Boris Johnson continues to have ‘full confidence’ in NHS Test and Trace chief Dido Harding, Downing Street has insisted amid calls for her to be sacked.
The Government has come under increasing pressure to sack Baroness Harding amid growing concerns among ministers and MPs that the system is failing to stem the spread of coronavirus.
Senior Tory Sir Bernard Jenkin is among those calling for her to be removed after latest official figures showed less than 60% of the contacts of people testing positive for Covid-19 in the UK were being traced and told to self-isolate.
But the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said on Monday: ‘I think we’ve certainly set out before that the Prime Minister continues to have full confidence in Dido Harding.
‘NHS Test and Trace has built a testing capacity of over 360,000-a-day from a starting point of 2,000-a-day in March – that is a bigger figure per head than in France, Germany, Italy and Spain. 1.1 million have been contacted and told to self-isolate.’
The spokesman conceded that Test and Trace ‘does need to improve especially in terms of the turnaround times for tests and we expect that to happen.’
He added staffing levels were being increased and more automation would allow for more tests to be carried out ‘in order to drive improvement’.
His comments come after Labour warned Baroness Harding’s position was ‘untenable’ as it emerged ministers were considering cutting the time people have to self-isolate if they have been in contact with someone who has the disease because of concerns over public compliance.
At the same time, it was reported that Mr Johnson has become ‘disillusioned’ with the data he is receiving from Test and Trace after some of the figures he was given turned out to be inaccurate.
However, in a scathing attack, senior Tory backbencher Sir Bernard said there was a ‘vacuum of leadership’ at the top of the organisation and that public consent and co-operation was ‘breaking down’.
Writing in The Sunday Telegraph, he said Baroness Harding should be given a ‘well-earned break’ so she and others could ‘reflect on the lessons learned so far’ and that a senior military figure should be appointed in her place.
‘There is a spaghetti of command and control at the top, which is incapable of coherent analysis, assessment, planning and delivery,’ he wrote.
‘The immediate priority is to fill the vacuum of leadership in Test and Trace, which is destroying cooperation and compliance.
‘Government harnessed the military to regain control in the foot and mouth crisis; the Prime Minister should follow that example today, by installing a single leader, a three or four star military commander with a reputation for handling complexity under stress.’
Appearing on the Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme, Sir Bernard, who chairs the Liaison Committee of senior MPs which questions the Prime Minister twice a year, insisted his comments had been meant ‘kindly’ and that Baroness Harding was a ‘tremendous asset’.
However, he added: ‘The Test and Trace capability clearly needs to move up several gears and it’s what leadership does, not who leadership is that really matters. It is the sense that there is a lack of an overall strategy which I think is at the heart of the problem.’
The row comes after the Test and Trace system last week hit a record low with just 59.6% of the contacts of people who tested positive for the disease being successfully contacted and told to self-isolate.
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