Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on genomic testing capacity for cancer within the NHS Genomic Laboratory Hubs network.

NHS England and NHS Improvement closely monitored the effect on genomic testing services of COVID-19, including the impact of the redeployment of equipment and staff to support COVID-19 testing. In order to ensure continuity of the genomic testing services, NHS England and NHS Improvement published prioritisation guidance at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/publication/guidance-to-the-nhs-genomic-medicine-service-in-response-to-covid-19/

NHS England and NHS Improvement continue to work closely with the Genomic Laboratory Hubs to monitor any impacts on testing capacity.