Recommendation 18

We received written evidence from the Royal Statistical Society, from Northumbria University on behalf of the Observatory for Monitoring Data-Driven Approaches to COVID-19, and from Civitas: Institute for the Study of Civil Society. This emphasised the need for government to be more transparent in publishing the data and rationale behind key policy decisions in order to strengthen public trust. They recommended the publication of cost-benefit analyses, impact assessments and explanatory justifications setting out the additional factors, judgements and assumptions considered as part of policy decisions and limitations or uncertainties within the data.39 The Cabinet Office told us that government had improved how it provides the data it uses to inform its decisions. It also highlighted that its COVID-19 response strategy published in February 2021 included a large amount of data to explain the evidence that underlies decisions.40