UK Government doubles Armed Forces support for vaccine roll-out in Wales

Secretary of State for Wales Simon Hart and the Defence Minister for the Armed Forces James Heappey have approved a Military Aid to the Civilian Authorities (MACA) request from the Welsh Government. The MACA will provide 96 service personnel to carry out a range of tasks including up to 20 defence medics who will boost capacity by leading teams of local vaccinators.

It follows a similar request from the Welsh Government in December which saw UK Government provide 92 service personnel to support Wales’ Health Boards in rapidly establishing and operating vaccination centres. As part of this task trained defence personnel administered the vaccine for the first time since the rollout began.

As part of the latest request, the 96 additional service personnel will deploy from 6 February and are expected to be on task until the end of April 2021. Their progress will be reviewed after 15 February, which is the target for offering a first dose of the vaccine to the top four priority cohorts. The review will help UK Government understand the level of demand for the 92 service personnel who have been supporting Welsh Government since early January, and who are expected to complete their duties on 28 February.

Separately, the UK Government has also provided two military planners to Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board in North Wales until mid-March to assist with the planning of the vaccination programme in the area.

Minister for COVID vaccine Deployment Nadhim Zahawi said:

Our military personnel are playing a crucial role in making sure that those who are eligible for the vaccine in every part of the United Kingdom get their jabs as quickly as possible.

Working alongside local partners and healthcare heroes, I’m grateful for their efforts which are testament to the strength of our Union and will help us maintain the rapid pace of the roll out in all four corners of the UK.

Defence Minister James Heappey said:

I’m proud that the UK Armed Forces and NHS are working so closely together to roll-out the vaccine across the UK. With this deployment we are stepping up our support in Wales, bringing specialist skills to accelerate vaccinations and save lives.

Welsh Secretary Simon Hart said:

The vaccines represent the light at the end of the tunnel and their rapid roll-out across the UK will help us regain normality as soon as possible.

The British Armed Forces are vital in this effort and I’m incredibly thankful for the work they have been carrying out in Wales throughout the pandemic.

After becoming the first country to approve a vaccine for use, the UK Government has procured and purchased vaccines on behalf of all parts of the UK. Approved vaccines are available across the UK, free at the point of delivery and are being rolled out to those most at risk in line with the independent advice of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).

Vaccination is managed by the health services in each nation: NHS England and NHS Improvement, NHS Wales, NHS Scotland, and Health and Social Care Northern Ireland. Armed Forces personnel have deployed to assist health services with planning and logistic support for the delivery of a vaccine.

The UK Government has also invested over £230 million into vaccine manufacture and will meet the cost of vaccines, which will be distributed to all nations of the UK, Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories.

There are over 5,000 Armed Forces personnel supporting 74 Covid-19 tasks in the UK and abroad, including the vaccine rollout, NHS support and community testing across the UK.

The Armed Forces have provided significant support in Wales throughout the pandemic. As well as assisting the vaccine roll-out, they have supported the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust (WAST) with over 90 ambulance drivers and defence medics.

Defence has also deployed military planners across Wales, including at the Welsh Government’s Emergency Coordination Centre Wales in Cardiff and the seven Local Health Boards. This support is in addition to the development of field hospitals, including at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, the delivery of PPE and support for the community testing programme in Merthyr Tydfil.



Civil news: opportunity to tender for education advice contracts

News story

A revised tender opportunity for Civil Legal Advice (CLA) specialist telephone advice services in the education category is now inviting bids.

Child colouring on paper

A tender opened on 4 February 2021 for specialist telephone advice contracts in the education category of law.

The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) is seeking to award up to 5 contracts with work being offered in ‘lots’ of 20% of the total work. Applicants may tender to deliver one, two or a maximum of 3 lots.

We want to encourage tenders from organisations that have the skills and resources in place to deliver Civil Legal Advice (CLA) contracts at short notice and have made a number of changes to encourage sustainable tenders.

Changes include amending the service operational hours and increasing the maximum hourly rate at which applicants may tender to deliver the work.

The LAA recognises that there may be some organisations interested in delivering some telephone advice but may be unable to either meet the minimum quality standards or be able to deliver 20% of the contract value.

We will therefore also accept variant bids from applicants wishing to deliver a lower proportion of work. This includes where a bidder is unable to meet the minimum contract requirements in full.

Variant bids will only be considered if we are unable to award 100% of the contract work to organisations bidding for lots.

Timescales

The deadline for submitting tenders is 5pm on 25 February 2021.

Services under the new contracts will begin on 1 April 2021.

Where can I find out more?

Detailed information on the procurement opportunity is available in the ‘Information for Applicants’ document on our tender pages.

Further information

Specialist Telephone Advice in Education and Discrimination from April 2021

e-tendering

Published 5 February 2021



Latest monitoring data confirms safety of COVID-19 vaccines

  • Data published from UK’s independent medicines regulator confirms approved vaccines meet strict regulatory standards for safety
  • Vast majority of reported side effects are mild and short lasting, reflecting a normal immune response to vaccines – including a sore arm and fatigue
  • The benefits of the COVID-19 vaccines outweigh the risks

Routine safety monitoring and analysis of the approved COVID-19 vaccines by the UK’s medicines regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), shows that the safety of these vaccines remains as high as expected from the clinical trial data that supported the approvals. The safety profile of the vaccines remains positive and the benefits continue to far outweigh any known side-effects.

Over 10 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech and the Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccines have been given across the UK and the MHRA has gathered a large amount of safety data. Data published today shows 22,820 reports of suspected side effects, or an overall reporting rate of 3 in 1,000 doses of vaccine administered from 9 December 2020 to 24 January 2021. This reassuring data has shown that the vast majority of reported side effects are mild and all are in line with most types of vaccine, including the seasonal flu vaccine. These include sore arms and mild ‘flu-like’ symptoms, which reflect a normal immune response to vaccines and are short-lasting.

The MHRA has today published its safety surveillance strategy for monitoring the safety of all UK-approved COVID-19 vaccines. This has been informed by the Government’s independent advisory body, the Commission on Human Medicines, and expertise across the UK public health sector.

The MHRA has also published today the first of what will be regular COVID-19 vaccine safety reports. These provide details on the suspected side-effects to the vaccines reported through its safety monitoring system, the Yellow Card scheme. This data has been thoroughly analysed by the MHRA’s scientists and safety experts together with all other sources of evidence.

The MHRA is working to actively promote reporting on COVID-19 vaccines from patients and healthcare professionals to the Coronavirus Yellow Card scheme. Anyone who has received the vaccine and thinks they may have suffered a side-effect, even suspected, is encouraged to report it to the MHRA at: coronavirus-yellowcard.mhra.gov.uk.

Safety monitoring of all medicines and vaccines used by the wider UK population is a key role of the MHRA. The safety of COVID-19 vaccines is continually monitored throughout their use in healthcare practice to ensure they remain safe and effective. The regulator does this by identifying and comparing new and emerging data from multiple sources with what it already knows from large-scale clinical trials.

Dr June Raine, MHRA Chief Executive, said:

Vaccines are the most effective way to protect against COVID-19 and save lives and prevent serious complications from this terrible virus.

The data we have collected provides further reassurance that the COVID-19 vaccines are safe and continue to meet the rigorous regulatory standards required for all vaccines. We remain confident that the benefits of these vaccines outweigh any risks.

Our priority is to ensure the public have safe and effective vaccines and we will continue to analyse, monitor and review all the safety data for these vaccines.

I’d like to thank everyone who has reported a potential side effect to us – every report matters.

END

Notes to Editors

Published 5 February 2021
Last updated 5 February 2021 + show all updates

  1. Added links to the report covering adverse reactions to approved COVID-19 vaccines as well as the Report of the Commission on Human Medicines Expert Working Group on COVID-19 vaccine safety surveillance

  2. First published.



Birmingham Fraudster Given Prison Sentence

Press release

Deliberately ‘targeted’ vulnerable couple

A 69 year-old woman who preyed on a couple seeking help with their immigration status, has been given a 19 month prison sentence for fraud.

Mrs Zabun Nissa of Herrick Road, Birmingham, pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud, contrary to Sections 1 and 2 of the Fraud Act 2006 at Birmingham Crown Court in November 2020. On her return to the court on 3 February she was given details of her sentence.

Mrs Nissa befriended the couple , and claimed to work at Birmingham Airport’s immigration department. Using this false position to gain their trust she charged the victims £8,450 for immigration work that was never carried out. This included help in obtaining British Citizenship; employment within the immigration department at Birmingham Airport; and visas for other family members to come to the UK and work.

Judge Mukherjee said, “This offending was very mean and very serious. You preyed on a couple who found themselves in a difficult position. You established trust in them – your word in the Pre-Sentencing Report is that you ‘targeted’ them. They called you ‘auntie’. You know how important a title that is. You lied to them from the outset. This was a planned fraud for financial gain.

“It was prolonged, persistent and planned.”

Mrs Nissa was previously convicted of similar offences in 2008.

The judge added, “This offending is so serious that only an immediate custodial sentence can be justified.”

Speaking about the case, Immigration Services Commissioner John Tuckett said:

“Zabun Nissa allowed people to put their trust and future in her. She took a considerable sum of money from her victims and then avoided them over a significant period of time. These were serious offences, given the circumstances and the amount of money involved, and demonstrates the harm that can be caused by unregulated immigration advisers.”

Notes to the Editor

  1. The OISC is an independent public body, established under the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, to regulate the provision of immigration advice and services in the UK.

  2. Media queries to Cornelius Alexander, Corporate Communications Business Partner at the OISC via communications@oisc.gov.uk.

Published 5 February 2021



Government confirms mandatory hotel quarantine to be introduced from 15 February

  • Managed Quarantine Facilities to come into effect from 15 February
  • Discussions with transport and hospitality industry already underway and commercial specification issued to hotels
  • Health Secretary to oversee implementation and to chair new Cabinet sub-committee, working closely with former Vice Chief of Defence Staff, General Sir Gordon Messenger, on government rollout
  • Discussions with Australia and New Zealand have taken place to share expertise on quarantining

Building on existing tough measures, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has confirmed that from 15 February anyone travelling to the UK from a country on the UK’s travel ban list will be required to quarantine in a government-approved facility for a period of 10 days.

On Thursday evening DHSC issued a commercial specification to hotels near ports and airports, asking for proposals on how they can support the delivery of Managed Quarantine Facilities ahead of formal contracts being awarded. General Sir Gordon Messenger will also play an important role in advising the government on the delivery of the programme.

Over the past week, the government has met with stakeholders from across the aviation, maritime, hotel and hospitality industry, and will now continue to finalise plans to enable implementation from 15 February.

The Health Secretary held discussions with his Australian counterpart on Thursday, and officials will speak with New Zealand officials to share expertise. DHSC has also held a series of roundtables with over 60 companies and industry representatives as the public and private sector work together to reduce transmissions of COVID-19.

Further details will be set out next week on how passengers will be able to book into the designated accommodation facilities.

This comes as the Prime Minister appoints the Health and Social Care Secretary to oversee cross-government efforts to deliver mandatory quarantine and enhanced testing which will help tackle the threats of new variants of COVID-19. A new Cabinet sub-committee, led by the Health and Social Care Secretary, will be attended by a number of senior Cabinet ministers that will play a vital role in delivering the policy. The government is also working closely with the devolved administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as the changes come into effect.

Detailed work is already underway with the Home Office, Department for Transport, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, and other government departments.

A DHSC spokesperson said:

Throughout the pandemic, the government has put in place proportionate measures, informed by the advice of scientists, and that has led to some of the toughest border regimes in the world. It is currently illegal to go on holiday, and passengers travelling to the UK must provide proof of a negative test before they travel, and self-isolate on arrival. With increased police presence at airports and more physical checks at addresses to make sure people are self-isolating, we are taking decisive action.

We are now working at pace to secure the facilities we need to roll out managed quarantine for British nationals returning home from the most high-risk countries, and are rightly engaging with representatives from the hospitality, maritime and aviation industry, and learning from our friends around the world. In the face of new variants, it is important that the government continues to take the necessary steps to protect people and save lives.

These measures build on the Home Secretary’s announcement on 27 January that the government is taking further action for outbound and inbound passengers, to minimise travel across international borders and reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission.