Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what advice the Government has provided to pharmacies regarding the distribution of free lateral flow tests that are not for resale after 31 March 2022.

Pharmacies have been advised to distribute all their remaining stock before the end of the service on the 31 March 2022 to minimise the amount of surplus stock. There will be no process in place for collecting unused kits from pharmacies at the end of the service and the UK Health Security Agency are discouraging the destruction of test kits. Pharmacy teams can use their knowledge of their local communities to proactively distribute test kits. This may include distribution to people who are National Health Service staff, carers, the clinically vulnerable, digitally excluded or anyone who in the professional opinion of the pharmacist would benefit.