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 capacity of covid-19 testing resources deployed to Rotherham to meet demand; and whether he plans to allocate additional resources to testing centres in Rotherham.

Testing is a key part of the United Kingdom’s response to COVID-19, and, following the publication of the Government’s Testing Strategy we have rapidly expanded our capacity.

At present there are two mobile testing units in the Rotherham area, which have been well attended in line with the Director of Public Health’s strategy. However, mobile testing units are designed to be deployed on a daily basis.

To give Rotherham a more sustainable solution, a three-month testing capability in the form of a local testing unit, is currently being commissioned. There is also a regional testing site at Meadowhall Sheffield.