• 9 in 10 local authorities in England have signed up to the community testing programme to offer regular targeted testing for people without symptoms
• More than 70% of local authorities are already offering rapid testing to those who are unable to work from home
• New postcode checker will launch to help those who need to leave home for work access rapid testing quickly

232 local authorities are now rolling out community testing, covering a population of around 42 million people and identifying thousands of positive COVID-19 cases in people not showing symptoms, who could be unknowingly spreading the virus.

Designed and implemented by local authorities, community testing programmes are designed based on local authorities’ in-depth knowledge of the local area.

With around 1 in 3 people who have COVID-19 not showing symptoms, targeted asymptomatic testing and subsequent isolation is highly effective in breaking chains of transmission. Local authorities are currently being encouraged to target testing at people who are unable to work from home during the national lockdown.

Altogether, 9 out of 10 local authorities in England have developed plans for a community testing programme, and those not already offering rapid testing will be rolling it out soon. To date, over 2.2 million lateral flow tests have been carried out by local authorities for community testing programmes, with over 44,000 positive cases found so far.

To make accessing rapid testing even easier, a new postcode checker will be launching on GOV.UK, to help people who need to leave home for work find out if rapid testing is offered by their local authority or near their place of work. Further information about local authority testing services can be found, via the postcode checker, on their websites.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said:

It is brilliant more than 7 in 10 local authorities in the country are now offering rapid testing to find positive cases and break chains of transmission and even more are due to start soon.

Since the community testing programme was launched in December, local authorities have undertaken incredibly innovative work to rapidly get programmes up and running in local areas, using their local expertise.

I want to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to the incredible staff and volunteers across the country who are working so hard, alongside local authorities, to help protect people who are unable to work from home, and those at a higher risk of COVID-19, with rapid testing.

Lateral flow tests deliver results in 30 minutes, helping to quickly identify and isolate positive cases and break chains of transmission. Community testing programmes are encouraged to test participants at least twice a week using lateral flow tests, following clinical guidelines.

The community testing programme operates alongside the rapid workplace testing programme, keeping workers who cannot work from home from unknowingly passing on the virus – and protecting vital public services.

Case studies

Salford City Council

Salford City Council started offering community testing in January with 5 test sites now open, and plans to open additional sites over the coming weeks to ensure they are easily accessible across the city. It was at the Beesley Green Community Centre test site that mental health professional Louise Carey found out she had the virus but no symptoms:

I was getting tested as a precaution for work. I had no symptoms so wouldn’t have got tested otherwise. If I hadn’t had the positive lateral flow test that day, I wouldn’t have known I had COVID-19 and would have been on a hospital ward later that day as part of my job, in contact with people who were mentally unwell as well as 2 doctors, ward staff and, potentially, police and paramedics. I went on to develop symptoms 2 days later and, with that in mind, I am hugely grateful that the service was so quick and it genuinely protected the vulnerable and my colleagues.

Waltham Forest Council

In London, Waltham Forest Council has 9 sites open 7 days a week where residents can turn up without having to book, making testing as easy as possible for residents. Using targeted translated communications and face-to-face, Waltham Forest Council drove a 13% increase in residents from its South Asian community getting a rapid test.

In Walthamstow, taxi driver Asif said:

I’ve started to get tested every week as I’m a taxi driver and want to make sure I can be sure I don’t have COVID-19 before taking passengers. I’ve been going to Chingford Assembly Hall and have never had to queue and always get my test back within half an hour or so.

Lincolnshire

Across Lincolnshire over 110 local volunteers are involved in the community support programme providing vital help to those who are isolating. In Boston, 61-year old John Plant is one of such volunteers:

For me, getting involved was absolutely the right thing to do. It means I’m giving something important back to my community at this critical time of need. Like so many others, I want to do all I can to help. At the community testing sites there are a team of individuals who help vulnerable older people and younger people with complex needs through the testing programme – from registration, using the IT device and providing the calm reassurance they need. It’s just wonderful to see their smiles and receive their thanks after we’ve helped them through the test. It makes it all so worthwhile.

City of Wolverhampton Council

Elsewhere in the West Midlands, the City of Wolverhampton Council’s approach to community testing has engaged local communities, providing training and site lead support to empower local communities’ volunteers to run their own sites. Testing sites have been established at the Jamia Masjid Bilal mosque, St Joseph’s Church and The Hub at Ashmore Park, following a successful pilot at the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara, Sedgley Street, late last year.

James Clarke, Chairman of Ashmore Park Community Association, said:

Being a local organisation, made up of local people, we have seen the disruption and devastation the pandemic has caused on our doorstep and we were keen to do anything we could to help.

Ashmore Park has seen one of the highest infection rates in the country and rapid testing is one way of breaking the chain of transmission and protecting our loved ones, so I’d urge anyone without symptoms to visit The Hub for a lateral flow test – you’ll get your result within an hour.

Background information

On 10 January, the government announced that community testing would be offered to all local authorities in England.

Nature projects which tackle climate change, create and restore habitats, or improve water quality could soon benefit from a new £10 million fund to help them both benefit the environment and attract private sector investment, the Government has announced today (10 February).

The Natural Environment Investment Readiness Fund will provide grants of up to £100,000 to environmental groups, local authorities, businesses and other organisations to help them develop nature projects in England to a point where they can attract private investment.

This will create a pipeline of projects for the private sector to invest in, and develop new funding models that can be replicated elsewhere, demonstrating the UK’s leadership in nature finance in the run-up to COP26 in November.

Examples of projects that could be eligible for the fund:

• the creation of new woodlands and the restoration of peatlands, providing habitats for wildlife, green spaces for the public and carbon sequestration to help the government achieve its net zero target. This will generate carbon units which can be sold to businesses that want to offset emissions.
• the creation of new coastal wetlands, which benefit wildlife and reduce tidal flooding, while also attracting investment from developers needing to deliver biodiversity net gain and even delivering revenue through eco-tourism.
• the restoration of river catchments, helping to both improve water quality and reduce flood risk. As well as benefitting nature and people, these environmental benefits will deliver financial incentives to water companies (with reduced costs for water treatment) and encouraging them to invest.

Environment Minister Rebecca Pow said:

Our 25 Year Environment Plan made clear that while the public sector will continue to be a central source of funding, it is critical that this is alongside more private sector investment to protect and enhance our natural environment.

Investors are rightly recognising environmental factors as key drivers of value. As we look to build back greener from the pandemic, I would encourage any interested businesses, local authorities, eNGOs or other organisations to bid for a portion of this fund.

Emma Howard Boyd, Chair of the Environment Agency, said:

The Government are calling for a green industrial revolution at the same time that investors, including people saving for their pensions, are looking for economic returns that reverse natural decline and manage climate shocks.

There are already examples of this happening, but the global economy needs more evidence if it is going to reach a tipping point that mobilises trillions of dollars towards nature. This fund will help, demonstrating funding models that can be replicated, providing long-term benefits for the economy and the environment, and showing UK leadership ahead of COP26.

The pioneering fund, which is being delivered by the Environment Agency on behalf of Defra, will help organisations get specialist advice, engage investors and build capacity to develop their project to the stage when it is ready to receive and repay investment.

Projects need to be replicable and scalable, with key learnings made public to encourage similar approaches to access private sector finance for nature projects in future.

Dr Rhian-Mari Thomas OBE, Chief Executive, Green Finance Institute, said:

There are many important nature-based projects that, with technical assistance and catalytic funding, could meet investor requirements and demand, and secure the private capital to help them achieve their missions. The NEIRF will serve as an essential bridge, as well as providing an example of how to build an investment pipeline for nature.

We are delighted to have been able to support the Environment Agency and Defra in the Fund’s development and to continue our involvement in ensuring its success.

The fund – which will be open for applications until 26 March – will help deliver on commitments in the government’s 25 Year Environment Plan and Green Finance Strategy, as well as supporting the Prime Minister’s 10 Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution.

With the Dasgupta Review having recently made clear the value of nature to our economy and society, green finance will be essential to addressing the defining environmental challenges of our time, including climate change, moving to net zero, protecting biodiversity and improving the water environment.

openDemocracy has accused the government of establishing a ‘Secretive Cabinet Office “Clearing House” for Freedom of Information (FOI) requests’. There is also a letter from newspaper editors regarding the Clearing House expressing concerns about the way FOI legislation is interpreted and implemented.

In fact, as has been made clear, including in Parliamentary reports, statements and questions, a Clearing House function has existed in different forms since 2004, before the FOI Act came into effect in 2005. David Lammy, then Parliamentary Under Secretary for Constitutional Affairs referred to the function in April 2005, explaining that the Department for Constitutional Affairs ‘has provided support to Freedom of Information (FOI) practitioners in government Departments….[and the] Access to Information Central Clearing House provides daily support to all Whitehall departments’. On 15 June 2005, the Minister of State in that department, Harriet Harman, set out that ‘since the Freedom of Information Act came into force on 1 January [2005], 2,080 cases have been referred to the Clearing House, including Internal Reviews and appeals to the Information Commissioner’s Office’. Evidence submitted by the Department of Constitutional Affairs to Parliament sets out details of the function’s operation and an academic book, The Impact of the Freedom of Information Act on Central government in the UK (2010, Palgrave Macmillan) by Professor Robert Hazell and others, includes an entire section on the Clearing House function.

Responsibility for FOI policy has moved between the Department of Constitutional Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, and now sits in the Cabinet Office, as part of the FOI and Transparency team and wider Cabinet Secretary Group. There is no stand alone Clearing House team. Coordination functions are carried out by a small number of staff members, all of whom have a range of other wider responsibilities.

The Clearing House function helps ensure there is a consistent approach across government to requests for information which impact or go to a number of different government departments (so-called round robins) or where requests are made for particularly sensitive information, including relating to national security or personal data. This is especially important for complex FOI requests where we are obliged to balance the need to make information available with our legal duties under the FOI Act to protect sensitive information. A coordination function ensures there is a consistent approach so all those submitting FOIs are treated in a similar and fair manner by departments.

The government remains fully committed to our transparency agenda. We routinely disclose information well beyond our FOI obligations, and release more proactive publications than ever before. For instance we publish details on spending over £25,000 by departments, KPIs for the government’s most important contracts, as well as details of Ministerial meetings and salaries of senior officials. We have also been transparent about our approach to COVID-19, including through regularly publishing SAGE minutes on gov.uk, and sharing relevant findings at regular government press conferences.

With regard to our FOI obligations, government resources have inevitably been stretched by COVID-19, but in a three month period between July and September 2020 departments received more than 8,000 FOI requests and responded to almost 90% of them within 20 working days or with a permitted extension, in line with ICO targets. This reflects the government’s commitment to fulfill its FOI obligations despite the pressures of responding to COVID-19.

We disagree with openDemocracy’s claims about the Clearing House and have set out our position below.

CLAIM: The British government has been accused of running an ‘Orwellian’ unit in Michael Gove’s office that instructs Whitehall departments on how to respond to FOI requests and shares personal information about journalists. [openDemocracy article 08/02/21]

RESPONSE: As set out above and detailed in Parliament, a Clearing House function has been in existence since 2004. It is now part of the FOI & Transparency team within the Cabinet Secretary Group. It is not in Michael Gove’s office. It does not share personal information about journalists.

CLAIM: ‘It is also said to have blocked the release of sensitive FOI requests.’ [openDemocracy article 08/02/21]

RESPONSE: The Cabinet Office – including the Clearing House function – provides advice. It does not direct departments on what they should do with individual FOI cases, nor does it direct departments to block FOI requests.

CLAIM: A shadow cabinet minister has accused the unit, known as the ‘Clearing House’, of ‘blacklisting’ journalists. [From openDemocracy article 08/02/21]

RESPONSE: This is false – no such blacklist exists. The consideration of FOI requests is, and remains, applicant-blind. All FOI requests are treated exactly the same, regardless of who the request is from and their occupation. It would be unlawful for the Cabinet Office, or other departments, to blacklist enquiries from journalists and their requests are not treated differently to anyone else who sends FOI requests. It is appropriate for departments to prepare for possible media interest in information released under FOI, but this is separate from a decision on whether or not to release information.

CLAIM: This government is set on making it more difficult to make FOI requests and is being untransparent in its handling of cases. [Paraphrased from openDemocracy article 08/02/21]

RESPONSE: This is untrue. We are committed to our transparency agenda, to improving our FOI performance and to make the process for requesting information smoother. The Cabinet Office is streamlining many of the processes involved in FOI handling, to speed up how quickly we can process requests for information. We anticipate a marked improvement in Cabinet Office performance in the next quarter, despite an increase in the number of requests and the pressures of responding to COVID-19. Inevitably, given its position at the centre of government, the Cabinet Office handles many of the most sensitive and complex FOI requests. Other departments continue to work to improve their FOI performance to ensure government meets its FOI obligations despite the impact COVID-19 has had on the ability of public authorities to respond to requests, as the ICO has acknowledged in recently published guidance.

CLAIM: David Davis MP described the Clearing House as ‘certainly against the spirit of the (FOI) Act – and probably the letter, too’. [Quoted in openDemocracy article 08/02/21]

RESPONSE: The Clearing House function is not against the spirit or letter of the FOI Act. In fact, the Clearing House’s round robin process has been explicitly discussed with the Information Commissioner’s Office to ensure it is fully in line with data protection law. The Clearing House plays a role in ensuring compliance with the FOI Act across government, while also making sure sensitive information, including that related to national security, is handled appropriately.

CLAIM: The letter calls on government to: ‘Open an inquiry into the operation of the Clearing House, which comprehensively investigates whether its operation is GDPR-compliant, whether journalists and other users of the Act are being monitored and/or blacklisted, and whether this is illegal and/or undermines the applicant-blind principle of the Act’. [Letter from openDemocracy to the DCMS Select Committee and the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee [08/02/21]

RESPONSE: There is no blacklist and our approach to FOI requests is applicant-blind. We take our obligations under the Act, the General Data Protection Regulation, and the Data Protection Act 2018 seriously and our processes for handling requests made under the FOI Act, comply with relevant obligations concerning personal data. We are happy to set out further details to Parliament, as appropriate but do not accept that our approach undermines the FOI Act or the statutory rights of journalists to inquire into the action of government.