Source · Select Committees · Health and Social Care Committee
Recommendation 38
38
Accepted
Paragraph: 241
Scientific excellence is not enough in test and trace programmes: the UK must develop greater...
Recommendation
Scientific excellence is not enough in test and trace programmes: the UK must develop greater operational competence in deployment. In particular, the Government must ensure that both the new UK Health Security Agency and local authorities have the capability and funding to stand up both central surge capacity and locally-driven testing and contact tracing within seven days of a public health emergency being declared.
Government response summary AI-generated
The government accepts the recommendation, committing to building a resilient and scalable infrastructure for future public health threats. This includes working closely with local authorities to ensure their capability for future contact tracing and maintaining strong relationships between UKHSA and local tracing arrangements.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Paragraph Reference:
241
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government · verbatim extract
Accepted
The government partially accepts this recommendation. UKHSA and local authorities need robust contingency plans to respond to wider public health emergencies that extend beyond the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The timeframe within which testing or tracing arrangements can be put in place to respond to future public health emergencies, where they are needed, will depend on the nature of the emergency and be subject to available investment in the usual way. For its COVID-19 response, UKHSA has had oversight of a network of regional test sites, local test sites, mobile testing units and home distribution for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing – and a range of distribution systems for lateral flow tests – which have been designed to provide the flexibility to respond to changes in demand while ensuring fast turnaround times, and ran a national trace service and supported local authorities in local-level responses to the pandemic. This network will be reduced in the coming months in accordance with the plans set out in the government’s strategy for living with COVID-19, with UKHSA retaining a mix of capabilities including mobile testing and a scaled back national tracing function. UKHSA will continue to work closely with local authorities to enable appropriate test and trace arrangements to be deployed efficiently and effectively in response to future outbreaks. This includes wider public health emergencies. UKHSA will build on the legacy of the response to this pandemic. This includes ensuring a resilient and scalable infrastructure is in place to protect the public from new and existing threats to health. UKHSA will provide system leadership on health security and will work closely with local authorities, the NHS, local Directors of Public Health, professional bodies and associated local partners to co-design policies, responses on health security and the future of the local health protection system so that there is capacity to respond to future public health emergencies across England.
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