Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason access to contact tracing data for local directors of public health has moved from level Local 0 to Local 4.

In order to address capacity challenges locally and nationally due to rising case rates, a decision was taken in early July to re-introduce a four hour digital journey across all national and local contact tracing. Individuals testing positive have four hours to self-complete the contact tracing survey before they pass on to local authorities, moving from a Local 0 to Local 4 approach. Due to the parameters of the Contact Tracing and Advice Service system, this decision was made for all local authorities and the national team. As a result of this change, over 30% of cases are now self-completing via SMS/email, increasing capacity both locally and nationally and enabling more cases to be reached within 24 hours.