Recommendation 19

The Department acknowledged that it took the decision to build up tracing capacity centrally at the beginning because of the need to do this quickly, but it maintained that there had been “a series of conversations” with local authorities and directors of public health. NHST&T stressed that it had always engaged with and had senior representations from local authorities at a national level.68 As of October 2020, the National Audit Office noted that NHST&T’s Executive Committee included one member from a local authority 60 MHRA, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/mhra-issues-exceptional-use-authorisation-for-nhs-test-and- trace-covid-19-self-test-device 61 Q 10; Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/14/regulator-refuses-to-approve-mass-covid- testing-schools-in-england?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other 62 Q 10 63 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/daily-contact-testing-in-schools-statement-from-phe-and-nhs-tt- about-next-steps/position-statement-regarding-daily-contact-testing-in-schools-from-phe-and-nhs-test-and- trace 64 https://www.gov.uk/guidance/asymptomatic-testing-in-schools-and-colleges 65 Q 5 66 Qq 86–87; Local Government Association submission para 3; British Medical Association submission paras 1.1–1.8; We Own It submission paras 3–5; C&AG’s report, para 7 67 C&AG’s Report, para 19, 1.24 68 Qq 86–88 16 COVID-19: Test, track and trace (part 1) (out of 15 members).69 NHST&T told us that it had increasingly involved local authorities in its test and trace programme, for example through rolling out community testing.70 It has also established contact tracing partnerships with nearly 300 local authorities, and has plans to increase local support for ‘extended’ contact tracing (when tracers seek to identify where an individual was infected, not just their close contacts).71 However, both the National Audit Office report and evidence submitted by the Local Government Association highlighted a lack of clarity about whether and how much funding was avai