UK Inquiry Tracker

Test and Trace 2

Public Accounts Committee Closed Inquiry

Opened: 9 Jun 2021 Closed: 5 Aug 2021 Parliament page

In March this year the Committee reported on the “unimaginable” cost of the UK Government’s test and trace programme, which had nonetheless “failed to deliver on the central promise of averting another lockdown” that was used, in part, to “justify the scale of investment”. The Committee will question senior public … Read more

1 Recommendation

24 Conclusions

1 Report

1 Oral session

1 Letter

1 Event

Activity timeline 5 events

21 Jan
2022

Report published

Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Twenty Third report from Session 2021-22

27 Oct
2021

Report published

Twenty-Third Report - Test and Trace update

25 Oct
2021

Correspondence

Correspondence from Sir Chris Wormald, Department of Health and Social Care and Dr Jenny Harries OBE, UK Health, Security Agency, re follow…

8 Jul
2021

Oral evidence

Test and Trace 2

8 Jul
2021

Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · The Grimond Room, Portcullis House

Test and Trace 2

Oral evidence sessions 1 session

8 Jul 2021

View on parliament.uk

Test and Trace 2

Baroness Dido Harding · NHS Test and Trace Dr Jenny Harries OBE · UK Health Security Agency Jonathan Marron · Department for Health and Social Care Shona Dunn · Department of Health and Social Care Sir Chris Wormald · Department of Health and Social Care

Reports 1 report · click to expand

Title	HC No.	Published	Items	Response
Twenty-Third Report - Test and Trace update	HC 182	27 Oct 2021	25	Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

25 results

2 Conclusion

Twenty-Third Report - Test and Tra…

Uptake of NHST&T’s services by the public is variable, and some vulnerable groups are currently...

Uptake of NHST&T’s services by the public is variable, and some vulnerable groups are currently much less likely to engage with it. Only a minority of people experiencing COVID-19 symptoms get a test. Between 18% and 33% of people who … Read more Uptake of NHST&T’s services by the public is variable, and some vulnerable groups are currently much less likely to engage with it. Only a minority of people experiencing COVID-19 symptoms get a test. Between 18% and 33% of people who experience COVID-19 symptoms report getting a test. Some groups, such as older people, men, and certain ethnic minorities, are much less likely to request tests. While it recognises that some groups of people are underrepresented in the testing programme, NHST&T’s test and trace data is not sufficiently robust to establish a baseline against which progress can be measured. The UKHSA is planning to establish a baseline data set against which the new organisation will prioritise its work and assess its impact in all areas of health protection. The NHS Covid-19 app has had some success in identifying and contacting those who need to self-isolate 6 Test and Trace update and sharing information. But there is a risk that people delete or switch it off to avoid self-isolating, reducing how effective it can be. The NAO reported that in late April around 16 million people had the app fully or partially enabled on their phone, but the Department is not able to provide us with more recent figures. Around 16% of people who have tested positive for COVID-19, and around 20% of their contacts, do not fully meet self-isolation requirements. The Department is working to improve the percentage of people who comply with self-isolation, including how it communicates that it is still important to get a test if someone has COVID-19 symptoms and removing the physical barriers to getting tested or to self-isolation. The Department has appointed a cross-government senior officer responsible for compliance with self-isolation. Recommendation: The Department and UKHSA should write to the Committee, by the end of November, setting out which groups are most underrepresented in its testing programme and what plans it has to drive up public engagement with NHST&T, w Show less

Government Response

agree with the Committee’s conclusion. The department assesses the value for money of all its investments. Value for money is evidenced and scrutinised at key approvals and assurance milestones and … Read more

HM Treasury

Test and Trace 2

Activity timeline 5 events

Oral evidence sessions 1 session

Reports 1 report · click to expand

Recommendations & Conclusions

Uptake of NHST&T’s services by the public is variable, and some vulnerable groups are currently...

NHST&T has focussed on getting programmes up and running and paid less attention to ensuring...

NHST&T’s approach to laboratory and contact centre usage is still not flexible enough to meet...

NHST&T’s continued over-reliance on consultants is likely to cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of pounds.

UKHSA has still not set out how it would like to work with local authorities,...

On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence...

We asked our witnesses whether these figures meant that NHST&T had been given an unrealistic...

In April 2021, the Department identified the Delta form of COVID-19 as a variant of...

In our March 2021 report, we concluded that NHST&T published a lot of performance data...

The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) recommends that, for a test and trace system...

Academics and experts have consistently noted that the effectiveness of test and trace systems rests...

We asked our witnesses what progress had been made across government to improve self-isolation rates...

We asked our witnesses about the role of the NHS COVID-19 app in ensuring that...

University College London found that older people, men, and people in lower- income households were...

In 2020–21, NHST&T paid £3.1 billion to secure the laboratory capacity to process PCR tests...

The Chief Executive of the UKHSA told us that it was “extremely difficult” to predict...

NHST&T does not yet know how it will secure the promised benefits from the laboratory...

Since October 2020, NHST&T has introduced lateral flow device (LFD) tests to detect infections in...

Our first report on NHST&T concluded that it was overly reliant on expensive contractors and...

We therefore asked our witnesses why NHST&T’s use of consultants continued to be so high.

We again challenged the Department and NHST&T on the value for money of their spend...

At the time of the NAO’s report, NHST&T provisionally estimated that it had spent £372...

Local authorities and public health experts play a vital role in protecting the health of...

Our report in March 2021 on local government finance highlighted how the pandemic had caused...

From 1 October, NHST&T will become part of the newly created UKHSA.

Correspondence 1 letter