Armed Forces will be sent to help councils with Covid tests government vows in response to Sunderland Council leader's concerns

It followed concerns from the leader of Sunderland City Council Councillor Graeme Miller that questions asked by him and others in charge of North East councils have not been given answers to questions on a host of Covid measures, including mass testing and the roll out of the vaccine.

Coun Miller, a member of the LA7 which represents council areas across Tyne and Wear, County Durham and Northumberland which all signed to a mass testing programme last month, also said his request for an additional testing site in Washington was turned down.

He had hoped it would join others at Jack Crawford House, next to Houghton Primary Care Centre, and two mobile units.

The Government has said the median distance to reach a test is 2.5miles – the distance from Washington Village to Houghton’s site is 5.5 miles by car, while to get to the Hendon centre it is 8.6 miles.

Coun Miller highlighted how 2,000 members of the Army helped run the scheme in Liverpool, but says there has been no pledge of people or cash to help boost the testing here on Wearside.

In response, the Department of Health and Social Care said: “Local authorities are key channels to support testing and those that fall into tier 3 will be able to draw on the support of NHS Test and Trace and the Armed Forces to help the delivery of extensive community testing, including targeting highest risk areas under the Government’s new Covid Winter Plan.

“And with more than 700 test sites now in operation as part of our existing symptomatic testing service, the median distance travelled for a test is just 2.5 miles.”

The department has said from next week, tens of thousands of people will receive a vaccine, following the decision by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to approve the Pfizer and BioNTech jab.

It added the NHS has “decades of experience in rolling out successful widespread vaccination programmes and has put in place extensive deployment plans” while councils in tier 3 areas can apply for the new six-week community testing programme to “complement wider local strategies to tackle the virus.”

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