Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether covid-19 lateral flow tests issued by (a) the NHS and (b) pharmacies are able to detect current and emergent variants of covid-19.

The performance of the lateral flow devices used in the National Health Service (NHS) are continually monitored and are subject to further evaluation at Porton Down to ascertain that they are able to detect new COVID-19 variants that may emerge into circulation in the United Kingdom.

Tests sold by pharmacies need to be approved under the Coronavirus Test Devices Approval (CTDA) regulations. As part of the post market surveillance, manufacturers of CTDA approved tests need to provide data to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency showing that performance levels are maintained against new COVID-19 variants that may emerge into circulation in the UK.

Both the evaluation conducted at Porton Down and CTDA maintain a highly rigorous testing process and ensure that COVID-19 tests used in the NHS and sold by pharmacies meet strict quality standards. UK consumers can be confident in the tests available, which is vital for managing COVID-19.