Twenty-Third Report - Test and Trace update

Select Committee

Public Accounts Committee HC 182 27 October 2021

Report Status Government responded

Conclusions & Recommendations 25 items (8 recs)

Source View on Parliament website

Government Response (AI assessment · 25 of 25 classified)

Accepted 13

Acknowledged 1

Not Addressed 7

Rejected 4

Government response

Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Twenty Third report from Session 2021-22 · published 21 Jan 2022

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Recommendations & Conclusions

7 results

2 Recommendation Not Addressed

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

Recommendation

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 Summary

The government's response focused entirely on the department's value for money assessment processes and a commitment to include more detailed evidence in future letters to the Committee. It did not address the specific recommendation to report on underrepresented groups in testing or plans to drive up public engagement with NHST&T.

HM Treasury

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3 Recommendation Not Addressed

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

Recommendation

NHST&T has focussed on getting programmes up and running and paid less attention to ensuring these programmes delivered the benefits they promised. NHST&T has distributed 691 million lateral flow device (LFD) tests but only 96 million of these have been … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government's response is entirely unrelated to the committee's recommendation regarding the UKHSA's benefits realisation plan and understanding the actual benefits delivered by its spending.

HM Treasury

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4 Recommendation Not Addressed

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

Recommendation

NHST&T’s approach to laboratory and contact centre usage is still not flexible enough to meet changing demand and risks wasting public money. In 2020–21, NHST&T paid £3.1bn to secure the laboratory capacity to process PCR tests and £911 million for … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government's response discusses the Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) and its cost savings and project delivery, which is entirely irrelevant to the recommendation regarding UKHSA's laboratory and contact centre utilisation targets.

HM Treasury

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6 Recommendation Not Addressed

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

Recommendation

UKHSA has still not set out how it would like to work with local authorities, leaving them little time to plan for the new approach. The UKHSA was announced in March 2021 and is expected to be in place by … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government's response discusses defence funding and equipment plans, and provides general background on NHS Test and Trace, entirely failing to address the recommendation for UKHSA and the Department to provide clarity on the future operating model to local government.

HM Treasury

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1 Conclusion Not Addressed

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

Conclusion

On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Department of Health and Social Care (the Department), the former Head of the NHS Test and Trace Service (NHST&T), and the Chief Executive … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government acknowledges the committee took evidence based on the NAO report and published its own report, stating that this is the government's response to it, without addressing any specific recommendation.

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8 Conclusion Not Addressed

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

Conclusion

In April 2021, the Department identified the Delta form of COVID-19 as a variant of concern and within four weeks it had become dominant in the UK, accounting for 99% of positive cases.13 The Chief Executive of the UKHSA told … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government's response was a non-sequitur, providing only a list of unrelated reports concerning Greensill Capital, and did not address the committee's conclusion regarding the rapid spread of the Delta variant despite genomic sequencing efforts.

HM Treasury

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18 Conclusion Not Addressed

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

Conclusion

Since October 2020, NHST&T has introduced lateral flow device (LFD) tests to detect infections in people without symptoms. NHST&T distributed around 691 million LFD tests between October 2020 and May 2021 as part of its plans to roll out regular … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government response provides a general introduction to NHS Test and Trace and context for the report, but does not address the conclusion regarding the low registration rates of LFD tests or the lack of a system to monitor results.

HM Treasury

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