Covid-19: NHS Contact Tracing App

Debate between Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom and Lord Bethell

Monday 18th May 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bethell]

My Lords, where the Isle of Wight leads, the country follows. We are enormously grateful to islanders for taking this pilot on board with energy and enthusiasm. I would like to consider ways of recognising that. One important lesson that we have learned from the island project is that the human touch of contact tracing is incredibly important and we will be implementing that at later stages.

[Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom (Con)]

My Lords, I declare my interest as chairman of the Information Assurance Advisory Council. In normal times, the cybersecurity advice that we would all give would be to keep the Bluetooth on our mobile telephones switched off unless and until we need it in a private setting. But these are not normal times. What advice would my noble friend the Minister give to help us protect ourselves while using this app?

[Lord Bethell]

My Lords, the Bluetooth used by the app is the latent Bluetooth, which does not need to be turned on and off. Our advice is for everyone to ensure that they keep their Bluetooth on. In fact, we will be issuing specific advice to doctors and other health workers who spend a lot of time in each other’s company, to ensure that the app does not create erroneous data.