Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken to ensure that incorrect covid-19 alerts are not sent out from the NHS Test and Trace app.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
NHS COVID-19 app users will only be advised to self-isolate if their phone has been in ‘close contact’ with the phone of someone else who has later tested positive for COVID-19.
The app uses Bluetooth Low Energy to understand the distance, over time, between app users. If a user tests positive for COVID-19, the app’s risk-scoring algorithm uses this data, along with the individual’s infectiousness, to make precise calculations about risk to determine whether a user has had a ‘close contact’ and should get an alert. The algorithm has been optimised by scientific experts, based on the functionality provided by V1.6 of Google's and V2.0 of Apple's Application Programming Interface. It is kept under constant review.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Streatham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the answer of 20 January 2021 to Question 134587 on Contact Tracing: Computer Software, for what reason the Government is not planning to re-design the NHS covid-19 contact tracing app for it to work on older iPhone models; and what recent steps the Government has taken to increase uptake of the covid-19 contact tracing app since 20 January 2021.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before prorogation.Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to ensure that the UK participates in international covid-19 tracking in the same way as (a) Germany with the corona-warn-app and (b) other countries.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We work closely with our international partners to exchange best practice and work on digital solutions including exploring ways to support citizens when international travel resumes.
Asked by: Lord Greaves (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people have downloaded the NHS COVID-19 application; how many contacts of people with COVID-19 tested positive after being traced through (1) the NHS COVID-19 application, and (2) other means, on each day since 1 January; and of such contacts, how many they were (1) able, and (2) not able, to communicate with.
Answered by Lord Bethell
As of 27 January 2021, the NHS COVID-19 app has been downloaded 21,629,902 times. As COVID-19 app users are anonymous, we cannot determine who has or has not been contacted by Test and Trace as well as receiving an app notification to self-isolate following contact with a positive case.
The information is relating to those communicated with is not held in the format requested, as data is not collected on a daily basis.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many contacts have been made via the NHS test and trace app (a) in total and (b) by employment sector.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As of 17 February 2021 1,764,520 contact tracing alerts have been sent out to app users in England who have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive for coronavirus.
Users of the NHS COVID-19 app are anonymous. Therefore, we do not hold data on the number of contact tracing alerts by employment sector.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps his Department has taken to stop the appearance of incorrect or phantom notifications from the NHS covid-19 app.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The version 3.9 update to the COVID-19 app deployed on 29 October 2020 removed the exposure notifications generated automatically from the Apple and Google Application Programming Interface. Users needed to update their app to version 3.9 for this to take effect. For those who have not yet done this the app will continue to send a follow up message to confirm when no action needs to be taken.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 12 October to Question 93648, whether any of the 29 companies sub-contracted by Serco to deliver contact tracing services have sub-contracted work.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Serco currently have 21 sub-contractors supporting this service. Serco can confirm that none of the companies sub-contracted to deliver these services have sub-contracted work.
The pay rates for staff directly employed by Serco and their sub-contractors is commercially confidential information. Serco can confirm that in line with legal requirements, all staff are paid at or above the national minimum wage or the national living wage, as appropriate.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 12 October to Question 93648, whether Serco are obligated to notify the Government if their sub-contractors in turn sub-contract contact tracing work under the terms of his Department's contract with Serco to deliver contact tracing services.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Serco currently have 21 sub-contractors supporting this service. Serco can confirm that none of the companies sub-contracted to deliver these services have sub-contracted work.
The pay rates for staff directly employed by Serco and their sub-contractors is commercially confidential information. Serco can confirm that in line with legal requirements, all staff are paid at or above the national minimum wage or the national living wage, as appropriate.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average daily rate being paid to employees of (a) Serco and (b) companies subcontracted by Serco to deliver contact tracing services is.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Serco currently have 21 sub-contractors supporting this service. Serco can confirm that none of the companies sub-contracted to deliver these services have sub-contracted work.
The pay rates for staff directly employed by Serco and their sub-contractors is commercially confidential information. Serco can confirm that in line with legal requirements, all staff are paid at or above the national minimum wage or the national living wage, as appropriate.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether covid-19 test results from testing facilities being set up and run by universities can be entered on the Government track and trace app.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Users with a confirmed positive PCR result following testing completed in facilities set up and run by universities in England can enter their result in the app using a token that can be provided following result confirmation.