Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to (a) increase the availability of covid-19 testing in Northern Ireland and (b) rectify flaws in the test and trace system which are sending people in Northern Ireland for testing in Scotland and Wales.

In respect of Northern Ireland receiving the right amount of testing, the provision allocated is based on it receiving its share of tests based on population. This is an agreed approach by all four chief medical officers and means each nation is getting a share of tests based on data held by the Office for National Statistics.

In respect of the issue with the booking portal which resulted in some users being directed to tests sites a long distance from them, this has now been resolved. There is now a travel restriction set at 75 miles, and we continue to look at ways we can improve the testing programme.