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 monitor Government-approved private providers of covid-19 tests to ensure they comply with their (a) service standards and (b) advertised turnaround times.

The Department is working closely with private providers to ensure appropriate standards of performance are met. Performance is continually monitored including the ability to provide samples, analysis and report results on time. The Department takes rapid action when providers deliver inadequate services. This includes providers receiving a five-day warning to demonstrate they have rectified their service and if they do not, they are removed from the appropriate GOV.UK list.