Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will take steps to set up a full public inquiry into the Government's response to the covid-19 outbreak with a remit to include (a) who in Government was responsible for preparedness and (b) the quality of the Government's (i) responses and (ii) decisions; if he will undertake preparatory work on that public inquiry so that public hearings can start in 2020; and if he will make a statement.

As the Government has made clear, at some point in the future there will be an opportunity for us to look back, to reflect and to learn lessons. However, at the moment, the important thing is to focus on responding to the current situation. The Government has set out its strategic response to COVID-19 in “Our Plan to Rebuild: The UK Government’s COVID-19 recovery strategy”, which is available here.