Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of providing third sector contractors carrying out NHS contracts with free lateral flow covid-19 test kits.

Free symptomatic and asymptomatic testing is available in the health sector based on clinical risk factors. Those who regularly work with National Health Service patients are eligible for free lateral flow tests through the staff testing programme. This includes individuals not directly employed by a NHS organisation, such as volunteers in vaccination centres in patient-facing roles. The decision on whether a role is patient-facing is made locally.