Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the test and trace programme will be able to provide accurate information on the covid-19 R number at local authority level.

The Government Office for Science and the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies currently and will continue to publish national and regional R rates on a regular basis. NHS Test and Trace are not planning to publish R rates at the local authority level. This is because estimates of R for geographies smaller than regional level are less reliable and it is more appropriate to identify local hotspots through, for example, monitoring rates of new cases and investigating outbreaks. The Joint Biosecurity Centre and Public Health England continue to closely monitor this local activity closely.