Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what additional covid-19 testing capacity will be provided to support the return of fans to Wembley Stadium; and if he will make a statement.

The Events Research Programme aims to examine the risk of transmission of Covid-19 from attendance at events and explore ways to enable people to attend a range of events safely. To achieve this, the programme will explore how a combination of testing and non-pharmaceutical interventions (actions that people can take to mitigate the spread of coronavirus) can inform decisions on safely lifting restrictions at events.

As part of the Events Research Programme, there will be three events taking place at Wembley Stadium: an FA Cup Semi Final, the FA Cup Final and the Carabao Cup final.

To test transmission of COVID-19 at the event itself and effectiveness of pre-event LFD testing in detecting those infected with COVID-19, participants will also be asked to provide a PCR test on the day of the event and a home PCR test five days after the event.

Testing will largely be delivered through the existing community testing network, with results validated by the event organisers before ticket-holders are admitted to the venue.