A highly critical report from the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee published today has condemned the government’s Test and Trace programme as a huge waste of tax payers money.
The report also highlighted the need for Test and Trace to work with the wider public health establishment, local government, schools, and the hospitality industry.
The Test and Trace service, headed by Dido Harding, has been widely criticised as has Harding’s ability to effectively lead the service set up in May 2020.
The initial budget of £22 billion received an additional £15 billion of government funding. To date the £37 billion investment has not achieved its original objective and ‘promise’ to avoid future lockdowns after the first.
The original promise to avoid future lockdowns was naïve, and made at a time when government adopted an overly optimistic tone. But it was made, and it has not delivered.
The use of circa 2,500 consultants paid an average day rate of £1,000 and some as much as £6,624 prompted the report by MPs to conclude there was no clear evidence these costs have been justified.
Test and Trace was sold as a solution to Covid-19, avoiding the need for a second, or third lockdown that promised a resurgence in economic activity. Hospitality businesses across the UK were led to look forward and expect they could reopen and stay open, as were other sectors of the economy.
Meg Hillier MPChair of the report, Meg Hillier MP said: “Despite the unimaginable resources thrown at this project, NHS Test and Trace cannot point to a measurable difference to the progress of the pandemic, and the promise on which this huge expense was justified—avoiding another lockdown—has been broken, twice.”
The committee welcomed NHS Test and Trace’s increasing working with local authorities but questioned why this had not happened earlier. The report also emphasised the need to continue working with the wider public health establishment and other sectors including local government, schools, and the hospitality industry.
The report asked government to provide its timetable for the Test and Trace service becoming part of the newly formed National Institute for Health Protection. It also calls for the publication of a strategy in how a degree of readiness can be retained for possible future surges of covid-19.
The committee will follow progress on Test and Trace later in the year with a second updated report.
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Hospitality & Catering News: House of Commons Public Accounts Committee Report: Test and Trace failing hospitality. – 10 March 2021 – House of Commons Public Accounts Committee Report: Test and Trace failing hospitality.
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