Covid-19: Road Map

Lord Sikka Excerpts

Tuesday 23rd February 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)]

I can certainly assure the noble and gallant Lord that the design of the road map has been informed by the latest scientific evidence and is a balance between the societal and economic impact of lockdowns and restrictions and the risks posed by the virus. As I said in response to a question from the noble Lord, we will make an assessment against the four tests at every point of the data, but there will be five weeks between each step.

[Lord Sikka (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, last week’s High Court judgment concluded that

“the secretary of state acted unlawfully by failing to comply with the transparency policy.”

What lessons have the Government learned from the court judgment, and when will a Minister come to the House to answer specific questions about it?

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)]

We are committed to publishing government contracts as quickly as possible. As my right honourable friend the Secretary of State said, the reason that some contracts were published late at the height of the pandemic was obviously that the team were working flat out, side by side with the public sector, to procure enormous amounts of goods and expertise with extreme urgency. I believe that there will be a UQ about this issue in the Commons tomorrow, and I assume your Lordships will want to take it.