Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of (a) offering confirmatory polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests for all students who test positive for covid-19 after taking an in-school lateral flow test and (b) students being allowed back to school if that PCR is negative.

Lateral flow device (LFD) tests taken at test sites, such as on school and college grounds, do not require a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) confirmation as these tests are done in a supervised environment. The self-isolation period must be commenced from the positive LFD test in a supervised environment.