Labour calls on government to let councils run contact tracing

Labour will today urge the government to ditch Serco and let councils and local public health teams run contact tracing, following confirmation from SAGE that the largely privatised system is only having a "marginal impact" on transmission of the coronavirus.

The government's mostly-outsourced Test and Trace system has been blighted with failure.

With only two thirds of those testing positive transferred onto the system in the latest weekly statistics - only 68.6% of these people’s close contacts were reached. This is the lowest weekly figure since Test and Trace began, and is down from 72.5% the previous week. In contrast, local health protection teams reached 97.1% of close contacts. Over the last few months, a number of local authorities have seen much higher success rates as has those achieved by the Welsh Government’s local public sector-led response.

Labour will use its Opposition Day Debate today to raise the consistently high performance of local contact tracing systems when compared with the centralised system established by the Government and highlight the huge sums of public money spent so far on large private companies.

It is also calling for additional funding available for contact tracing in Tier 3 areas to be transferred to all parts of the country, and for councils and local public health teams to be given the resources and powers they need to carry out contact tracing and to effectively work in partnership with other local public services.

Rachel Reeves MP, Labour's Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Shadow Cabinet Office Minister, said:

“For months, Labour has been asking this government to put contact tracing into the hands of councils and local public health teams who know their own communities better than anyone.

“In the face of all the evidence, the Tories are continuing with a system that rewards failure by handing enormous sums of money to big companies such as Serco and Sitel.

“This approach has defied the experience around the world, left underfunded public services to clear up the mess days later and made our communities vulnerable to rising infection rates.

“The government should look at the science, follow Labour’s call to bring in a circuit break and transfer control of contact tracing to local authorities, so that we can better protect people’s lives and livelihoods.”

Notes to Editor:

• Serco was initially contracted for £108m for fourteen weeks up from the contract start date up to the 23rd August, with the option to extend for a longer period up to a value of £410m in total. Sitel had a similar arrangement, with £84m for the initial fourteen week period and £310m in total if it were extended. Due to redactions, it is impossible to tell how their performance is being measured and whether they have been subject to service credits (deductions for failure to provide key service levels under the contract)
• On contact tracing, ministers have been unable or unwilling to answer questions on the performance standards Serco is monitored under; nor what monitoring there was of sub-contracted tracing work; nor whether they would simply publish the contracts awarded to Serco and SITEL - despite the fact that the contracts have been published.
• On 10th May 2020 the World Health Organization published interim guidance on "Contact tracing in the context of COVID-19" which said: ‘Critical elements of the implementation of contact tracing are community engagement and public support; careful planning and consideration of local contexts, communities, and cultures; a workforce of trained contact tracers and supervisors; logistics support to contact tracing teams; and a system to collate, compile, and analyse data in real-time. Public health officials will need to identify contacts depending on the local context and culturally appropriate measures.’
• The Labour Party Opposition Day Debate on local contact tracing motion for 14^th October: That this House notes the consistently high performance of local contact tracing systems when compared with the centralised system established by the Government; notes the wealth of evidence that the considerable sums of public money spent so far on the national system would deliver better public health outcomes if devolved to local authorities and public health experts; and calls on the Government to extend the additional funding for contact tracing available in Tier 3 areas to all parts of the country and ensure that councils and local public health teams receive the resources and powers they require.
• Blackburn & Darwen and Calderdale were the first and second authorities to make the move to “a locally focused system to utilise community knowledge”. 6 August 2020: Local teams more successful in Test and Trace than call centres and online
• Bradford Council announced plans to set up its own localised test and trace programme last month – which the authority said would involve a greater local knowledge. 11^th September 2020: Bradford’s new £1.6m coronavirus test and trace system and how it will work
• Calderdale’s director of public health Deborah Harkins said their local system was proving very successful in boosting the work of NHS contact tracers. 24 September 2020: Calderdale’s own test and trace service at heart of Covid-19 fight
• On 1^st October 2020: Blackpool launched Covid task force to reinforce resort’s safety measures. Staff, who will operate alongside other agencies including the police, will also check businesses are complying with curfew times for bars and restaurants as well as track and trace measures.
• 11^th October 2020: Cumbria’s ace test-and-tracers has put Whitehall officials to shame, reported on 11^th October 2020: “Often, we identify someone who tested positive, and someone on the local environmental health team will say, ‘Yes, we know that person’,” said Colin Cox, Cumbria’s director of public health. “The skill of the local district council teams in knowing the complexities of their patch is just phenomenal.”
• On 11^th October 2020 Rober Jenrick admitted councils are ‘bound to be better’ at contact tracing: Pushed on whether the Government is trying to hand the system over to local authorities as it believes they will do a better job, the Communities Secretary added: “Well, the local councils I’ve spoken to really are looking for two things: firstly, to be supported with contact tracing, and there is real evidence that in places like Leicester, for example, mobilising local council workers…”