The Government currently has no plans to introduce a cap on fees charged by third-party food delivery apps to restaurants.

The National Health Service COVID-19 app is being developed by a multidisciplinary, multi-organisational team led by NHSX but also including representatives from across Government. VMWare, formerly Pivotal, was contracted by NHSX to provide a minimum viable product, to test and learn, and then to continue to productise the app. The contract asked it to:

- Work to an agile methodology to create a proximity tracing solution;

- Design, build and implement a scalable and robust platform to support the app for the duration of the contract;

- Provide live service support for the app and platform for national launch; and

- Share knowledge with NHSX and complete a service transition of the app and platform over to NHSX or NHSX’s chosen partner.

In March 2020, Go Pivotal (UK) Ltd, which was acquired by VM Ware in December 2019, was awarded contracts of £500,000 for app development and support, and £1.3 million for development and deployment of a minimum viable product (MVP) and app to market. In May 2020 the company was awarded a contract of £3 million for development and deployment of a MVP and limited period of support.

We rapidly engaged with several companies to understand their technological capabilities and assess the best approach. As a result of this process and given the extreme urgency, we made a direct award to VMWare Pivotal Labs, as permitted under Regulation 32 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.

The National Health Service COVID-19 app is being developed by a multidisciplinary, multi-organisational team led by NHSX but also including representatives from across Government. Zuhlke provides technical assurance for the app. The contract with Zuhlke defines the following deliverables:

- provide technical oversight of activities and deliverables; and

- work with project stakeholders to deliver effective project governance and assurance.

Zühlke Engineering has been awarded contracts of £895,000 for mobile development, and £812,000 for build assurance and system integration. They have also been awarded a contract of £3.813 million (with extension options, if needed) to support the app once launched.

The National Health Service will be launching a major campaign to support the launch of the app and we will consider a wide range of communications channels to promote it.

We have built the app with privacy by default and by design. The App complies with GDPR as well as the Data Protection Act 2018 to ensure the highest level of safeguards for app users.

If app users choose to submit their data to the National Health Service, either proactively or when requesting a test, it will be held on a NHS database held to the highest security standards. In addition to the continual monitoring, review and oversight we continue to consult the National Cyber Security Centre to review and supplement our processes.

The contact tracing app being developed by NHSX is designed, alongside effective tracing and testing, to give our country the confidence it needs to return to normality. We have worked with a range of experts - scientists, doctors, security experts and privacy groups to decide on an appropriate model for the app - one which will save lives while maintaining the privacy of users. Adopting a 'centralised' approach will ensure we are able to react quickly to changes in scientific advice and let people know quickly if they are at risk from contracting COVID-19 more quickly. At the same time, the National Health Service benefits from vital information about the spread of COVID-19. This will play a major part in protecting the health of others and getting the country back to normal in a controlled way, as restrictions ease.

The decision of precisely which other app users are notified if you notify the app you have become unwell with symptoms of COVID-19 will be determined by a sophisticated ‘contact risk model’. National Health Service doctors and scientists will continuously update this ‘contact risk model’ to make it as accurate as possible. The model will be based on scientific principles and it will be approved by the Chief Medical Officer.

The Department has worked with a range of experts - scientists, doctors, security experts and privacy groups to decide on an appropriate model for the app - one which will save lives while maintaining the privacy of users. The app has been designed in such a way as to allow devices to collect contact events and information regardless of whether it is running in the background or not, and while the phone is locked or sleeping.

The app has been designed for use for National Health Service care, public health management, or evaluation and research.

If you become unwell with symptoms of COVID-19, you can allow the app to inform the NHS and trigger a notification that the NHS will then send, anonymously, to other app users with whom you came into significant contact over the previous few days.

The app will be part of a wider approach that also will involve manual contact tracing and testing. We are working out how the data from the app can link to these elements.

We will always comply with the law around the use of data, including the provisions of the GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.

Our approach is similar to that followed by Australia, France, Italy, Norway, and Singapore among others. These countries have made similar technology choices (Bluetooth Low Energy) and have a proximity cascade solution. The United Kingdom is working with other countries to exchange ideas, learn lessons and ensure these lessons are being used to improve the National Health Service app development.