Oral Answers to Questions

Virendra Sharma Excerpts

Thursday 13th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[Liz Twist (Blaydon) (Lab)]

12. What support he is providing to businesses and the voluntary sector to support key services affected by the omicron variant.

[Mr Virendra Sharma (Ealing, Southall) (Lab)]

14. What support he is providing to businesses and the voluntary sector to support key services affected by the omicron variant.

--- Later in debate ---

[Steve Barclay]

The hon. Lady is absolutely right about the importance of charities, including in the pandemic response more widely. That is why we have had a package of £750 million of support for charities, which indicates their importance and how they have been involved throughout the pandemic.

[Mr Virendra Sharma]

Ealing food bank in my constituency is doing tremendous work feeding those struggling the most. Those in greatest need already cannot afford to feed themselves and their families even while in work. If the Government move to charging for testing, will the Minister commit to funding lateral flow tests for the most vulnerable to prevent unwanted covid-19 outbreaks?

[Steve Barclay]

The reality as we meet today is that we continue to offer universal free testing. Actually, the UK is an outlier both in terms of the sheer quantum of testing that we have delivered—more than any other country in Europe—and the fact that we have not charged to do so. Testing has played a key role in our response, along with the booster campaign, but we need to balance that with value for money and the cost, which is very significant.