The health secretary has said that asylum seekers should still be moved back onto the Bibby Stockholm barge in spite of the row caused by the discovery of Legionella.
So far none of the asylum seekers on the barge have shown any symptoms of the disease, according to the Home Office.
But Legionella bacteria can cause a potentially deadly lung infection known as Legionnaires’ disease, and is contracted by people breathing in droplets of water containing the bacteria.
It comes after asylum seekers were removed from the barge on Friday after Legionella bacteria was found in the vessel’s water system.
It has now emerged that people spent four days on board the barge before they were removed by the Home Office as a “precautionary measure”.
Dorset Council has said Home Office contractors were notified about the results last Monday, a full four days before people were moved off the barge.
Speaking to Sky News this morning, Mr Barclay said ministers were informed about traces of the bacteria only on Thursday.
Asked about claims the Home Office was informed about test results which discovered the bacteria on Tuesday, he said: “This is a standard thing the council had done. There is no reason to suggest there were concerns. As a precaution the tests were done.
“As soon as ministers were notified on Thursday night, there were some concerns with that, they took instant action.”
He added: “It may be the council notified the Home Office, that is an issue for those in the Home Office to respond to, obviously this is a Home Office lead.
“My understanding from colleagues in the Home Office is it was notified to Home Office ministers on Thursday and they then took very quick action as a result.”
And asked whether people should be put back on the Bibby Stockholm despite the controversy, Mr Barclay replied: “Yes, I do, because it’s costing around £6m a day in terms of the cost of hotels.
“It’s important that we both maintain safety standards, but also reflect the pressure on the taxpayer position in terms of that £6m.”
Politics Latest:
11.44 am — Keir Starmer has accused the government of “moving the goalposts” on cancer targets in England.
Speaking to broadcasters in Scotland, the Labour leader said: “I want swifter diagnosis, of course I do – both for the individuals concerned and obviously for the health service.
“The way to do that is to have a health service that’s fit for the future. We haven’t got one. I’ve set out a plan for that which involves people, technology and reform.
“And under the last Labour government, we had targets, we hit those targets. We didn’t walk away when the going got tough.
“With this government, it’s targets that they’ve repeatedly failed to hit. And now what they’re doing is moving the goalposts and even where they’re keeping targets after this streamlining, there’s targets they’re still not hitting.
PA Media reports he added: “So just as we’ve had on the economy, just as we’ve had on asylum, we’ve got complete failure from the government on this front as well.”
On the possibility of a Labour government working with authorities in Wales and Scotland on a coordinated approach to cut waiting times, Starmer said: “I think the example I would give is the last Labour government. We introduced targets, particularly for waiting times, and we hit those targets by working cooperatively across the board and brought those targets down.”
08.45 am — Asylum seekers should still be put back on the Bibby Stockholm barge despite the row caused by the discovery of Legionella, the health secretary has said.
Asked about claims the Home Office was informed about test results which discovered the bacteria on Tuesday on Sky News, he said: “This is a standard thing the council had done. There is no reason to suggest there were concerns. As a precaution the tests were done.
“As soon as ministers were notified on Thursday night, there were some concerns with that, they took instant action.”
And asked whether people should be put back on the Bibby Stockholm despite the controversy, Mr Barclay replied: “Yes, I do, because it’s costing around £6m a day in terms of the cost of hotels.
“It’s important that we both maintain safety standards, but also reflect the pressure on the taxpayer position in terms of that £6m.”
08.35 am — Health secretary Steve Barclay comments on draft proposals to put messages encouraging UK smokers to quit inside packets of cigarettes.
He told Sky News: “What this is about is learning from best international practice. So this is something that the Canadians have done for some time. The data suggests it’s very effective. We know that smoking is the biggest cause of cancer.
“We also know that many people who smoke want to quit. So the question is, how do we better enable them to access the right services to get the information they need? The evidence from Canada suggests this is one of the ways that is helpful. So we’re having a consultation on that.
“It’s all about how do we better empower the patient so if a patient wants to give up smoking, we know that the best thing they can do for their health is to give up smoking. What can we signpost, how can we help them access the right services and the lessons from Canada suggests this is a positive way forward”.
08.19 am — Health secretary Steve Barclay says ministers were made aware of the presence of Legionella on the Bibby Stockholm barge on Thursday evening.
He told the BBC: “Well, ministers were made aware of that on Thursday evening and obviously that’s been discussed with the council in terms of the importance of that information coming across quicker so ministers were aware on Thursday you police it counsellors say they told a home office contractor on Monday night.
Pressed further he said: “As health secretary obviously, I wouldn’t be cited on whether someone in the Home Office would have been notified or not, but I know in terms of Home Office ministers, they were notified on Thursday evening and took action on a precautionary basis but it is important that we for quite a long time though.
“People have had health assessments. There’s been no concerns in terms of any of the people that have been on the barge. Checks have been followed up on that, but the steps were taken as a precautionary basis. It is right therefore that we have the checks those were done at the end of July. I know ministers in the Home Office were notified on Thursday evening and took precautionary measures as a result”.
08.10 am — Health secretary Steve Barclay accuses junior doctors strikes of becoming “increasingly a politically motivated strike against the government”.
He told TalkTV: “We’ve accepted in full the recommendations on the independent pay review body process. What that means for junior doctors starting this summer is a pay rise of 10.3 per cent the average increase for junior doctors is 8.8 per cent. And we think that is the right approach.
“We’ve also listened to the BMA’s request more widely on things like changes to pensions for consultants, where a hugely generous offer means that consultants who retire at 65 will get a pension of over 70,000 pounds a year”
He added: “It’s harming patients for the BMA today what seems to be increasingly a politically motivated strike against the government and doesn’t recognise the fact that junior doctors are getting an average of 8.8% in terms of a pay rise this year”
8.05 am — Asked about government attacks on Labour’s administration of the NHS in Wales, shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson told Sky News yesterday:
“I think the last person that anyone needs a lecture from on how to manage the NHS is Steve Barclay. I mean, this is the man that has presided over the worst strikes in NHS history, where we’ve got record waiting times right across our NHS where people can’t get to see a GP when it comes to waiting for surgery of treatment”
She added: “The budget for the Welsh government, of course, is determined in Westminster, and that of course constrains what they can and can’t do, but under the last Labour government in Wales, what we saw we had a government in Westminster, a Labour government in Westminster, working with a Labour government in Wales, was a massive improvement when it comes to patient satisfaction, waiting times and access to GPs”.
8.00 am — Labour shadow health secretary Wes Streeting accused the Conservatives of creating a cancer care crisis and leaving patients waiting “dangerously long” in an article for the Sunday Times.
“Sunak should focus on cutting waiting times, not cutting standards for patients”, he said.
7.50 am — Good morning and welcome back to “Politics LIVE”, politics.co.uk‘s rolling coverage of the day’s key moments in Westminster and beyond. Here you can keep up to date with today’s major parliamentary debates, press conferences and news events in real time
Here’s what’s happening today:
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- Messages encouraging UK smokers to quit could be placed inside packets of cigarettes under draft proposals being considered by the government.
- The government begins NHS week with an announcement on cancer waiting time target. Two-thirds of NHS cancer waiting time targets are now expected to be scrapped in England, in a move the health service says aims to catch cancers earlier.
- Health secretary Steve Barclay is touring media studios to talk up the plans as ministers plan to double down on attacks over Labour’s administration of the NHS in Wales
- Meanwhile, Keir Starmer is off to Scotland, where he and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar will visit a distillery near Edinburgh. The trip is intended to discuss the importance of the whisky industry to the UK economy and the impact of the cost of living crisis.
- The Labour leader will be making comments to the media at around 10 a.m.
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Stay with us and we’ll bring you all the latest developments as they unfold.
