Covid-19: Business
Debate between Baroness Finlay of Llandaff and Lord Bilimoria(4 years, 7 months ago)
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The Deputy Speaker
Lord Hendy. Lord Hendy? We do not have Lord Hendy, so I call Lord Bilimoria.
Lord Bilimoria (CB)
My Lords, we are grateful to the Government and the Chancellor for all the help for business, including the extension of the job retention scheme until October. However, the Statement on workplace guidance makes no mention of testing at all, and today it is almost two months since the director-general of the WHO said, “Test, test, test”, and the Prime Minister has said that there is now a target of reaching 200,000 tests a day by the end of this month. Will the Minister tell us whether companies and businesses have access to testing for their workforces so that employees can be tested when they go to work? They can then have the confidence if they have a negative test that they can work knowing that they are healthy, and their colleagues and consumers can also have that confidence. Is testing available widely to employers and businesses now?