Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the market costs for COVID-19 PCR tests for the general public; and what steps are they taking to lower these costs.

We are committed to working with the travel industry and private providers to reduce these costs and since requirements were introduced for international travel testing, the costs have fallen significantly. We have reduced the cost of NHS Test and Trace tests for international arrivals from £88 to £68 for ‘green list’ arrivals or fully vaccinated ‘amber list’ arrivals and from £170 to £136 for two tests for ‘amber list’ arrivals who are not fully vaccinated. By the end of October, fully vaccinated passengers travelling from non-‘red list’ countries will be able to replace their day two test with a cheaper lateral flow test, reducing the cost of tests on arrival into England.