Recommendation 19

The NAO found that the price of PCR tests for prices ranged from £15 to £525. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) reviewed the PCR testing market in August 2021 and found there was a ‘race to the bottom’ where providers were only competing on price so that companies selling cheap but low quality tests might have an advantage. The CMA had previously suggested potential mitigations for this issue in April and May 2021 but DHSC had not taken any action. In September 2021 the CMA reported to government and again recommended it take action to address the market competing only on price.32 We asked DHSC why the gov.uk list did not have information on the time to conduct tests or quality, and it said that it had not intended the list on gov.uk to act as a price comparison site, but accepted that by adding information on prices, it had effectively become one. We also asked the Department why it had not responded to the CMA’s recommendations. The Department recognised that it had not formally responded to the CMA but told us that it had “engaged very deeply” with CMA officials after receiving the report, and that it took recommendations into account when which considering lateral flow tests.33 The Managed Quarantine Service