I have received the below written answer from the Department of Health and Social Care:
The Department of Health and Social Care has provided the following answer to your written parliamentary question (91818):
Question:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish the evidential basis supporting the decision to move to covid-19 Plan B. (91818)
Tabled on: 13 December 2021
Answer:
Maggie Throup:
Prior to the move to Plan B on 8 December 2021, the available data at that time suggested that the confirmed prevalence and transmission of cases of the Omicron variant was high. The Government evaluated a range of emerging evidence and metrics including those discussed in the Scientific Advisory Group on Emergenciesā meetings 97 to 101 and associated meetings, such as meetings of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group, the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling, Operational sub-group, the COVID-19 Clinical Information Network and the Environmental Modelling Group. These meetings were minuted and published on GOV.UK. Data from the COVID-19 dashboard was also assessed, including the Office for National Statisticsā population survey, the UK Health Security Agencyās vaccine coverage and effectiveness data, National Health Service data, rates of positive tests and international data.
The answer was submitted on 28 Apr 2022 at 12:00.
April 30, 2022
Good morning.
I do not know about anybody else but, after reading that the word waffle spang instantly to mind.
April 30, 2022
In future that question may not have to be asked.
When they ādiscoverā another plague the govt. will merely do as that new Treaty dictates.
(No doubt govt WILL meekly sign up as per?)
Similar to last time except that there will be legal obligations.
And international obligations are all it cares about!
April 30, 2022
+1 Everhopeful. Certainly NOT their obligations to the electorates and country they are meant to serve.
April 30, 2022
+1
Absolutely!
April 30, 2022
The signing of such a treaty will guarantee there will be a continuous succession of never ending pandemics.
April 30, 2022
+1
Exactly!
And worse probably.
April 30, 2022
+1
April 30, 2022
Even after taking into account the Christmas&New Year break, staff off sick with Covid and ‘working from home’, isn’t taking 5 months to answer a non-contentious written query somewhat cheeky, to say the least of it?
April 30, 2022
+1
Ohā¦š¤¬ā¦they are SO rude to JR ( and any questioners?)
No manners whatsoever!
April 30, 2022
Waffle indeed and use of highly precise words like prevalence and transmission was āhighā.
In short they could have just said – We looked at loads of data such as this, that and the other – now please just go away Mr Redwood. Plus it takes five months for Throup to deliver even this waffle!
April 30, 2022
Well, if they are ‘working from home’ it probably had to be fitted in between taking the dog for a walk, the kids to school, coffee mornings, a bit of gardening etc.
May 1, 2022
Graham. That’s crtainly happening around our way. No wonder they all love it. Still they can always say they are building up levels of vitamin D.
April 30, 2022
David Frost today:- Britain is being overwhelmed by a rising tide of statism, entitlement and dependency. It is the duty of Tories to be honest with the public: the government cannot solve every one of their problems.
Not only can they not solve them but in the main they cause & exacerbate the publicās problems with very high taxes, poor public service, net zero, the politics of envy, vast over regulation of everything, bloated government, disastrous wars like Tony Blairāsā¦
David Frost
April 30, 2022
Indeed. I am being squeezed at the at source tax end and at the spending end of my life.
I can wear it (at the moment) but at the other end of the scale, the very people we saved through our Covid sacrifices are going to be killed by hypothermia.
One what level is that OK ?
(So long as Boris playing Churchill doesn’t get us all killed in a nuclear attack first !)
May 1, 2022
NLA. Don’t mention death by nuclear attack. We’ll have shed loads of people with ‘mental health’ problems to add to the evergtowing number now.
April 30, 2022
The absolute self-preserving need of the Department to answer “no” would have been tempered by the instinct to avoid political hazard through saying so directly but the actual words used have doubtless been sifted and weighed by a skilled, experienced lawyer possessing a keen eye for the folly of self-incrimination. So taking five months to work out what could be said likely shows great respect for an incisive question running to the core of the department’s incompetence.
April 30, 2022
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much did it cost to process the
50,154 written questions and answers in the last parliamentary year?
https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions?Answered=Answered&AnsweredFrom=11%2F05%2F2021&AnsweredTo=09%2F05%2F2022&DateFrom=11%2F05%2F2021&DateTo=09%2F05%2F2022&Expanded=True&House=Commons&SearchTerm=&Page=1
April 30, 2022
So: 1) The ‘prevalence and transmission’ of the Omicron variant were assessed by the government, but not its degree of seriousness
2) Nothing else is stated to have been considered in the government’s ‘assessment’: nothing about economic and social knock-on effects of the policy.
3) ‘International’ data are supposed to have been studied, yet the South African scientists who actually discovered the Omicron variant and worked with it were not heeded. This from the BBC 20/1/22: ‘The predictions we made at the start of December still hold. Omicron was less severe. Dramatically,” said Prof Marta Nunes, senior researcher at the Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics department of the University of Witwatersrand. The British government preferred to listen to the alarmists such as the SAGE sub-committees.
April 30, 2022
What is it that compels Johnson to blindly follow the SAGE propaganda and ignore all other sources of information? It is as if SAGE intends to ruin the country. It seems to be well on the way of achieving that. SAGE appears to be more political than medical.
I see Vallance’s latest doctrine is that we should all go vegan. (Or similar).
May 1, 2022
John. Vegan? No thanks. I don’t relish being 40% more likely to break a bone.
April 30, 2022
Allegedly, globally, health services are at ābreaking pointā.
How convenient.
A bit like those blokes who come round saying your roof or drive needs fixing.
āOh thanks for telling me. Can you mend it? Iāll get my cheque bookā.
But at least one does not cede TOTAL control of oneās property to them!!
April 30, 2022
+1
April 30, 2022
All those ridiculous āGroupsā should be disbanded forthwith.
It is now quite obvious to all but their delusions that they have no powers of prediction at all.
To put our futures on the line on the say-so of a computer model!!!
Just get some sort of health service into a functioning state.
Too much to ask?
Then go and get a job!!
April 30, 2022
Everhopeful
That was my take on the replyā¦ the absurd number of groups and frankly, the absurd names of these groups. It was like an excerpt from a Roald Dahl novel!
April 30, 2022
Yes, me too. Sir J has more patience than I would ever have, submitting carefully thought out questions and constantly receiving the garbage they churn out in reply. Akin to banging the head against the wall. If only all these groups and meetings had some economic benefit, we’d have no budget problems at all. What on earth must it cost?
April 30, 2022
+many
April 30, 2022
Not a single figure in the answer sums it up, but were there to be any they would be misleading and/or irrelevant. These types base decisions on emotions, not cold facts and figures.
April 30, 2022
The ‘Answer’ written is equivalent to sending a copy of a dictionary to the questioner with a message reading ‘Every word of my answer is in there. Look them all up, and sort out a suitable sequence for explanation’.
It presents ineptitude and laziness.
April 30, 2022
Bloke
Haha! It does seem a bit like your description! Aka an absolute nonsense!
April 30, 2022
” the available data at that time suggested that the confirmed prevalence and transmission of cases of the Omicron variant was high ”
How do we know that this “data” was accurate when so many figures have been subsequently found to be misleading. For example ‘died with covid’ or ‘died from covid’
The whole episode stinks.
Will we ever get an honest, objective review of what really happened – especially in relation to the monetary inducements given ? And will the findings of such a review ever be made public ?
May 1, 2022
Mayor. What astounded me was that Labour were calling for more of everything like they were starring in Oliver.
April 30, 2022
Social media posts have falsely linked a recent spike in unexplained hepatitis in children to the Covid vaccine. The affected children were mostly under the age of five and therefore not eligible for the jab, health agencies monitoring the situation say. But this hasn’t stopped the claims – and other theories around lockdown or sending children back to school – being promoted as fact.
Dr Meera Chand, director of clinical and emerging infections at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), said their investigations “increasingly” suggested the rise was linked to adenovirus infection.
“However, we are thoroughly investigating other potential causes,” she said.
The UKHSA says the Covid vaccine is the one thing they can definitively rule out – because none of the children affected had received the jab.
Nevertheless, on Twitter, Reddit, Facebook and Telegram, the BBC has found false claims that these hepatitis cases were caused by the Covid vaccine.
April 30, 2022
MT were any of the children affected born after their parents had the vaccine? Was there cross transmission between family members? Was test and trace used on the first families? If these are pre-primary are they attending the same nursery? Or have they been kept at home for the two years of lockdown without mixing in groups, how has it transmitted between isolated children who donāt attend school? It is quite frightening for anyone with babies and infants to have so little information about transmission. Is there an infected water supply? An infected milk supply like a common follow on milk? Did they all have the same batch of another vaccine unrelated to covid, babies have quite a number of jabs now before the age of 18 months.
April 30, 2022
You want to me to give you an answer, speaking for hepatitis outbreak in at least 11 European countries?
In the UK it is reported, adenovirus is recognized as a cause of hepatitis among the immunocompromised children. None had been vaccinated against Covid, and given how many were older than 2 plus 9 months of pregnancy it seems parents typically could not have been vaccinated against Covid -it simply didn’t exist !. You seem to be grasping at pathetic straws trying to blame. …Get a life and stop consulting social media nonsense.
May 1, 2022
MT I donāt blame the vaccine, I had all three covid vaccines and was grateful for the speed of rollout, there has also been a rise in liver diseases in adults, the outbreak is much higher in the UK than the rest of the EU I read, but they donāt say precisely where, are the infant children in clusters, are they in certain nurseries. Iām just curious, I read one little one survived with a transplant from their parent. I do read twitter but I donāt believe everything I read but I feel my questions were valid, pregnant women I know were struggling with the decision of whether to have the vaccine whilst pregnant those same women are now worried that their child could be affected from pregnancy transmission, like they were told the zika virus was transmitted to fetus.
May 2, 2022
then put all these concerns to the Health Minister, your GP, your local hospital taking in Covid patients. You could try ONS but that would take many months and I predict a response of ‘data either unavailable or confidential’.
April 30, 2022
Why did it take almost 5 months to tell you that the information you sought had been published? The government (the worst in my lifetime) is treating you with contempt. Perhaps you now know how the many of us feel?
April 30, 2022
BT
Perhaps they took their time because they are all working from home (keeping safe), just like the Passport Office, The DVLA, and a host of other Departments.
They do it because they can, no motive for them to improve as there is no competition, so they never lose out even if all of their customers are left frustrated and out of pocket.
April 30, 2022
The answer given is simply a list of information sources and probably there was no reasoned argument made for their decision.
I note there was no input on impacts on the economy.
April 30, 2022
I have a written response too. Itās from James Cleaverly and I asked āAre we at war or t peace with Russia?ā.
He did not know. He told me what a ābad manā their President is.
I am concerned that the 8,000 British troopers sent to āEastern Europeā have been sent to The Ukraine War Zone where Russia is pulverising the Ukrainian forces. Poland is threatening to attack Ukraine to to recover its ancient land including Lviv. There is a problem in Moldova and the Ukrainian forces have announced an army exercise in that region – during a war in which they have lost half their troops!
I am afraid that the āGreenham Commonā warmonger Ms Truss and Boris are taking Britain into a war that does not concern us and which would attract a hypersonic response from Russia.
April 30, 2022
Grow up.
May 1, 2022
Agreed.
April 30, 2022
reassuring to know you are not a pacifist.
May 1, 2022
+ 1
You’ve been looking at the facts, Lynn – not welcome to some.
May 1, 2022
+1000
April 30, 2022
What is the UK Government doing to develop Laser Technology to protect UK from everything from sophisticated Drones to Supersonic missiles and nuclear warheads?
Israel has already started and able to shoot down drones and some missiles.
This is imperative for defence. For keeping UK safe. Giving us leverage in international affairs. And would also help to stimulate the economy (plus we don’t have a choice. We have to develop this defensive tech. Not a question of if but when). The sooner, the better.
April 30, 2022
Compare our scared and timid approach to Omicron (with its 99.999% survival rate) with our gung-ho attitude towards Russia and the risk of nuclear war with a 99.999% kill rate.
Boris is prepared to allow us to remain in the EU (Brino) because of a threat of the return of IRA violence but is prepared to engage in nuclear war with Putin so that Ukraine may join the EU (among other things.)
April 30, 2022
I felt that Boris over-reacted to Omicron because he under-reacted to the initial COVID wave, and feels guilt over the casualties. I detect a similar pattern now, as he feels guilt for opposing, when Foreign Secretary, the MoD’s request to sell weapons to Ukraine. (Source: last week’s Sunday Times.)
P.S. I remain appalled by the sloppy ‘OPSEC’ here and in Washington on the subject of weapons supplies.
April 30, 2022
And now the UK is the #1 Russian target to protect Ukraine’s right to join the EU whilst he delivers Brino because of his failure to get us out of it for fear of IRA violence.
Democracy for Ukraine when we don’t have it ourselves !
May 1, 2022
If Johnson as Foreign Secretary had qualms about arming a corrupt regime that was regularly killing its own people in the Donbas region, good for him. The man had more backbone than I thought.
April 30, 2022
This appears insulting both as to the content of the response and the time it has taken to deliver it. I wonder if it is allowed / worthwhile to send a follow-up question for a proper answer.
The original question was “To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish the evidential basis …”. Would it not be better simply to ask the SoS for the evidence?
April 30, 2022
Repeating the opinions of Quangos, no matter how august, is not evidence. Evidence consists of data and analysis, supported by logical argument. You should make this clear to the Speaker.
May 1, 2022
+1000
April 30, 2022
Well I suppose the Department of Health needs someone better with words
I’ve been seeing a lot recently from Yuval Noah Harari.
I even found a book of his in the local charity shop.
I recall mentioning it on here.
Loads of interesting clips of his speeches too.
April 30, 2022
Trust me.
It isn’t partygate that’s going to do for Boris at the local elections.
It’s his failure to deal with woke, immigration, energy and the EU. And his ratting on taxes.
This time “Labour is worse” won’t work.
May 1, 2022
…only taken them FOUR AND A HALF MONTHS to reply then?
And as other commenters have noted : with waffle.
Sir John’s question asks “Will he publish….?”.
The answer need ony be a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’, although the inference of JR’s question is that we should also SEE that evidence. Merely indicating the QUANGOs that have purportedly furnished ‘information’ does neither.