Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 19
19
Rejected
The NAO found that the price of PCR tests for prices ranged from £15 to...
Recommendation
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
Government Response Summary
The government disagrees with the recommendation, stating that it *did* take on board many of the CMA’s recommendations, and describes the actions taken in response to the CMA report.
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.