Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the studies, published by Trinity College Dublin on 15 and 26 June, which found that the COVID-19 contract tracing application’s performance was “similar to that of triggering notifications by randomly selecting from the participants, regardless of proximity" and that “there is only a weak dependence of detection rate on distance”; and what steps they intend to take in response.

Rigorous testing has been undertaken through the development of the app, including the Isle of Wight pilot and multiple field tests.

We continue to work with and learn from international partners across the world, especially countries which have launched apps using the Apple and Google Exposure Notification framework that Trinity College Dublin tested. We continue to collaborate closely with Apple and Google on refining their application programming interface.