects of long covid, which are very serious in some cases?
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-12-30
Topic: Health
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend is absolutely spot on. The issue of long covid is very serious, and we have put more support into the NHS and into research to try to understand long covid better. I know about it very much myself, and I understand the impacts that it can have, which can be debilitating on people’s lives. I am delighted that there is a long covid centre at Stoke Mandeville. It is such an excellent hospital, and I am not surprised that it is doing all the cutting-edge work that is needed, but the single most important thing we can do to support those who have long covid is to understand better the causes and therefore understand what we can do to help people get their lives back to normal.
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-12-30
Topic: Health
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): The new variant of this virus makes it very difficult to control, which is why it is so important that everybody follows those public health messages. That is the challenge we are all dealing with, together, and we just have to remember that we are all on the same side in that great battle. Help is on its way, in the testing for schools, in the measures that my right hon. Friend the Education Secretary is shortly to announce and in the vaccine, which will help to protect those who are most vulnerable. Once we have got through all the clinical prioritisation, we can then move on, in general, to the under-50s. Their risk of death from covid is, thankfully, low but it is highly likely that they will still want to have a vaccine to protect themselves from this disease.
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-12-30
Topic: Health
Adam Afriyie (Conservative, Centre-right): First, I wish to commend the Secretary of State for making it clear that the vaccine will be available to all over-65s—by the end of February, we hope—as that is really important. This should be a joyous day. We have been given the gift of a free trade agreement with the EU by our Prime Minister and the gift of a new vaccine—we also have a new vaccines Minister—by our scientists and world-leading Government objectives. But the gift people really want this Christmas is to know that their jobs, livelihoods and civil liberties will be given back to them as soon as possible, so will the Secretary of State make this clear today by telling us at what point on the priority list of vaccinations he will allow restrictions to be lifted?
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-12-30
Topic: Health
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): We have to remember that the vaccine is a great symbol of hope, but it is a means to an end, and the end is the lifting of restrictions and the restoration of our liberties and the freedom for us to act as we please. That is the goal of this programme: to make people safe so that we can get life back to normal and, of course, protect the NHS. On the timing, it is absolutely right, as I said in my response to my right hon. Friend the Member for Forest of Dean (Mr Harper), that the speed of roll-out can be accelerated because of the decisions announced this morning. The precise timing of that has to be determined by the manufacture, because although we can forecast that, we cannot know exactly how much will be delivered. On the question of how far down the priority list we need to go before people are safe, we will observe that as we observe the reduction—I hope—in transmission that we get, as well as the protection of individuals. So we will keep this under review, but the good news is that I am highly confident that by the spring we will be through this. It was not possible before the approval of this vaccine to say that.
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-12-30
Topic: Health
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): As I have said, we will absolutely vaccinate according to clinical need. Once we are through those clinical need cohorts, there is a very important call on the next set of prioritisations, which we have not yet set out, and both teachers and unpaid carers have a good case to make.
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-12-30
Topic: Health
Aaron Stuart Bell (Conservative, Centre-right): As the Health Secretary has said, today is clearly a day of mixed emotions. I hugely welcome the news about the Oxford vaccine and pay tribute to Cobra Biologics in my constituency, which has been manufacturing it and has been involved since the outset. However, moving Staffordshire to tier 4 is very tough on the people of Newcastle. We have worked hard to get our rate down and it is currently stable and, indeed, falling slightly. I understand the risk of the new variant, but will he confirm that there is a way out of tier 4 and that he will take into account vaccination rates and the effect on the NHS, and not look purely at case numbers once we have the vaccination programme rolled out?
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-12-30
Topic: Health
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): Yes, I absolutely will. We already look at the impact on the NHS, of course, but that will become more important as more and more people are vaccinated and, we hope, the correlation between cases and future hospitalisations, which is currently stable, starts to go down and there are fewer hospitalisations for every individual case. Obviously we should take that into account.
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-12-30
Topic: Health
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): Yes, of course. This has been looked into in great detail, and the clinical prioritisation includes those who are under 50 but are clinically vulnerable to the effects of covid-19. They come into the prioritisation in categories 4 and 6 alongside the over-70s and over-60s, taking into account precisely the sort of considerations that the right hon. Gentleman sets out.
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-12-30
Topic: Health
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): Well, yes—in principle. The point is to protect the NHS and to stop people dying from the disease. While at the moment cases are a very clear proxy for future hospitalisations and future deaths, as the vaccine is rolled out, we would hope that for every number of cases we would have fewer hospitalisations and fewer deaths. It is that protection from hospitalisations and deaths that the vaccine gives us, which is why it is the route out of the crisis.
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-12-30
Topic: Health
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): Yes, it is incredibly important that we support the NHS with the workforce that it needs—both the permanent workforce, where we have increased the number of nurses by over 13,000 in the past 12 months, and a temporary workforce for the difficult few weeks that we have ahead of us in the NHS. I am working with the NHS and others on exactly the question that hon. Lady rightly raises, and I join her in praising the team at the Homerton, who are doing a great job.
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-12-30
Topic: Health
Suzanne Webb (Conservative, Centre-right): There is no doubt that the news of the vaccine and the Brexit deal are a grand finale to what has been a difficult year, albeit one with mixed emotions, as constituencies such as mine go into tier 4. As a fitting way to end this statement, will my right hon. Friend join me in thanking everybody working in the NHS and social care, not just across my constituency but in all constituencies, for the work they have done this year and especially those who worked tirelessly over Christmas to help to keep the most vulnerable safe? Will he also extend an extra special thank you to all those caring for children with disabilities and special needs, such as Lifted Spirits, who are a bunch of mums and dads in my constituency? As I am sure he will agree, this has been a particularly challenging year too for those who are carers.
Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-12-30
Topic: Health
Matthew John David Hancock (Conservative, Centre-right): In what I hope is my last statement of the year, and most likely my last answer of the year, I thank my hon. Friend for her question, and not just for praising those at Lifted Spirits and others who are doing so much to care for others, but for giving me the opportunity and the prompting to thank NHS staff who during 2020 have done more than in almost certainly any other year since its formation, and the social care staff of this country, who have gone out of their way to care for others and those who are most vulnerable, not just to covid but to other health problems. There is no limit to my gratitude to those who are working so hard; they really put their shoulders to the wheel. The attitude of the NHS—that when there is a crisis, we lean in, we come together and we fix it—inspires me, and I know inspires so many other people.
Education: Return in January — House of Commons, 2020-12-30
Topic: Health
Gavin Alexander Williamson (Conservative, Centre-right): I often agree with my hon. Friend, and I do not disagree with him on this occasion. Obviously, we have to prioritise decisions on vaccinations, taking into account a whole raft of areas. The key thing is prioritising those people who are most clinically vulnerable, but as we get through that stage of clinical need, I certainly hope that we can look at how we can vaccinate those who are in the teaching profession and who support education.
Education: Return in January — House of Commons, 2020-12-30
Topic: Health
Gavin Alexander Williamson (Conservative, Centre-right): The right hon. Gentleman raises an important point about how vital it is to work with local directors of public health and local authorities. We believe that this will be of enormous assistance to those local authorities in identifying where more covid cases are. It will be an opportunity to deliver more rapid testing than has been delivered so far—not just in County Durham, but across the country. The right hon. Gentleman might have heard that extra support is being provided to schools and colleges so that they can stand up this testing. In some areas where schools and colleges have particular problems, we will look at supporting them with a team to help to get the mass testing up and established. Of course, the data being collected is vital. When youngsters test positive in a lateral flow test, that data will be fed immediately into the test and trace system, which is shared with local authorities.
Education: Return in January — House of Commons, 2020-12-30
Topic: Health
Gavin Alexander Williamson (Conservative, Centre-right): We will be publishing details of those local authorities within contingency framework areas later today on the gov.uk website. We would want to see schools entering the contingency framework very much as an absolute last resort, where the public health evidence and public health advice are that it is important and vital to do so in terms of the management of covid infections.
Education: Return in January — House of Commons, 2020-12-30
Topic: Health
Felicia Jane Beatrix Drummond (Conservative, Centre-right): May I join the previous questioner and ask my right hon. Friend whether he agrees that the best way to get schools back and working properly is to prioritise vaccines for teachers and pupils, who may be spreading the virus asymptomatically? Will he urge the Department of Health and Social Care to prioritise that?
Education: Return in January — House of Commons, 2020-12-30
Topic: Health
Gavin Alexander Williamson (Conservative, Centre-right): I would certainly urge the Department of Health and Social Care to prioritise vaccination of those who work in schools. All the vaccines currently available have not had or have not completed trials on people under the age of 18. I am sure my hon. Friend recognises the necessity of completing those trials before rolling out any vaccination programme to the younger cohorts.
Education: Return in January — House of Commons, 2020-12-30
Topic: Health
Gavin Alexander Williamson (Conservative, Centre-right): I am not sure the hon. Gentleman heard my reply to the previous question, but none of the vaccines has been through full trials on children under 18. It would not be ethical to vaccinate children before the completion of the trials.
Education: Return in January — House of Commons, 2020-12-30
Topic: Health
Gavin Alexander Williamson (Conservative, Centre-right): I am sure that the hon. Lady is aware of the gold command chaired by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which looks at all the decisions on tiering and other measures that need to be taken to deal with the pandemic. Those decisions will be made as part of that health structure through joint working by the Health Secretary and me, because the powers to close sit with me as Education Secretary. The hon. Lady will be familiar with gov.uk; notice and details of the areas that will be put in the contingency framework are published on that website.
Education: Return in January — House of Commons, 2020-12-30
Topic: Health
Gavin Alexander Williamson (Conservative, Centre-right): If my right hon. Friend is a new boy back in school, I think the Chief Whip is the headmaster, so he will probably be keeping a close eye on my right hon. Friend. However, it is good to see him back with the Conservative Whip, as I very much felt it was a great privilege to work so closely with him when he was Chairman of the Defence Committee and I was in a previous role My right hon. Friend is right that, actually, many children who have coronavirus do not exhibit symptoms of having coronavirus. This is why the move to mass testing in secondary schools is so important. It gives us the opportunity to identify so many more children who have the virus and just do not know it. That means that so many more households can be informed that they also need to be tested as they may also have the virus. This is an important step in defeating this virus and taking the battle to covid to ensure that we defeat it and are triumphant in doing so.
Public Health — House of Commons, 2020-12-30
Topic: Health
Helen Olivia Bicknell Whately (Conservative, Centre-right): I beg to move, That the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Self-Isolation and Linked Households) (England) Regulations 2020 (S.I., 2020, No. 1518), dated 11 December 2020, a copy of which was laid before this House on 11 December, be approved.
Public Health — House of Commons, 2020-12-30
Topic: Health
Helen Olivia Bicknell Whately (Conservative, Centre-right): Before I say anything else, I want to say thank you to all our health and social care workers who have been working day and night through Christmas, Boxing day and the bank holiday. I know that every single one of them is feeling the strain and that they are not just tired but exhausted, having gone not just the extra mile but miles and miles of extra miles. I would also like to thank everyone across the country who has forgone the joy of sharing Christmas with family or friends. We have all missed those precious moments, and I know that this has been particularly painful for those facing what may be the last chance to spend Christmas with a loved one nearing the end of their life. That is why I say thank you to them from the bottom of my heart for what they have done, not so much for their own sake but to protect others I would like to take a moment to celebrate the good news of the authorisation of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for use. Although the development of vaccines is an international collaboration, we should recognise the contribution of the British life sciences sector, which offers the UK a way out of this disease and will make a huge impact on the global response.
Public Health — House of Commons, 2020-12-30
Topic: Health
Helen Olivia Bicknell Whately (Conservative, Centre-right): I hear my hon. Friend’s point, and I share his view that throughout this pandemic the vast majority of people have behaved with great responsibility. I know that people in tiers other than tier 4 thought very hard about whether they should gather with relatives, even within the easing that was allowed during the Christmas period, and rightly so. We must all play our part in controlling the virus and stopping its spread.
Public Health — House of Commons, 2020-12-30
Topic: Health
Helen Olivia Bicknell Whately (Conservative, Centre-right): I will make some progress At the time of these provisions we were seeing an exponential rise in cases in London, Kent, and some other parts of the south-east, and it was clear that the tier 3 restrictions were not sufficient. We identified the existence of a new variant in those areas, and further analysis showed us that the new variant was driving the steep trajectory of infections. The new and emerging respiratory virus threats advisory group—NERVTAG—tells us that the new variant demonstrates a substantial increase in transmissibility, compared with other variants, and that the R value appears to be significantly higher, with initial estimates suggesting an increase of between 0.4 and 0.9 There is no evidence to suggest that the new variant of the virus is more likely to cause more serious disease, but increased infections lead to increased hospital admissions and, sadly, increased loss of life. These winter months already pose great challenges for our NHS. That is why we had to take the action that we took before Christmas, and the further steps announced today to control the relentless spread of the virus. However, it is not all bad news.
Public Health — House of Commons, 2020-12-30
Topic: Health
Helen Olivia Bicknell Whately (Conservative, Centre-right): I am making some progress and I am mindful that many Members want to speak this evening The roll-out of the Pfizer vaccine is happening at pace, with more than 600,000 people receiving it between 8 and 20 December. Vaccinations in care homes started on 16 December, and the NHS has already been getting the vaccine to those who are most vulnerable, and the care workers who look after them. Now, the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has been approved, and it is much easier to get out to people and into arms. There is every reason for optimism, but we are not there yet. We must suppress the virus now and in the weeks ahead On the specific measures in these regulations, in response to the greatly increased risk, the addition of tier 4 stay-at-home measures will be familiar to people from the November national restrictions. Tier 4 involves minor changes to those national restrictions. As of November, people in tier 4 areas must stay at home and not travel out of tier 4. They may only leave for a limited number of reasons such as work, education, or caring purposes. We are advising that clinically extremely vulnerable people in tier 4 areas should do as they did in November and stay at home as much as possible, except to go outdoors for exercise or to attend health appointments. The regulations contain the same exemptions as other tiers for childcare and support bubbles. We advise that people elsewhere avoid travelling into a tier 4 area, unless they need to do so for work, education or health purposes.