Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much funding from the public purse his Department plans to allocate to (a) preparations for a response to covid-19 and (b) research into a vaccine against that virus.

Public safety is our top priority in our response to COVID-19. The UK is well prepared and the government is taking firm and comprehensive action to support families, businesses and public services. The government has already pledged £91m, of which £65m is for research to support the response to Coronavirus and other epidemic diseases, including vaccine research.

The government continues to look at a range of scenarios to ensure we can respond appropriately. The Budget on Wednesday will set out further details of HM Treasury’s response.