NHS Test and Trace

(asked on 7th June 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the purpose was of establishing NHS Test and Trace Innovations and Partnerships; what it accomplished; and why and when it was dissolved.


Answered by
Jo Churchill Portrait
Jo Churchill
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This question was answered on 16th June 2021

The Innovation and Partnerships team forms part of NHS Test and Trace’s central customer office and was established in summer 2020. The purpose of the team is to engage with universities and companies to consider new ways of delivering NHS Test and Trace’s programme’s aims. The team works with the main research and industry networks in the United Kingdom, as well as international partners to identify new technologies and methodologies Where any of these are adopted by NHS Test and Trace, the team provides guidance and support before handing over to one of the operation delivery teams ahead of deployment. The team has previously accomplished the identification of lateral flow devices and wastewater technologies capable of detecting COVID-19.

The team has not been dissolved and continues to operate as part of NHS Test and Trace. An organogram showing the structure of the Innovations and Partnership’s team is attached. The team is comprised of Departmental staff, secondees from other Government departments and arm’s length bodies.

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