Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase the availability of lateral flow covid-19 tests in (a) Luton South constituency, (b) the East of England and (c) England.

In December 2021, we delivered approximately 280 million lateral flow device (LFD) tests and we have now procured new stocks and increased delivery capacity. We expect to deliver 90 million LFD tests a week in the United Kingdom, including seven million tests a day through GOV.UK. In England, this includes approximately 12 million tests per week through pharmacies. We expect therefore that there is sufficient capacity to provide tests for everyone, who requires it including those in Luton South and the East of England.