Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data the Government provides to local authorities on covid-19 infection rates; and what procedures his Department has put in place to help local authorities to respond to an increase in local infection rates.

All councils in England now have the ability to access testing data, right down to an individual and postcode level. They have been provided access to a dashboard by NHS Digital, with Test and Trace data. This means they know the numbers of people saying they had symptoms, as well as positive cases.

Public Health England, the Joint Biosecurity Centre and NHS Test and Trace are constantly monitoring the levels of infection across the country, and will work with local authorities to implement additional control measures as appropriate.

NHS Test and Trace is providing comprehensive guidance to assist local authorities in developing their own outbreak plans.