Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that (a) supplies of lateral flow tests and (b) PCR tests remain freely available.

In December 2021, we delivered approximately 280 million LFD tests and we have now procured additional stocks and increased delivery capacity. We expect to deliver 90 million LFD tests a week in the United Kingdom, including seven million a day through GOV.UK. In England, this includes approximately 12 million a week through pharmacies.

We have recently increased capacity for polymerase chain reaction testing by over 200,000 tests per day. All laboratories have also transitioned to the new Omicron mutation target assay, providing three to four times increased capacity and detection.