Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reasons NHS England has restricted the supply of chemical reagent for covid-19 testing to NHS hospital laboratories in Dorset; and if he will take steps to enable those laboratories to maximise their covid-19 testing capacity; and if he will make a statement.

The testing supplies team have already provided colleagues in National Health Service hospital laboratories in Dorset additional reagents that we have secured on behalf of the United Kingdom. They will continue to work with Dorset and the rest of the local pathology networks to address any localised supply issues when they arise. This includes ensuring that capacity is available and managed across the pathology network as well as making sure tests are sent to pillar 2 when appropriate to make better use of the available capacity across the system.