Source · Select Committees · Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee
Recommendation 19
19
Not Addressed
Paragraph: 129
The message from the evidence received to this inquiry is frustratingly clear.
Conclusion
The message from the evidence received to this inquiry is frustratingly clear. The Government knew the response would need to be localised and there were local systems in place to manage infectious diseases already (including statutory duties on Public Health Officials) but, instead of allowing local systems to kick into gear, we got spreadsheets from Whitehall and officials refusing to share data.
Government response summary AI-generated
The government's response states a letter was sent to the Committee, but provides no details on its stance regarding the Committee's observation about centralised data handling and officials refusing to share data locally.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Paragraph Reference:
129
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government · verbatim extract
Not Addressed
The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care wrote to the Committee on 24 March 2021, setting out the Government’s response to this recommendation. As a result of the Government’s actions and those taken by our partners during the pandemic, several ways of accessing and sharing data have either been strengthened or established. NHSX will shortly publish a draft Data Strategy for Health and Social Care to seek views on using the power of data to improve health and social care. We have already established a Data Alliance Partnership and plan to make legislative changes to improve data sharing. Throughout the pandemic, statisticians across the health and care sector have worked collaboratively to ensure the application of the Code of Practice for official statistics. The public-facing coronavirus.gov.uk dashboard has been a crucial part of the transparent presentation of COVID metrics to the public. The Office for Statistics Regulation will carry out a lesson learned exercise from the pandemic focused on coherence across the health statistics landscape. The Government has set out the four tests that will need to be met to move between each step, ensuring data is available and accessible to the public on key metrics. The public Dashboard has clear links to data at lower local authority level. The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster also wrote to the Chair on 24 March 2021, setting out the Government’s response to this recommendation [regarding publishing thresholds for tiering decisions].
Read the full response on Parliament ↗