Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the total cost of the purchase of covid-19 PCR test kits has been to date; and how many of those kits have been purchased.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is unable to provide the information requested on the cost of purchasing of COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests as this information is commercially sensitive.

PCR test kits are comprised of several components which are individually purchased, prior to assembly. Between April 2020 and March 2022, the UKHSA purchased materials which were manufactured to make 154 million test kits.