Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 20 December 2021 to Question 92129, on Coronavirus: Screening, and in the context of that Answer which states that there is no shortage of covid-19 lateral flow test kits, for what reason people have reported that those kits have been out of stock (a) on the gov.uk website and (b) upon collection at pharmacies following the issue of a collection code from that website.

We delivered approximately 280 million lateral flow device tests in December 2021 and we have procured additional stock and increased delivery capacity. We expect to deliver 90 million tests a week across the United Kingdom. In England, this includes approximately 12 million tests a week through pharmacies and seven million tests a day through GOV.UK so we do not expect that deliveries, including those to Liverpool West Derby, will be limited.