Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of regional demand for covid-19 tests ordered through the online booking system, and if he will publish that data by postcode area.

Public Health England (PHE), the Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC) and NHS Test and Trace are monitoring infection levels across the country so higher volumes of testing are targeted where they are needed most

We do allocate more testing to higher prevalence areas in line with JBC reporting (devolved administrations manage their own allocations on a geographic basis). Allocation decisions are frequently and systematically reviewed to ensure we are using our testing where it can be most effective. We are working with PHE and others to develop more sophisticated approaches, based on the latest evidence to manage the prioritisation process to ensure that we can provide appropriate testing for both outbreak management and surveillance purposes.