The Bishop of St Albans received the following written answers on 7th October 2024:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Sherlock on 5 August (HL273), when they will review their commitments in the Disability Action Plan, published on 5 February; and where they will publish their response.
Baroness Sherlock (Lab, DWP): The Disability Action Plan was an initiative of the previous administration. This Government is committed to championing the rights of deaf and disabled people. We will build on the insights shared by deaf and disabled people and their representative organisations, working closely with them so that their views and voices are at the heart of everything we do. We will provide further updates on the Government’s priorities for disability policy in due course.
The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Collins of Highbury on 1 August (HL313), what recent conversations they have had with other states regarding the timelines of replenishment for major global health multilaterals.
Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab, FCDO): We are working closely with other donors, implementing partners, civil society and the private sector on forthcoming replenishments of multilateral global health institutions to advance developing partner countries’ priorities and sustainably improve global health security. The replenishments of Gavi (the Vaccine Alliance), the Global Fund, the Pandemic Fund, and the World Health Organisation’s inaugural Investment Round will all take place over the coming 18 months. The Minister for Development will meet with the CEO of Gavi this week to discuss Gavi’s recent Investment Case launch and timings for its replenishment.
The Lord Bishop of St Albans asked His Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to increase access to (1) testing, (2) vaccination, and (3) treatment, for Mpox patients (a) in England, and (b) globally.
Baroness Merron (Lab, DHSC): The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), the National Health Service, and partners have well tested response capabilities to detect, contain, and treat novel infectious diseases, including Mpox.
The United Kingdom has sufficient testing capabilities in place to test for the different types of Mpox, as the UKHSA and some NHS laboratories can do the primary test for Mpox, and the UKHSA has requested that all NHS confirmed Mpox samples are sent to the Rare and Imported Pathogens Laboratory at the UKHSA, who can provide specialist polymerase chain reaction and genomic sequencing to determine the clade type.
The UKHSA is working closely with NHS England and has developed algorithms, which have been shared across the NHS, to support referrals of suspect cases for assessment. As part of the UKHSA’s well established preparedness plans, we have a supply of vaccines to vaccinate contacts of cases, and to vaccinate those in transmission networks connected to cases, as appropriate.
The Government is committed to helping the international response. The UK is the second largest donor to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, providing £1.65 billion over the 2020 to 2025 period. We are also working closely with them on ensuring sustainable and effective access to Mpox vaccines for low and middle income countries.
Critical to the management of any infections in the UK will be the rapid identification of any possible cases, with appropriate isolation and swift follow-up to trace and support identified contacts. We are placing a strong emphasis on ensuring there are high levels of awareness among clinicians about the risk and the actions they need to take when presented with possible cases. An update on case definitions and a briefing note has been issued.
The Church of England in Parliament 
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