Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the time taken to process tests for COVID-19.

We have been focused on improving test turnaround times alongside expanding capacity and these are getting significantly better. Three out of five people who were tested in-person received their test result the very next day. Between 29 October and 4 November, the median time taken to receive a test result for regional test sites decreased to 27 hours from 31 hours in the previous week. Similarly, the median time decreased for local test sites to 29 hours from 33 hours and for mobile testing units to 25 hours from 29 hours during the same period.

We know we need to do more and are committed to improve this even further. We are validating use of robotics and improving technology used in the supply chain to speed up the flow of samples from test sites to labs and uploading of results, as well as making improvements to our logistics. We are also trialling new rapid tests that will give results on the spot and allow us to test whole cities.