Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure (a) the accuracy of data collated and (b) that all necessary individuals are contacted through the NHS Test and Trace service to help reduce transmission rates of covid-19.

The statistics on tests, testing capacity and positive cases have been produced quickly in response to developing world events. The Office for Statistics Regulation, on behalf of the UK Statistics Authority, has reviewed the statistics against several important aspects of the Code of Practice for Statistics and regards them as consistent with the code’s three pillars of trustworthiness, quality and value.

The NHS Test and Trace contacts everyone we can both those who have tested positive and the close recent contacts they provide – by text, email and/or telephone, and we will ring up to 10 times. We are concentrating our calling on times that best suit the public. If someone has tested positive for COVID-19 and NHS Test and Trace have been unable to contact them for 24 hours, they may pass their contact details to the local authority team.