Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of reducing or eradicating travel covid-19 test costs to support the travel industry; and what assessment he has made of the current effectiveness of those tests.

We have recently invited the Competition and Market Authority to conduct a review into pricing and standards in the market for international travel tests. The cost of NHS Test and Trace tests for international arrivals has been reduced from £88 to £68 for fully vaccinated travellers from ‘green’ or ‘amber’ list countries and from £170 to £136 for two tests for those who are not fully vaccinated arriving from ‘amber’ list countries. By the end of October, fully vaccinated passengers travelling from non ‘red’ list countries will also be able to replace their day two test with a cheaper lateral flow test, reducing the cost of tests on arrival into England.

All polymerase chain reaction currently used by private providers have been independently assessed as effective. Private providers of COVID-19 tests are assessed individually and in order to become accredited, a provider must demonstrate that their test device has been independently verified to meet the required clinical performance standards. This evidence is scrutinised as part of their initial application and further verified in the laboratory before accreditation is granted to that provider.