Recommendation 29

On 21 February 2022 the Prime Minister outlined the Government’s strategy for living with COVID-19 including the scaling back of testing, tracing and isolation.54 The Government’s intention is to put an end to the free supply of lateral flow testing kits. We asked the Department on its assessment of the number of lateral flow tests that people 46 Q 170 47 DHSC 2020–21 ARA, page 133 48 Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, NHS England Annual Report and Accounts 2020–21, 31 January 2022 49 Q 143 50 Q 146 51 Letter from Department of Health and Social Care to Public Accounts Committee, dated 22 March 2022 52 DHSC 2020–21 ARA, pages 5, 75 53 Q 116; Letter from Department of Health and Social Care to Public Accounts Committee, dated 22 March 2022 54 Hansard: Living with Covid-19 Volume 709: debated on Monday 21 February 2022 Department of Health and Social Care 2020–21 Annual Report and Accounts 17 were carrying out on 7 March 2022, when we took evidence, and its assessment of how many they would continue to do when they have to pay for tests.55 In written evidence after the session the Department told us that 3.4 million lateral flow tests, including 0.3 million positive tests, were reported in the week 3–9 March 2022. The Department will continue to provide testing for some high-risk groups and expects some individuals and employers to buy tests privately to manage their own risk. It stated, therefore the number of tests taken is likely to be significantly higher than the number of tests paid for by the Government.56 The Department told us a detailed testing strategy would be published but did not know when this would happen, however, it will make an announcement shortly about eligibility for free tests.57