Rishi Sunak: fund local, public contact tracing

There are clear solutions to the government's outsourced test and trace mess in England. At the November spending review next Wednesday, Rishi Sunak can announce that he is diverting vital funds to excellent local and regional public health teams in England immediately, instead of giving it to failing Serco and the private companies involved in track and trace.

Will you email him, asking him to do exactly this?

Rishi Sunak will be finalising his plans for where he should invest, and we all know that test and trace is one of the only ways to get our lives back on track. Please email him now to build the pressure for local, public track and trace all across the UK.

Dear Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer

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I hope this letter finds you well. 
I’m writing this as I’m incredibly concerned for my community and my family. It is clear that the national, outsourced track and trace system in England has not worked and cannot work. 
The government’s statistics for the week ending November 11th show yet again that the national system is reaching only 58.9% of close contacts, while public health teams reach a <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/nhs-test-and-trace-statistics-england-weekly-reports">staggering 98.9%.</a>
I am writing to you today to ask: at the November spending review next Wednesday, please pledge to give funding to public health teams to lead on track and trace, instead of Serco, Sitel and their subcontractors. 
While there must be a certain amount of national coordination and guidance of test and trace, the evidence makes clear <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/07/test-and-trace-needs-radical-reform-in-england-health-experts-say">again</a> and <a href="https://www.rsm.ac.uk/media-releases/2020/covid-19-call-for-millions-spent-on-failing-privatised-test-and-trace-system-to-be-diverted-to-local-services/">again</a> that it is local and regional public health protection teams who are contact tracing most effectively because they have the expertise and knowledge of their communities. I completely agree with the Covid Recovery Group's third guiding principle: we must shift 'resources to local public health teams to lead contact tracing and break the chain of transmission.'
Local public health teams need to lead from the start, with the resources to match, if we are to have any hope of fixing track and trace. Waiting <a href="https://www.oxford.gov.uk/testandtrace" target="_blank" rel="noopener">24 hours</a> or days until localised teams can access the data on local positive cases, often without the amount of staff they need to do the work, means we have little chance of stopping this virus ripping through communities. 
While there have been several promises that local teams<a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/councils-to-take-greater-role-in-contact-tracing-bntj3rn7p"> will get a bigger role in contact tracing,</a> this has yet to materialise meaningfully.
Giving local public health teams the money to run track and trace is incredibly popular: according to recent polling <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/exclusive-public-want-track-and-trace-taken-off-serco_uk_5f6785ecc5b6480e8970b968">74% of the public want public health teams</a> to run test and trace.
Ahead of this winter, please stop this atrocious waste of public money. Please pledge to scrap contracts with Serco, Sitel and their subcontractors and give the money instead to public health teams to lead on track and trace.
I thank you in advance for taking the bold steps necessary to fix track and trace, and prevent further unnecessary suffering.

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