NHS England have advised that a national plan has been developed in collaboration with key stakeholders to improve uptake within the breast screening programme in 2023 and beyond, noting the 2028 Cancer Early Detection targets. The plan sets out the priorities, interventions and monitoring of impact and outcomes to improve uptake. Using the Core20PLUS5 principles, the plan outlines the use of evidence-based and evaluated interventions to address inequalities and barriers to accessing breast screening.

The Government has approved an investment of £68 million in the digital transformation of screening (DToS) programme. The main focus of DToS, which is being led by NHS England, will be to develop digital products to support the invitation of and communication with the public.

The first two national screening programmes to receive these products will be the National Health Service breast screening programme and the diabetic eye screening programme. Subsequently the product will be adapted for use by other existing and new national screening programmes.

The products are planned to support online and app booking as well as call centre booking for those who do not wish to use digital products. DToS will also explore the extent to which the app can be used for other communications with individual members of the public related to their screening requirements.

The decision to have timed or open appointments in the National Health Service breast screening programme is the responsibility of providers with agreement from commissioners.

Information on the average uptake of breast screening categorised by areas that use open and timed appointments is not held centrally by NHS England.

NHS England has commissioned a series of national evaluative projects as part of the Uptake Improvement Plan, including on the impact on screening uptake using different invitation methodologies.

The Government has secured a supply of 4.98 million patient courses of two oral COVID-19 antiviral treatments, nirmatrelvir + ritonavir and molnupiravir. At present, those in the highest risk patient cohort who test positive for the virus can directly access antivirals and free lateral flow device testing through the integrated triage and treatment service delivered by the COVID Medicines Delivery Units (CMDUs). This patient cohort includes people at the highest risk from severe disease progression, including those who cannot take a vaccine for medical reasons and those for whom vaccines may be less effective. COVID-19 antivirals cannot currently be accessed via primary care settings. Any decisions on the longer-term deployment of COVID-19 treatments beyond the highest risk groups through CMDUs will be subject to the outcomes of the PANORAMIC study on the effectiveness of antivirals in the United Kingdom population.

Public health advice continues to be that testing in education and childcare settings is no longer needed. Most infectious diseases in education and childcare settings can be managed by following the advice in UK Health Security Agency’s (UKHSA) updated health protection in education and childcare settings guidance. Students and staff should follow UKHSA’s advice for those who have symptoms.

As individuals are now mixing in an otherwise open society, regular testing within school and colleges is no longer as effective as it once was. Instead, the most effective protection against severe disease from COVID-19 for everyone, including those at higher risk from COVID-19, is to get vaccinated.

Although settings may still have some unused test kits in stock, they should not continue to hand these out to staff or students or dispose of them (unless they have reached their expiry date).

The department are currently working with UKHSA to explore the options for removal of testing resources no longer required and repurpose or redeploy them as much as possible based on clinical need prioritisation.

In the meantime, settings should retain any surplus stock and may wish to note this in their contingency plans. The department has published emergency planning and responce guidance for education and childcare settings here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/emergency-planning-and-response-for-education-childcare-and-childrens-social-care-settings.

The department is also aware that some schools and colleges have reported finding the recruitment of invigilators more challenging this year. We are working with exam boards to monitor the risk and have supported recruitment by sharing The Exams Office’s vacancy map with pools of invigilators like parents and higher education students.

The Joint Council for Qualifications has published updated guidance for centres managing exams in case of invigilator shortage. This includes information about varying start times; alternative sites; invigilation ratios; use of subject teachers as invigilators; addressing challenges for individual candidates; and remote invigilation.

Public health advice continues to be that testing in education and childcare settings is no longer needed. Most infectious diseases in education and childcare settings can be managed by following the advice in UK Health Security Agency’s (UKHSA) updated health protection in education and childcare settings guidance. Students and staff should follow UKHSA’s advice for those who have symptoms.

As individuals are now mixing in an otherwise open society, regular testing within school and colleges is no longer as effective as it once was. Instead, the most effective protection against severe disease from COVID-19 for everyone, including those at higher risk from COVID-19, is to get vaccinated.

Although settings may still have some unused test kits in stock, they should not continue to hand these out to staff or students or dispose of them (unless they have reached their expiry date).

The department are currently working with UKHSA to explore the options for removal of testing resources no longer required and repurpose or redeploy them as much as possible based on clinical need prioritisation.

In the meantime, settings should retain any surplus stock and may wish to note this in their contingency plans. The department has published emergency planning and responce guidance for education and childcare settings here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/emergency-planning-and-response-for-education-childcare-and-childrens-social-care-settings.

The department is also aware that some schools and colleges have reported finding the recruitment of invigilators more challenging this year. We are working with exam boards to monitor the risk and have supported recruitment by sharing The Exams Office’s vacancy map with pools of invigilators like parents and higher education students.

The Joint Council for Qualifications has published updated guidance for centres managing exams in case of invigilator shortage. This includes information about varying start times; alternative sites; invigilation ratios; use of subject teachers as invigilators; addressing challenges for individual candidates; and remote invigilation.

From 1 April 2022, free universal access to lateral flow device testing for the public in England will end. We will continue to make free testing available for a small number of at risk groups. Further details on eligible groups will be available in due course.

The Spending Review 2021 allocated £2.3 billion for diagnostics to increase the number of community diagnostic centres to at least 100 sites by March 2025. This will increase diagnostic capacity for tests, such as ultrasounds, blood tests and computed tomography scans, to diagnose liver disease and improve earlier diagnosis and health outcomes. There are no plans to increase funding for liver disease scanning or testing specifically.

The National Health Service is introducing an indicator to support the earlier detection of liver disease in those most at-risk cohorts by incentivising improved access to cirrhosis and fibrosis tests for alcohol dependent in-patients. The NHS Health Check invites adults aged 40 to 74 years old for an overall health check, which can provide early detection and identify potential risks of liver disease. Local authorities are responsible for assessing alcohol risk through the NHS Health Check and providing specialist treatment services for dependent drinkers. The NHS has invested £27 million to establish specialist alcohol care teams in hospitals with the highest rates of admissions related to alcohol dependence.

The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities has published Liver Disease Profiles, which showed the main increase in liver disease mortality was due to additional alcoholic liver disease deaths in 2020. Additional deaths from non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and from hepatitis B related end-stage liver disease/hepatocellular carcinoma also showed a smaller increase. Deprivation is also identified as an influential factor on liver disease mortality, with those living in the most deprived areas being more adversely affected.

The UK does not accept recent recovery from Covid-19 as proof of immunity. All passengers are currently required to take a PCR test on arrival in the UK, as PCR tests ensure that positive results can be genomically sequenced to prevent the importation of variants of concern. The government will continue to review the testing measures in place, with the next Checkpoint review taking place later this month.

We have not made a specific assessment.

The information is not held in the format requested.

The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. We plan to publish a summary of the evidence that underpins the use of lateral flow devices and our submission to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency later in the year.

The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. We plan to publish a summary of the evidence that underpins the use of lateral flow devices and our submission to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency later in the year.

NHS Test and Trace utilises genomic sequencing and rapid genotyping assays to detect variants of COVID-19. For genomic sequencing, the time from a positive test to variant detection is less than six days in 90% of cases. Rapid genotyping assay is being deployed across the entire National Health Service and Lighthouse Laboratories network and will detect and alert health protection response groups, including public health teams at local authorities, to the presence of a targeted known variant of concern within 48 hours from a positive test result.

The pilots have been co-designed with the local authorities involved and will focus on interventions designed to address barriers to uptake of testing and adherence to self-isolation. These include improving accessibility to and effectiveness of the Test and Trace Support Payment Scheme, including raising the income threshold for eligibility, with the aim of giving people on low incomes confidence that they will receive financial support quickly if they test positive for COVID-19.

The pilots work will inform future policy through robust evidence on specific interventions. The pilot programme is designed to find innovative approaches to encourage uptake in testing, evaluate these approaches and share pilot results widely and quickly with local decision-makers. The length of evaluation will vary from pilot to pilot.

Following the review into when the remaining higher education students can return to in-person teaching and learning, the government has announced that the remaining students should return to in-person teaching no earlier than 17 May 2021, alongside Step 3 of the roadmap. Students and institutions will be given at least a week’s notice of any further return in accordance with the timing of Step 3 of the roadmap.

The government roadmap is designed to maintain a cautious approach to the easing of restrictions to reduce public health risks and ensure that we can maintain progress towards full reopening. However, the government recognises the difficulties and disruption that this may cause for many students and their families and that is why the government is making a further £15 million of additional student hardship funding available for this academic year 2020/21. In total we have made an additional £85 million of funding available for student hardship.

We are supporting universities to provide regular twice weekly asymptomatic testing for all students and staff on-site and, from May, at home. This will help break chains of transmission of the virus.

The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care regularly discusses a range of issues relating to COVID-19 with NHS Test and Trace and scientific advisers.

The objective of the Test and Trace Support Payment scheme is to support people on low incomes to self-isolate when they test positive for COVID-19 or are identified as a recent contact of someone who has tested positive and to encourage more people to get tested.

While no specific assessment has been made of the amount and accessibility of such support, we are working closely with all 314 local authorities in England to monitor and assess its effectiveness.

All residential adult social care settings, including those in Brighton and Hove, have access to routine COVID-19 testing through the National Testing Programme and all care homes and high-risk extra care and supported living settings have been provided with access to weekly polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing and twice weekly lateral flow device (LFD) testing for staff and weekly PCR testing for residents. As of 1 February, these settings are able to replenish their stock by calling 119 or at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/apply-coronavirus-test-care-home

Lateral flow testing is available to staff of primary and secondary schools, nurseries and colleges, and students of secondary schools and colleges. From 8 March twice-weekly lateral flow testing has also been available to the households, childcare and support bubbles of staff and students.

Students and staff should continue to access testing via their school. Tests for households, support and childcare bubbles can be ordered and collected from local sites or administered through workplace testing programs. Information on who is eligible for regular lateral flow testing and details of how to obtain a test are available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/rapid-lateral-flow-testing-for-households-and-bubbles-of-school-pupils-and-staff

Schools and colleges will have received all test kit deliveries before opening on 8 March 2021. Schools and Colleges have been running on site tests for staff and students since they returned from the Christmas holidays. Additionally, the Department has issued three guidance documents clearly setting out the instructions required to set up Asymptomatic Test Sites and deliver three tests to each student on site. The Department encourages Headteachers to review all updated material prior to schools opening on 8 March 2021.

From 8 March, all pupils should attend school. During the week commencing 8 March, pupils and students will be offered asymptomatic testing on site in secondary schools and colleges. Pupils and students who consent to testing should return to face-to-face education following their first negative test result. Pupils and students not undergoing testing should attend school and college in line with the institution’s phased return arrangements. Schools/colleges may start testing students/pupils before 8 March if they would like to do so to help manage the return. This is voluntary and at the discretion of each school. Asymptomatic testing is an important tool for helping to stem the transmission of the virus and so students/pupils may go to school/college specifically for a test before 8 March if their school/college offers to test them.

The Department will provide funding for schools, colleges and specialist settings, for reasonable workforce costs incurred in on-site testing.

We recognise that undertaking COVID-19 testing may cause concerns for some pupils. We encourage parents and staff to discuss such concerns with pupils, agree strategies to help reduce anxiety, and put in place any reasonable adjustments. We ask that positive test results are communicated to pupils in private wherever possible to avoid any stigma.