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Written question asked by Neale Hanvey (Alba Party) on Monday, 7 February 2022, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 9 February 2022. It was answered by Maggie Throup (Conservative) on Wednesday, 23 February 2022 on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care.

Coronavirus: Contact Tracing and Screening

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the utilisation targets are in respect of (a) laboratory capacity to process covid-19 PCR tests and (b) contact centre capacity; and whether those targets have been reached.

Answer

We do not set utilisation targets for laboratories as this is dependent on public demand for polymerase chain reaction testing.

The contact centre aligns resources to the forecasted growth or reduction in positive cases across the country. As figures fluctuate daily it is not possible to predict the exact number of agents to meet utilisation targets. However, the performance of the contact centres is monitored. In January 2022, 62% utilisation on the Trace Service and 63% on the general public testing enquires line was reached.

The information requested on paid for laboratory capacity which has not been utilised could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. Between October 2021 and January 2022, the contact centre and 119 service did not use an average of 28% of paid time.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
119859
Session
2021-22
Grouped for answer
Yes
Subjects
Screening Laboratories Coronavirus Contact tracing
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk