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1686020

registered interest
date	30/01/2024
answering body	Department of Health and Social Care
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health and Social Care
answering dept sort name	Health and Social Care
hansard heading	Coronavirus: Screening
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	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.
tabling member constituency	Tiverton and Honiton
tabling member printed	Richard Foord
uin	12211
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/02/2024 answer text <p>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:<br> <br> <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/covid-19-testing-during-periods-of-low-prevalence" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/guidance/covid-19-testing-during-periods-of-low-prevalence</a></p> answering member constituency Lewes answering member printed Maria Caulfield question first answered 07/02/2024 11:01:24 answering member 4492 label Biography information for Maria Caulfield
tabling member	4942 label Biography information for Richard Foord

1668486

registered interest
date	08/11/2023
answering body	Department of Health and Social Care
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health and Social Care
answering dept sort name	Health and Social Care
hansard heading	Coronavirus: Screening
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	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.
tabling member constituency	St Albans
tabling member printed	Daisy Cooper
uin	937
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/11/2023 answer text <p>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.</p> answering member constituency Lewes answering member printed Maria Caulfield question first answered 13/11/2023 17:34:22 answering member 4492 label Biography information for Maria Caulfield
tabling member	4769 label Biography information for Daisy Cooper

1665343

registered interest
date	17/10/2023
answering body	Department of Health and Social Care
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health and Social Care
answering dept sort name	Health and Social Care
hansard heading	Coronavirus: Screening
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	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.
tabling member constituency	Stockton South
tabling member printed	Matt Vickers
uin	203155
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/10/2023 answer text <p>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.</p><p>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</p><p>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.</p> answering member constituency Lewes answering member printed Maria Caulfield question first answered 24/10/2023 10:04:43 answering member 4492 label Biography information for Maria Caulfield
tabling member	4844 label Biography information for Matt Vickers

1663865

registered interest
date	13/10/2023
answering body	Department of Health and Social Care
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health and Social Care
answering dept sort name	Health and Social Care
hansard heading	Coronavirus: Screening
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	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.
tabling member constituency	St Albans
tabling member printed	Daisy Cooper
uin	201718
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/10/2023 answer text <p>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.</p><p>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.</p> answering member constituency Lewes answering member printed Maria Caulfield question first answered 20/10/2023 11:07:22 answering member 4492 label Biography information for Maria Caulfield
tabling member	4769 label Biography information for Daisy Cooper

1661524

registered interest
date	18/09/2023
answering body	Department of Health and Social Care
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health and Social Care
answering dept sort name	Health and Social Care
hansard heading	Coronavirus: Screening
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	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.
tabling member printed	Lord Mendelsohn
uin	HL10261
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/10/2023 answer text <p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>UKHSA continues to monitor prevalence and other factors to determine if additional testing, either LFD or PCR, is needed.</p> answering member printed Lord Markham question first answered 02/10/2023 12:46:07 answering member 4948 label Biography information for Lord Markham
tabling member	4286 label Biography information for Lord Mendelsohn

1661525

registered interest
date	18/09/2023
answering body	Department of Health and Social Care
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health and Social Care
answering dept sort name	Health and Social Care
hansard heading	Coronavirus: Screening
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	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.
tabling member printed	Lord Mendelsohn
uin	HL10262
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/10/2023 answer text <p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>We use Polymerase Chain Reaction testing for genomic sequencing to monitor and detect and assess vaccine effectiveness against new variants.</p> answering member printed Lord Markham question first answered 02/10/2023 12:56:04 answering member 4948 label Biography information for Lord Markham
tabling member	4286 label Biography information for Lord Mendelsohn

1660408

registered interest
date	13/09/2023
answering body	Department of Health and Social Care
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health and Social Care
answering dept sort name	Health and Social Care
hansard heading	Coronavirus: Screening
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	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.
tabling member constituency	North Durham
tabling member printed	Mr Kevan Jones
uin	199294
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/09/2023 answer text <p>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).</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p> answering member constituency Lewes answering member printed Maria Caulfield question first answered 21/09/2023 14:09:38 answering member 4492 label Biography information for Maria Caulfield previous answer version 95410 answering member constituency Lewes answering member printed Maria Caulfield answering member 4492 label Biography information for Maria Caulfield
tabling member	1438 label Biography information for Mr Kevan Jones

1660222

registered interest
date	12/09/2023
answering body	Department of Health and Social Care
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health and Social Care
answering dept sort name	Health and Social Care
hansard heading	Coronavirus: Screening
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	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.
tabling member constituency	St Albans
tabling member printed	Daisy Cooper
uin	199169
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/09/2023 answer text <p>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.</p><p> </p><p>Wastewater sampling, and subsequent analysis, has the benefit of detecting the virus regardless of whether people have symptoms or whether they are tested.</p><p> </p><p>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.</p><p> </p><p>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.</p> answering member constituency Lewes answering member printed Maria Caulfield question first answered 20/09/2023 15:03:44 answering member 4492 label Biography information for Maria Caulfield
tabling member	4769 label Biography information for Daisy Cooper

1624004

registered interest
date	26/04/2023
answering body	Department of Health and Social Care
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health and Social Care
answering dept sort name	Health and Social Care
hansard heading	Coronavirus: Screening
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	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.
tabling member constituency	Southampton, Itchen
tabling member printed	Royston Smith
uin	182890
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/05/2023 answer text <p>We are unable to provide the information requested as it is commercially sensitive.</p> answering member constituency Lewes answering member printed Maria Caulfield question first answered 03/05/2023 14:27:15 answering member 4492 label Biography information for Maria Caulfield
tabling member	4478 label Biography information for Royston Smith

1624006

registered interest
date	26/04/2023
answering body	Department of Health and Social Care
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health and Social Care
answering dept sort name	Health and Social Care
hansard heading	Coronavirus: Screening
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	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.
tabling member constituency	Southampton, Itchen
tabling member printed	Royston Smith
uin	182892
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/05/2023 answer text <p>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.</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>LFD test volume</p></td><td><p>Adult social care workers (millions)</p></td><td><p>NHS workers (millions)</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>April 2022</p></td><td><p>9.8</p></td><td><p>4.9</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>May 2022</p></td><td><p>3.7</p></td><td><p>1.8</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>June 2022</p></td><td><p>3.0</p></td><td><p>2.2</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>July 2022</p></td><td><p>4.8</p></td><td><p>3.9</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>August 2022</p></td><td><p>3.6</p></td><td><p>2.0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>September 2022</p></td><td><p>1.0</p></td><td><p>1.3</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>October 2022</p></td><td><p>1.4</p></td><td><p>1.9</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>November 2022</p></td><td><p>0.9</p></td><td><p>1.2</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>December 2022</p></td><td><p>1.6</p></td><td><p>1.5</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>January 2023</p></td><td><p>1.2</p></td><td><p>0.9</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>February 2023</p></td><td><p>1.2</p></td><td><p>0.8</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>March 2023</p></td><td><p>1.6</p></td><td><p>1.1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Financial year 22/23</p></td><td><p>33.7</p></td><td><p>23.6</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p> answering member constituency Lewes answering member printed Maria Caulfield question first answered 03/05/2023 14:35:07 answering member 4492 label Biography information for Maria Caulfield
tabling member	4478 label Biography information for Royston Smith