Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Lord Bethell on 1 October (HL Deb col 287), how they calculated the figure that 89 per cent of the population have telephones whose hardware and software is compatible with the NHS COVID-19 application; and what assessment they have made of the accuracy of this calculation in the light of (1) Office for National Statistics data on smartphone ownership, and (2) reports of the application's lack of compatibility with some smartphone operating systems.

Estimates using the latest data directly from Apple and Google show that 89% of people with a smartphone in the United Kingdom are able to use the app. These are a device that can install a version of the iOS or Android operating system with the contact tracing technology the National Health Service COVID-19 app uses. For Apple this is iOS versions 13.5 and higher and for Android version Marshmallow (v6.0) and higher. The 89% estimate is made up of 87% of iOS smartphone owners and 93% of Android smartphone owners.