Local councils are "desperate" to take on test and trace responsibilities from Serco, West Yorkshire MPs have argued.

In a House of Commons debate on Local Contact Tracing, Leeds West MP Rachel Reeves (Lab) called on the House to note the "consistently high performance of local contact tracing systems when compared with the centralised system" established by the Government.

She said: "This Government are obsessed with a failed model of outsourcing. It is failing to reach people who come into contact with someone with the virus, it is not getting information to local councils who need to act on it, and it is wasting hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money that could be spent on a local response using local expertise.

"It is not too late for the Government to change course, and I urge them to do so today.

"Local councils are desperate to take on the responsibilities from Serco. They are begging the Government: 'Hand over the resources and the responsibilities, because we can do it better than you.'

Also speaking in Wednesday's debate was Alex Sobel (Leeds North West, Lab/Co-op) who said: "If local authorities undertake similar procurement, they have to utilise best value and have a social value framework. If they conducted procurement as the Government have, the Government would bring in commissioners. This is an absolute scandal."

Ms Reeves responded: "I could not agree more. My hon. Friend will know that in Leeds, which we both have the privilege of representing, with the expertise we have on the ground, our local authority and director of public health could be doing a much better job than Serco is doing.

"Indeed, when we have had local outbreaks in Leeds, it has been the local authority going out and knocking on doors to ensure that people know what is going on—something that Serco cannot or does not do."

Bradford West MP Naz Shah said: "May I start by placing on the record my thanks to my local director of public health, Sarah Muckle, and her team for all their hard work during this pandemic?

"Labour has been calling on the Government to learn the lessons, help curb a rise in infections and save lives. The Government continue to use this phrase 'NHS track and trace system', which is more widely and truthfully known by the British public as, 'Huge amounts of cash going to big private companies' - companies with links to the Tory party, and companies with truly abysmal track and trace records and poor results: in short, Serco and Sitel. The Government are doing this instead of funding local contact tracing and addressing the failures of a privatised and centralised contact tracing model.

"Bradford, which contains my constituency, consistently seems to perform bottom on tracking and tracing the contacts of those who test positive for Covid-19. The average percentage of contacts reached in Bradford over the last nine-week data period was 48.1%, but some weeks the figure has been lower than 40%. That is half the Government’s target. The rising infection rates are the direct result of a broken track and trace system, the Government’s inability to use straightforward communication and sheer incompetence on the part of this Government.

Julia Lopez, the Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office, closed the debate for the Government by saying: "NHS Test and Trace is one of the strongest weapons in our armoury in this fight against coronavirus. In the last seven days alone, we have processed more than 1.8 million tests, with 219,000 just yesterday.

"That helps us to break chains of transmission through testing, contact tracing and outbreak management in an end-to-end service to help to prevent the spread of the virus, protect local communities and save lives and livelihoods.

"As we have heard today, it is both a national and a local operation, with close working already taking place with local authorities. Like others here, I would like to pay tribute to those local authority leaders and directors of public health who have been in the heart of their communities helping to inform both those important strands.

"We have built the largest diagnostic network in British history. Has it been seamless? No. Are we getting there? Yes, absolutely. It is developing all the time.

She added: "I share the regret of my hon. Friend the Member for Winchester (Steve Brine), who pointed out that the era of constructive opposition from Labour Front Benchers appears this week to be over. It is important in this public health crisis that we reflect on criticism and try very hard to improve. However, this afternoon, they have sought to divide local from national, public from private, UK nation from UK nation, and to undermine public confidence in the system for their own political ends. That is a matter of deep regret for us all."

The House resolved to note the consistently high performance of local contact tracing systems working in conjunction with NHS Test and Trace; welcomed the huge expansion of testing to a capacity of over 340,000 tests a day; applauded the efforts of all involved in testing and contact tracing both at a national and local level; recognised that 650,000 people have now been asked to isolate thanks to the work of NHS Test and Trace, and supported the Government’s efforts to expand testing and tracing yet further.