Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to his oral statement of 20 July 2020, Official Report, column 1850, on Coronavirus Response, for what reason enhanced levels of data were not shared with local authorities prior to 20 July 2020.

Public Health England (PHE) regional and health protection teams work very closely with local authorities to provide the necessary local intelligence and data that is needed for local risk assessments and action.

Prior to 20 July, PHE worked with local authorities to meet their expressed data and intelligence needs. Based on these discussions with local authorities, the Association of Directors of Public Health, Solace and Local Government Association colleagues, PHE agreed to provide a daily list of identifiable data on cases and their contacts. The Government drew up a Data Sharing Agreement with local authorities and on that basis have been providing all local authorities with access to postcode level testing data.