LGA responds to PAC report on test and trace

27 Oct 2021 02:18 PM

Cllr David Fothergill, Chairman of the Local Government Association’s Community Wellbeing Board, responded to a Public Accounts Committee report on NHS Test and Trace, which found the service has not achieved its main objective to help break chains of COVID-19 transmission and enable people to return towards a more normal way of life 

“Councils have been leading the local response to the pandemic across the country, complementing the national test and trace system by setting up their own local contact tracing partnerships and successfully tracing many hard-to-reach cases.

“As this report highlights, local authorities need to have the resources to deliver their parts of the process, working with the UK Health Security Agency and other partners.

“Coronavirus will be with us for many months and years ahead and councils want to play their full part in helping to design a test and trace strategy for the medium and long-term which keeps our communities safe.

“It is therefore essential that councils have the capacity and funding to stand up locally-driven testing and contact tracing as soon as possible, to be able to respond swiftly to any future outbreaks or public health emergency.”

“Muddled, overstated, eye-wateringly expensive”: PAC damning on Test & Trace that has “failed on main objectives”