Newly-released documents have cast doubt on claims that the NHS’s Covid-19 track and trace app will be ready to launch nationally by the end of the month.
Earlier this week the business minister Nadhim Zahawi said he hoped the app, a central part of the contract tracing scheme, would be rolled out by the end of June.
But a contract between the Department for Health and Social Care and NCC Group suggests a security testing exercise may not be complete until the end of July.
The £75,000 deal came into effect on the 1 May, but does not conclude until 31 July, raising questions about why the government initially claimed that a nationwide rollout would be viable by mid-May. A second testing contract with HeleCloud, worth £135,000, does not conclude until 3 July.
The BBC reported on Friday that the app should be ready by early July, but that there is “no guarantee that the timetable won’t slip further”. A project insider told the BBC: “Downing Street’s attitude to risk has been dialled right down – they don’t want it to be released until it’s perfect.” Zahawi said it wouldn’t go live until “we think it is robust”.
The aims of the NCC contract
But, unless NCC Group concludes its work ahead of schedule and NHSX is able to rapidly implement their recommendations, it’s possible the app, which is already being tested on the Isle of Wight, may not be ready until the end of of July.
The Health Service Journal revealed in early May, when a nationwide rollout was still slated for the middle of that month, that the app hadn’t passed the tests required for it to be included in ..
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