Contribution
It is an absolute pleasure to serve under your chairship today, Ms Lewell. I am speaking today on behalf of the Minister for public health and prevention, my hon. Friend the Member for West Lancashire (Ashley Dalton), who cannot be here for other parliamentary reasons. I know that she agrees with me that debates such as this are important to uphold the British people’s trust in public health measures, so I thank the hon. Member for Christchurch (Sir Christopher Chope) for securing it.
I want to start by giving some assurance, particularly to people watching at home. We know that over 53 million people, following the example of Her late Majesty the Queen, took the jab during a once-in-a-generation health emergency, and that covid vaccines helped to keep millions of people out of hospital and, in many cases, saved lives. It is important to remember that the vast majority of people who took the jab did not suffer adverse effects. The hon. Member for Christchurch has made some of those points publicly, and I am grateful for that. However, that does not mean that we should turn a blind eye to the rare and tragic instances where things have gone wrong, as he eloquently highlighted.
I want to take the opportunity to pay tribute to some of the campaigners, Kate Scott, Sheila Ward and Kelly Hatfield, for their tireless campaigning on this issue, and to Gareth Eve and the family of John Cross, all of whom have raised the issue of vaccine injury with my ministerial colleagues. Their loved ones took the vaccine because they wanted to protect their families and the NHS.
Today, those brave campaigners are still fighting for all people who suffered adverse reactions. They are not statistics—as hon. Members have said today, they are people. They are our constituents. Their voices must be heard. I am glad that they continue to have the opportunity to raise their concerns with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and with my colleague, the Minister for public health and prevention. The conversations are difficult, but they are essential to making Whitehall understand where the system falls short and where we can make a meaningful difference. It is not just a question of making sure that systems are in place to support people when things go wrong. As the hon. Member for Christchurch outlined this morning, it is about maintaining public confidence in our health service and vaccination programmes. That is what is at stake in this debate, and that is why it is helpful that he secured it.
That said, I do not think I will be able to assure the hon. Gentleman on the exact timelines that he asked for. However, I assure him that we are neither being complacent nor playing hard to get, as he said of even his own Government. Indeed, I echo the Secretary of State’s comments to the right hon. and learned Member for Kenilworth and Southam (Sir Jeremy Wright) back in June.
We are taking tangible steps to improve the administration of the vaccine damage payment scheme. As hon. Members know, the VDPS is a statutory route through which those who have suffered serious harm as a result of vaccination can apply for financial support. The scheme has been in existence for many years, but since the covid-19 vaccination campaign began, there has been a rise in the number of applications. That is to be expected, given the record number of vaccinations given in such a short timeframe, but it has put pressure on the processing time. That is why the Department has been working with the NHS Business Services Authority, the administrators of the scheme, to modernise operations, improve the experience of those who apply for an award and process claims at a faster rate. To get that done, additional medical assessors have been appointed and the application process has been digitised.
The NHS Business Services Authority has also been working to improve the return rate of medical records from the healthcare providers required to assess claims through engagement with NHS institutions and using subject access requests as needed.
With regard to the ongoing work, we recognise that concerns about the scheme go wider than the application process. We have heard those calls from the hon. Member for Christchurch, other Members present and campaigners, and, as he references, during the covid inquiry hearings, when the Government were asked to look at issues such as the eligibility criteria for the scheme and the current award amount. Last September, the Secretary of State met campaigners to discuss that issue, and ministerial colleagues have had further meetings since. In those meetings, my colleagues set out that although any changes to the scheme would be a cross-Government decision, our door remains open to campaigners and we will do everything we can to keep progressing this at pace.
I recognise that individuals and their families who have suffered harm following vaccination are waiting on a more detailed update, but I reassure them that the Secretary of State and Ministers are continuing to look at the issues and a range of options. I reiterate the comments that the Secretary of State made at Health questions. We want to be clear in our response. I will not be able to offer the hon. Member for Christchurch the timeline that he wants today.