Source · Select Committees · Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee
Recommendation 20
20
Not Addressed
Paragraph: 130
Vital information which might have helped local leaders to respond quickly to outbreaks simply did...
Conclusion
Vital information which might have helped local leaders to respond quickly to outbreaks simply did not move quickly enough through the system. Central Government was initially unwilling to share granular data on the spread of the virus, systems were fragmented, and new testing systems were set up outside of the existing systems, causing further delays.
Government response summary AI-generated
The government states that the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care wrote to the Committee on March 24, 2021, providing the government's response to this item.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Paragraph Reference:
130
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].
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