Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to help ensure that health and social care staff continue to have access to free covid-19 testing.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

From 1 April 2023, the Government implemented changes to COVID-19 testing. These changes aligned COVID-19 more closely with the management of other respiratory infections. As part of this change, routine symptomatic testing of staff in high-risk settings ended. Staff testing has continued in a limited number of the most high-risk settings to protect particularly vulnerable people. This includes hospice staff with symptoms and some National Health Service staff with symptoms, working on inpatient wards with severely immunosuppressed patients. Information on testing in these settings is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/covid-19-testing-during-periods-of-low-prevalence

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many pharmacies have bought coded stamped lateral flow tests for collection by immunocompromised patients from 17 November.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

The NHS Lateral Flow Device (LFD) tests supply service for patients potentially eligible for COVID-19 treatments was launched on 6 November 2023. Information about how many pharmacies have supplied LFD tests will not be available until pharmacies have claimed for the delivery of the service.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Government's figures on covid-19 cases in the UK, whether that figure includes results from all types of covid-19 testing kits.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

The ‘Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the UK’ dashboard provides a summary of key information about the pandemic. This includes levels of infections, the impact on health in the United Kingdom and on measures taken to respond. The UK Health Security Agency also publishes the National Influenza and COVID-19 Report which includes the number of episodes of infection and test positivity over time.

Case numbers include results from Pillar 1 (polymerase chain reaction) testing, which represents tests undertaken for healthcare purposes and in public health laboratories. They also include results from people who have reported a positive lateral flow test from the National Health Service on GOV.UK. Lateral flow tests that are privately purchased cannot currently be registered on GOV.UK

Changes to testing policies over time affect surveillance data. Fewer tests being performed, and tests limited to certain settings, would need to be considered when interpreting surveillance data. Nonetheless, surveillance metrics based on current testing continue to provide useful indicators of recent trends and disease acuity.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to ensure that results from privately purchased rapid lateral flow tests for Covid-19 can be reported on the Gov.uk website.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

Lateral flow device (LFD) tests which are privately purchased cannot currently be registered on GOV.UK and there is no requirement to report these results to the provider. There are currently no plans to change the policy on reporting private COVID-19 test results.

For citizens that are eligible to order free LFD tests from the UK Health Security Agency, these tests can still be registered on GOV.UK.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the UK Health Security Agency’s observation that “in the UK, the current surveillance systems do not support an assessment of comparative severity between variants”, published on 14 September; and what plans they have to increase PCR testing and COVID-19 surveillance in England.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Trends in disease severity and outcomes can be monitored over time through hospital data. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) receives vital data from those who are admitted to hospital with symptoms, and UKHSA is using genome sequencing to detect and assess severity and vaccine effectiveness against new variants.

While reduced polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing in the community limits comparisons of variant severity, surveillance metrics based on current testing continue to provide useful indicators of recent trends.

UKHSA retains laboratory capacity and an ability to scale PCR and lateral flow device testing back up should it be needed.

Planning for the restart of community surveillance for the winter season, when health pressures usually rise, is in progress. A national surveillance report is published every two weeks, and this will increase to once every week in the winter season.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government (1) what plans they have to monitor the development of the BA.2.86 COVID-19 variant in the UK; and (2) to what extent PCR testing will support monitoring the BA.2.86 COVID-19 variant.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The UK Health Security Agency conducts routine monitoring and surveillance of COVID-19 and the emergence and spread of new variants internationally via a range of surveillance systems and genomics capabilities, which report infection rates, hospitalisations and the risks posed by new variants, including the BA.2.86 variant.

The Government has maintained essential COVID-19 surveillance activities in primary and secondary care, and in high-risk settings. Currently a technical briefing is published every week, reviewing the data and risk assessing BA.2.86 and other variants.

We use Polymerase Chain Reaction testing for genomic sequencing to monitor and detect and assess vaccine effectiveness against new variants.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, following the detection of the BA.2.86 COVID-19 variant in the UK, what assessment they have made of COVID-19 PCR testing (1) capacity, and (2) availability in England.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Appropriate levels of testing for COVID-19, including polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing have remained to support diagnosis for clinical care and treatment, and to protect very high-risk individuals and settings.

Lateral flow device (LFD) testing is predominantly used and continues to be effective in detecting positive results, including of new variants. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) currently holds a stock of LFDs to support current testing policy and enable expanded deployment, should cases rise or risks to the National Health Service increase.

UKHSA continues to monitor prevalence and other factors to determine if additional testing, either LFD or PCR, is needed.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the unavailability of testing kits free of charge on the accuracy of national Covid-19 surveillance reports.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

The data in the national COVID-19 and flu surveillance reports are accurate based on the data reported to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).

The changes in the availability of free COVID-19 testing have not affected the accuracy of data presented within UKHSA’s national COVID-19 and flu surveillance reports. Changes to testing policies over time have changed the volume and breadth of data included in the reports, and this needs to be considered when interpreting that information.

However, there continues to be a range of useful and accurate data available within the national COVID-19 and flu surveillance reports taken from other sources, including our ongoing surveillance programmes.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the covid-19 wastewater testing programme in England on monitoring the rate of infection.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

Wastewater monitoring for COVID-19 and its variants was stood down in April 2022 in response to the Government policy change to Living with COVID-19. Therefore, in England, there has been no wastewater testing for COVID-19 within the last 12 months.

Wastewater sampling, and subsequent analysis, has the benefit of detecting the virus regardless of whether people have symptoms or whether they are tested.

Environmental factors such as rainfall dilution can influence the detection of variants in wastewater. Therefore, low total detections on some days may not be reflective of low community infection levels.

Wastewater monitoring cannot currently estimate the number of cases associated with a detection with a high degree of confidence. For example, in small catchment areas it is possible, but highly unlikely, that a detection is due to a single individual. In larger catchment areas detections are likely to be related to a higher number of cases in the population.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much free covid-19 rapid lateral flow tests provided by the NHS for people who work in healthcare or adult social care costed in each month since 1 April 2022.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

We are unable to provide the information requested as it is commercially sensitive.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many free covid-19 rapid lateral flow tests were provided by the NHS for people who work in healthcare or adult social care in each month since 1 April 2022.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

The following table shows the monthly breakdown of how many free COVID-19 lateral flow tests were provided in England only for National Health Service workers and adult social care.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Markham on 8 February (HL5061), when data for April 2022 and beyond will be validated for release; and on what grounds this information is commercially sensitive.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The data relating to the number of lateral flow device (LFD) tests purchased between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023 will be available in late 2023 on completion of the National Audit Office audit on financial year 2022/23. The timescales of the audit are currently being discussed and agreed.

The UK Health Security Agency consider that releasing the information on the total costs of LFD tests would not be in the public interest as it could prejudice future commercial relations with suppliers if this information were to be disclosed in the public domain.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many COVID-19 lateral flow test kits they purchased since January 2020; what was the total cost of those tests; how many tests were distributed; and what estimate they have made of how many were used.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department purchased approximately 2.6 billion lateral flow device (LFD) tests between September 2020 and March 2022. It is not possible to provide data for April 2022 and beyond at this time as it is not yet validated for release. We are unable to provide the information requested on the total costs of LFD tests as this information is commercially sensitive.

A table showing the number of LFD tests distributed up until May 2022 is attached. Whilst we collect data on tests recorded, this data does not necessarily equate to used tests as not everybody records the results of tests that they have used.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many covid-19 tests his Department has procured in each of the last 12 months.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

We do not hold the data in the format requested.

Between April 2020 and March 2022, circa 2.6 billion lateral flow tests were procured by the Department. It is not possible to provide data for after April 2022 at this time as it is not yet validated for release.

PCR test kits are assembled in house.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to take steps to introduce covid-19 testing (a) for people admitted to hospital who are immunocompromised and (b) in other high-risk settings.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

As set out in the Living with COVID-19 strategy published last February, we are continuing to offer some COVID-19 testing for those in high-risk settings. Currently, symptomatic or immunocompromised patients who are admitted to hospital for maternity or emergency care receive a Polymerase Chain Reaction test. Residents, patients, or staff in high-risk settings who are symptomatic are also tested and testing can be used to manage an outbreak in these settings.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether covid-19 lateral flow tests issued by (a) the NHS and (b) pharmacies are able to detect current and emergent variants of covid-19.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

The performance of the lateral flow devices used in the National Health Service (NHS) are continually monitored and are subject to further evaluation at Porton Down to ascertain that they are able to detect new COVID-19 variants that may emerge into circulation in the United Kingdom.

Tests sold by pharmacies need to be approved under the Coronavirus Test Devices Approval (CTDA) regulations. As part of the post market surveillance, manufacturers of CTDA approved tests need to provide data to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency showing that performance levels are maintained against new COVID-19 variants that may emerge into circulation in the UK.

Both the evaluation conducted at Porton Down and CTDA maintain a highly rigorous testing process and ensure that COVID-19 tests used in the NHS and sold by pharmacies meet strict quality standards. UK consumers can be confident in the tests available, which is vital for managing COVID-19.