Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 17
17
NHST&T does not yet know how it will secure the promised benefits from the laboratory...
Conclusion
NHST&T does not yet know how it will secure the promised benefits from the laboratory infrastructure it has established. NHST&T’s November 2020 business case for a £10 billion expansion of its testing capability stated that a £150 million investment 30 C&AG’s report, Figure 6 31 Committee of Public Accounts, COVID-19: Test, track and trace (part 1), Forty-Seventh report of Session 2019–21, HC 932, 10 March 2021, para 2 32 Qq 64, 87; C&AG’s Report, paras 7, 12, 14, 2.15, 2.17 and Figure 12 33 Qq 87, 97–100 34 C&AG’s Report, para 2.11 35 Qq 97–100 Test and Trace update 15 in laboratory infrastructure would leave a lasting ‘legacy’ for NHS England, in terms of preparedness for future disease emergencies and early diagnostic capabilities for cancer and cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. However, the NAO found that NHS England and NHS Improvement had not been informed of this commitment at the time it was made and only recently began having discussions with NHST&T about potential legacy opportunities. We asked our witnesses how this had happened. The previous Head of NHST&T told us that they were surprised by the statement in the NAO report as they had ongoing discussions with NHS England and NHS Improvement about the importance of ensuring that better diagnostic capability was in place rather than having to be built from scratch. We noted that both the Department and NHS England signed off the account in the C&AG’s report as factually accurate.36 The November business case also committed to drawing up a detailed benefits realisation strategy by December 2020 setting out how benefits would be achieved from the £10 billion funding that NHST&T was requesting. However, the Department accepted that this was not yet in place. Without this, it is not clear what benefits are expected from this funding, who is responsible for delivering them or whether there are risks that need to be managed.37
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
3.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Spring 2022 3.2 Given the nature of the pandemic, UKHSA has focused on rapidly establishing programmes to deliver on the government’s response to the pandemic, including breaking chains of transmission, protecting vulnerable groups, and enabling economic and social activity. It has developed and published the Canna Model which estimates the benefit of its programmes in terms of breaking chains of transmission and publish regular performance data on its programmes. The UKHSA continues to strengthen its evaluation of programme benefits. 3.3 In its Autumn Budget and Spending Review 2021 on 27 October 2021, the government allocated £9.6 billion over the period 2022-23 to 2024-25 for key COVID-19 pandemic programmes and related health spending, including a testing operation and essential surveillance managed by the UKHSA. The government will set out further detail about its approach to allocating this funding between programmes in due course. 3.4 Once this funding has been agreed, in accordance with its Framework Agreement with the department, the UKHSA will receive an annual remit from ministers and produce a three- year strategic plan, updated annually, setting out how it will use the resources it receives to achieve the objectives set for it across the full range of its activities. The UKHSA’s first strategic plan will cover the years 2022-23 to 2024-25.