Pubs, restaurants and other hospitality venues are being reminded of the need to have robust arrangements in place to collect and store contact details for customers, visitors and staff, in order to support NHS Test and Trace.

Cumbria’s Business and Economic Response and Recovery Group (BERRG) of the Local Resilience Forum are making the request so that venues can protect their businesses by protecting people. This follows recent events in Carlisle when members of the public who had attended a number of specific pubs and bars were asked to be tested for Covid-19.

Some venues involved provided excellent contact tracing information. This meant that Cumbria County Council has been able to alter its approach and move away from publicly naming venues, where individuals who tested positive for Covid-19 had visited, if there is confidence in the quality of the contact tracing information provided.

Jo Lappin, Chair of BERRG and head of the Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership (CLEP) said: “We would like to take the time to thank those businesses that are doing a superb job in adhering to the safe working guidelines and effectively storing information to help protect all of our people in Cumbria.

“Since the outset, BERRG has been promoting the need to work safely and in a Covid-Secure way and now that pubs, restaurants and other venues have re-opened this becomes even more important.

“Going forward, only venues that do not have sufficient contact tracing information will be named, as a general public message will be necessary to ensure that all possible contacts are made aware. We are therefore asking businesses to ensure that their Test and Trace contact tracing information meets the required standard and we avoid a local lockdown in Cumbria.”