The joint human rights committee in May drafted a bill calling on the government to define the purposes for which contact-tracing app data can be gathered; prohibit its use for other purposes, and require the data system’s security to be certified by GCHQ.
Despite concerns about privacy, NHSX launched a trial of its contact-tracing app on the Isle of Wight in the first week of May.
In the weeks following reports suggested the NHS was working on a second version of the app using Apple and Google’s APIs.
After six weeks of silence about the outcome of the trial, and the expected national roll-out, the government announced on 18 June is was abandoning its version of the app and switching to Apple and Google’s technology, confirming they had been working with the technology giants since early May.