Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what (a) instructions and (b) guidance (i) he and (ii) NHS England has issued to recruiters of staff to temporary roles in the test, trace, isolate phase of virus control on the recruitment of people on furlough from private sector jobs.

The Government is recruiting contact tracers to support enhanced contact tracing as part of the new NHS Test and Trace Service. Recruitment could include staff who are currently furloughed and would be subject to approval from their employers.

The Department is contracting with a number of organisations to provide the contact tracing outbound calling workforce. NHS England is not co-ordinating this service.

NHS Employers has issued a FAQ on the recruitment of furloughed workers from the private sector at the following link:

https://www.nhsemployers.org/news/2020/04/staff-terms-and-conditions-covid19-faqs