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The much-anticipated smartphone app to trace contacts of Covid sufferers may not be ready for national rollout until the winter and “isn’t a priority”, a health minister has told MPs.
Lord Bethell, the minister responsible for the NHSX app, claimed the delay was caused in part by a fear of “freaking out” the public by using technological means to tell them they might be ill, but also admitted that the system had faced “technical challenges”.
The app, currently being piloted in the Isle of Wight, was slated to play a central role in the government’s test and trace system to track down contacts and ask them to self-isolate, with its UK-launch initially pencilled for the end of May.
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But the innovation minister told the Science and Technology Committee that he was not “feeling under great time pressure” to get the high-tech tool up and running, though he insisted it was still the government’s intention to introduce it eventually.
Asked when it would finally be ready, he said: “We are seeking to get something going for the winter, but it isn’t a priority for us at the moment.”
His comments suggest that the app is being kicked firmly into the long grass, following reports of technical glitches during trials and widespread concerns about data privacy. Asked about its fate in recent weeks, government spokespeople have repeatedly said they hoped that it would be rolled out “in the coming weeks”.
News of the further delay was greeted with horror by MPs.
Daisy Cooper, the Liberal Democrat’s digital spokesperson, said: “For weeks I’ve urged the government to get the NHSX app right first time: a decentralised app, based on existing tech, with legal safeguards. Instead the government’s ‘go it alone’ strategy on the app has rapidly deteriorated.”
And the SNP’s Stephen Flynn said: “A Covid-19 app was presented by the UK government as key to exiting lockdown. They told the public they had a ‘duty’ to download it and that it would be ready for mid-May, then the end of May, then June. It’s still not available. Does Matt Hancock show any contrition? No.”
Lord Bethell told the committee: “The app pilot in the Isle of Wight has gone very well indeed and it has led to some infections being avoided.
“But one of the things it has taught us is that it is the human contact that is most valued by people.
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“There is a danger in being too technological and relying too much on texts and emails and alienating or freaking out people because you are telling them quite alarming news through quite casual communication.”
Lord Bethell told the committee: “The call centres we have put together actually have worked extremely well. We have had to deal with people working from home on new computer systems, but the effectiveness has been proven and we are confident about that. That’s where our focus is at the moment.
“Apps around the world have been challenging. I note that the Norwegians, Singaporeans, French and others have all be working on their app releases.”
And he added: “There are technical challenges of getting the app right and we are really keen to make sure we get all aspects of it correct. We are not feeling under great time pressure and therefore we are focusing on getting the right app.”
Developed by NHSX, the technology arm of the NHS, the smartphone app is intended to use Bluetooth technology to identify and inform people who have been in close proximity to someone subsequently tested positive for Covid-19.
In the government’s coronavirus recovery plan, published on 11 May, identified it as one of a number of systems which “need to be built and successfully integrated” in order for the official test, track and trace strategy to work.
As far back as 28 April, health secretary Matt Hancock said the app would be available “from the middle of May” and said he wanted “as many as possible” to download the app to improve its efficacy.
“The more people who download the app and keep their Bluetooth on, the more effective the app is going to be,” he said. In a later interview he warned that anyone discouraging use of the app on privacy grounds was “making it harder for us as a community to fight this virus”.
Launching the pilot in early May, the health secretary told the public on the Isle of Wight that, by downloading the app, “you are protecting your own health, you are protecting the health of your loved ones and the health of your community”.
“You’ve got to have the technology but you’ve got to have the human contact tracing as well,” he said, adding: “Where the Isle of Wight goes, Britain follows”.
Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, said on 3 May that there would be a “huge national effort” to get the public to download the app, saying “it will be the best possible way to help the NHS”.
But when the national rollout failed to materialise at the end of May, Mr Hancock began playing down the significance of the app, telling a press conference that he wanted to “get confidence that people are following the advice that’s given by human beings before introducing the technological element”. NHS Test and Trace chief Dido Harding described the hi-tech system as “the cherry on the cake” of the programme, rather than a vital element of it.
Labour science and technology committee member, Graham Stringer, told Lord Bethell that he appeared to be making an argument for never deploying the app at all and asked whether it was still the government’s intention to roll it out nationwide.
“Yes,” insisted Lord Bethell, adding that his comments were intended as “an expectations management answer that say ‘I can’t give you a date, but I do acknowledge the importance of the job’.”
Lord Bethell admitted he did not know whether it was necessary for the app system to retain data from users for 20 years, as campaigners have complained it will.
And he told the committee that the decision had been taken to implement a centralised programme in order to be sure of being able quickly to identify renewed outbreaks anywhere in the country.
“People on the Isle of Wight really supported the app,” he told MPs. “They weren’t frightened of it as we were worried they might be. They downloaded it.
“There were concrete examples of where people tested positive and shared their contacts and those people were then grounded and strong examples of how it had broken the chain of transmission.”
Lord Bethell said that a certain amount of skill was required to “winkle out” details from coronavirus patients of people they have contacted in recent days. Some 3,000-4,000 trained clinicians are involved in this work, passing on the contact information to an army of around 25,000 tracers who then try to reach the individuals identified and ask them to self-isolate for 14 days.
