Source · Select Committees · Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee
Recommendation 21
21
Not Addressed
Paragraph: 131
In May 2020, this Committee heard that local data would be key to the response,...
Conclusion
In May 2020, this Committee heard that local data would be key to the response, enabling local leaders to move quickly, stem small outbreaks and potentially 50 Government transparency and accountability during Covid 19: The data underpinning decisions stop a second wave in its tracks. It is impossible to know whether more granular data moving more quickly would have prevented any of the outbreaks that led to the lockdown of whole cities and regions from June 2020 onwards, or even have prevented further national waves.
Government response summary AI-generated
The government states that the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care provided a response to this recommendation in a letter to the Committee on 24 March 2021, but does not provide the content of that response here.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Paragraph Reference:
131
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 ↗