Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 18
18
Rejected
DHSC told us that it had tried to ensure that the market could provide valid...
Conclusion
DHSC told us that it had tried to ensure that the market could provide valid and accurate tests, and that without its approach it would not have been able to develop the scale of testing market that it needed. We asked whether DHSC had reflected on the value of the gov.uk brand and the fact that companies listed on gov.uk could be seen as having the imprint of government approval. It accepted that stage one of the accreditation did not pose a high barrier to firms entering the market. We challenged DHSC as to whether it had understood the value of the NHS and gov.uk brands and the risk that government would be seen to endorse a company by virtue of it being named on the government website. DHSC recognised this, and confirmed that it had removed companies found not to be providing the claimed service from the gov.uk list. By 28 January 2022, DHSC had removed 264 providers from gov.uk, 111 of which were removed because they had failed their second or third stage accreditation. We queried why, given the amount of time between initial accreditation and later stages, fraudulent or poor performing companies stayed on the list potentially for several weeks before they were removed, and in this time could make money from people travelling. DHSC acknowledged that it could have put in place higher barriers to entry into the market.31
Government Response Summary
The government disagrees with the Committee's recommendation because it did take on board many of the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) recommendations; lists multiple specific actions it took to address the issues raised, and states that if health measures were re-introduced, the UKHSA would continue to learn the lessons from previous iterations of travel testing.
Government Response
Rejected
HM Government
Rejected
5: PAC conclusion: The Department for Health & Social Care’s failure to properly set up the market for travel tests put the public at risk of fraud and poor quality of service. 5: PAC recommendation: DHSC should set out, as part of its Treasury Minute response, why it did not take on board the CMA’s recommendations on the testing market, and which recommendations it would implement if health measures were re- introduced. 5.1 The government disagrees with the Committee’s recommendation. 5.2 The government disagrees with the Committee’s recommendation as it did take on board many of the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) recommendations. 5.3 When travel testing launched in Spring 2021 there was insufficient capacity in the NHS to provide testing. The government needed to grow a private market to meet this challenge, which involved striking the right balance between development and regulation of a market. 5.4 After the CMA published its report UKHSA held regular engagement with the CMA and took action to improve the service providers were giving. 5.5 UKHSA removed over 340 providers from the travel testing list (Recommendation B), carried out c500 checks into the accuracy of pricing per week (Recommendation E), and 32 helped ensure the test price dropped by c60% between August 2021 and February 2022 by regularly reducing the price of the government-provided tests (Recommendations D and E). 5.6 Specific actions taken: • All new providers had their prices audited before being added to the approved list. • Daily spot checks were carried out on all prices under £15 for accuracy and availability, and a sample of those over £15. • All price change requests were audited before going live on gov.uk. • Instigated a monitoring system of provider performance to ensure high quality service and removed a significant number of providers who did not meet the minimum requirements (Recommendation A). • Enhanced the test provider listing on gov.uk by adding new filters to allow customers to make more accurate searches. (Recommendation F). • Introduced world leading test validation regulations and a three-stage accreditation process to ensure that only high quality, accurate tests could be sold (Recommendation C) 5.7 If health measures were re-introduced, the UKHSA would continue to learn the lessons from previous iterations of travel testing, including the CMA recommendations. The exact measures to implement would depend on the context and circumstances in which the UKHSA were operating.