Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (No. 2) (England) Regulations 2020 Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department of Health and Social Care
Lord Truscott
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Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (No. 2) (England) Regulations 2020
Lord Truscott Excerpts(4 years, 4 months ago)
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Lord Truscott (Ind Lab) [V]
My Lords, when history judges Her Majesty’s Government’s response to this pandemic, I am sure that they will be roundly condemned for their slowness to realise the gravity of the situation. At times, the expert advice to government has been very poor. Does the Minister accept that there is growing evidence that Public Health England, which has seen a 40% cut in its budget since 2013, has been unequal to the task asked of it? In particular, the PHE tracing system put in place last February was abandoned because there were not the resources to scale it up. The failure to involve more than 130 local directors of public health and their 5,000 expert staff in contact tracing was critical. Finally, will the Minister ensure that the promised inquiry into the failures in dealing with the pandemic is not only independent but public?