Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how the armed forces will be deployed to support community testing for covid-19 in areas under tier three local covid alert level restrictions.

Currently there are over 150 military personnel deployed to assist with community testing in tier three areas Defence and the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) are currently working together to assess how resource can be used most effectively in line with the guidance for local delivery on 30 November 2020.

As agreed by the Secretary of State for Defence and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury (CST), marginal costs would be the default charging regime where military support is requested for COVID-19 related tasks. Marginal costs takes into account travel, food and accommodation, but not the cost of the support itself. The total cost varies depending on factors such as the number of military personnel required as well as the duration of the task.

Military support to the community testing will be deployed at the request of the local authority in consultation with DHSC and authorised by a Defence Minister using the Military Aid to Civil Authority (MACA) process.