Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the criteria are for deciding whether a mobile covid-19 testing unit should be (a) opened and (b) closed in an area; and whether local authorities are consulted on those decisions.

Mobile testing units have been spread across the United Kingdom, with consideration given to population, geography and need. The day to day operations for the majority of these testing units will be locally directed by those who understand their communities best. An additional number of units will serve as a strategic reserve, to be deployed to wherever they are needed at short notice.

The deployment process is overseen centrally by the Department and where they are deployed is informed by regional bodies organised into regional coordination groups.