As the independent regulator, the General Medical Council (GMC) assesses all fitness to practise concerns therefore, it would not be appropriate for the Department to make a specific assessment of their decisions. In serious cases, doctors are referred to the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service who make decisions on a doctor’s fitness to practice. If any restrictions are imposed on a doctor’s practise, the tribunal can only lift them if they are satisfied that there is no likely risk of repetition or danger to the public.

We expect National Health Service organisations to have robust recruitment procedures. For healthcare professionals, this includes confirmation with the relevant professional regulatory body to ensure the individual has a license to practise and does not have any ongoing fitness to practise concerns. Where the outcome of pre-employment checks or any subsequent risk assessment are unsatisfactory, organisations retain the right to withdraw the offer of employment.

The Department has made no overall assessment.

Information on the number of National Health Service staff who have refused a COVID-19 vaccination is not held centrally. We encourage all National Health Service staff to take up the offer of the vaccine, to help protect themselves and others.

For staff who decline the vaccine, employers should consider how best to ensure those staff members and patients are safe. This could include measures such as making sure the appropriate personal protective equipment is being used, that fit testing has been undertaken on the staff member’s FFP3 mask and that employees are aware of infection control standards and have undertaken appropriate training. Employers follow their own local policies and procedures on staff conduct issues on a case by case basis as they arise.

A transparent, independent and science-led investigation is an important part of the international effort to understand the origins of COVID-19. The World Health Organization convened a group of independent experts to begin a study and phase one reported on 30 March 2021. We will work with our international partners to ensure a timely, transparent, evidence-based and expert-led phase two of this study.

Each vaccine has specific contraindications which will outline those in whom the vaccine could potentially be considered unsafe. To date this has only been those with known hypersensitivity to the active substance or to any of the excipients listed in the individual vaccine information. Administration of a vaccine for anyone with any other underlying health condition should be on an individual basis and following discussion between the subject and their physician, with consideration for their individual risk-benefit.

There are no plans to do so. Whilst COVID-19 vaccines are not currently mandated for any groups, the Government strongly encourages healthcare and social care workers to be vaccinated in order to protect those that they care for.

There are currently 23 issued judicial review claims relating to COVID-19 which name the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care as a defendant. At present, the majority of claims for judicial review seek public law remedies that are not damages. Only two claims seek damages, one for up to £20,000 and one for an unspecified sum for ‘just satisfaction’ under Section 8 of the Human Rights Act 1998.

There is currently one private law claim that has been issued against the Secretary of State and is seeking damages. The value of the losses being disputed is estimated to be up to £29 million.

There are no plans under consideration at present to allow for the dismissal of National Health Service staff who refuse to be vaccinated.

All trusts who work with the Gender Identity Development Service have been issued the amended service specification halting all future referrals to endocrinology services for under 16 year olds. A copy of Amendments to Service Specification for Gender Identity Development Service for Children and Adolescent (E13/S(HSS)/e) is attached.

A review of the service is being undertaken under the chairmanship of Dr Hillary Cass which will cover a number of different aspects of the service including treatment pathways.

There are no plans to close the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust’s gender identity service for children and young people and we are not aware of any plans to instigate criminal proceedings.

NHS England has previously announced that Dr Hilary Cass will undertake an independent external review of the gender identity development service and make recommendations to NHS England on how the service should operate.

From 24 September, it will be compulsory for workers in retail, leisure and hospitality settings to wear a face covering in areas which are open to the public and where they either come or are likely to come into contact with members of the public.

This is in addition to existing legal obligations that require businesses to provide a safe working environment, which may include providing face coverings where appropriate, alongside other mitigation measures such as perspex screens to separate workers from the public.

The Department does not hold information on the weight of National Health Service staff.

Through our new obesity strategy, Tackling obesity: empowering adults and children to live healthier lives published on 27 July, we are doing more than ever to support people living with obesity, including those employed in the NHS, to lose weight including through the free NHS 12-week weight loss plan app for those who want more support. We will also expand weight management services to help more people get the support they need and through incentives with general practitioners will make conversations about weight in primary care the norm.

These measures add to the wide range of actions already in place including the soft drinks industry levy, sugar reduction and wider calorie reformulation programme which will improve our eating habits and reduce the amount of sugar and calories we consume.

A copy of Tackling obesity: empowering adults and children to live healthier lives is attached.

We will take enforcement action against people who endanger the safety of others in breaching the self-isolation requirement for those arriving into England from non-exempt countries. Those who fail to comply with the mandatory conditions could face enforcement action. A breach of self-isolation would be punishable with a £1,000 fixed penalty notice in England or potential prosecution and unlimited fine. Self-isolation is enforced in communities by local police. Border force will undertake spot checks at the border and may refuse entry where the individual is neither a British citizen nor a non-British citizen resident in the United Kingdom and refuses to comply with these regulations. Failure to complete the contact locator form is punishable by a £100 fixed penalty notice.

The Government has published its intention to restrict the promotion and advertising of foods high in fat, salt and sugar (HFSS). The consultations on these policies set out proposals for the definitions of HFSS products. We have listened carefully to the feedback and will be setting out final definitions for the products these policies apply to when we publish the responses to the consultations. We will do this as soon as possible.

To provide a more comprehensive response to a number of outstanding Written Questions, this has been answered by an information factsheet Science of COVID-19 – note for House of Lords which is attached, due to the size of the data. A copy has also been placed in the Library.

A specific analysis to investigate the relationship between the demonstrations and the subsequent number of COVID-19 cases would be difficult, since there is no requirement for individuals to report attendance at a demonstration or protest and, therefore, the necessary data would not be available.

Following a request by the Director of Public Health for Birmingham to investigate a spike in COVID-19 cases between the 14-16 June and whether this could be related to the Black Lives Matter protests in Birmingham on 4 June, analysis of pillar 1 and pillar 2 test counts in Birmingham by ethnicity throughout June 2020 is being undertaken. The number of confirmed cases in Birmingham continued to decline overall during this period.

Demonstrations in England are reported to have occurred in the first three weeks of June 2020. Some of these demonstrations appear to have been large, reportedly involving hundreds or thousands of people in different locations, including major cities. Public Health England has not performed a specific analysis to investigate the relationship between the demonstrations and the subsequent number of COVID-19 cases; such an analysis would not be possible, since there is no requirement for individuals to report attendance at a demonstration or protest and, therefore, the necessary data would not be available.

Since the start of June, the daily number of laboratory-confirmed cases in England has continued to decrease steadily and consistently, from 1,311 cases on 1 June to 386 cases on 28 June.

NHS Resolution manages clinical negligence and other claims against the National Health Service in England.

NHS Resolution has provided the following information:

Since 28 February 2020 NHS Resolution has received:

- 1,528 clinical negligence claims against NHS bodies across all its clinical schemes; and

- 508 claims against NHS bodies across all non-clinical schemes, assuming this is what is meant by compensation claims.

The total number of claimants across both groups is 2,036.

NHS Resolution is unable to give an amount of damages sought in each case because these are recently reported claims and it is highly unlikely this information would be available so early in the life of the claim.

The rising costs of clinical negligence are a major issue and something we are committed to tackling, given that National Health Service funds spent on clinical negligence are resources not available for front-line care. The Department is working intensively across Government, looking at a wide range of options to address the drivers of cost of clinical negligence claims. We will update Parliament in due course.

On 31 December 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) was informed of a cluster of cases of pneumonia of unknown cause detected in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China. On 12 January 2020 the WHO posted a Disease Outbreak News where it was announced that a novel coronavirus had been identified in samples obtained from cases. Initial analysis of virus genetic sequences suggested that this particular virus was the cause of the outbreak. This virus is referred to as SARS-CoV-2, and the associated disease as COVID-19.

Public Health England has been in regular contact with laboratories and public health organisations within Europe and South East Asia in order to understand the systems they have adopted in relation to contact tracing, risk assessments, guidance and laboratory processes. These knowledge exchanges led to the development of the antigen test used in the United Kingdom and shaped our approach to contact tracing and the risk assessments undertaken of aircraft and cruise ships.