Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to stockpile disease testing for a future pandemic.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is applying the learning from the COVID-19 pandemic to increase capability to respond to future threats. The specific plans for testing will be dependent on whether the threat is a known or novel pathogen, as this will dictate if existing tests can be utilised or a new test will need to be developed.

UKHSA hold reserves of COVID-19 lateral flow and Polymerase Chain Reaction test kits, for use as part of a contingency response. The extent of this capability is subject to constant review.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, testing services for the UKHSA and Sentinel National Health Service laboratories were established in approximately six weeks and surge testing was established in a further six weeks.