Covid-19 Update

Wendy Chamberlain Excerpts

Thursday 17th December 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

I could not agree more with my hon. Friend. He knows about these things, and he is exactly right that the best thing everyone can do, when the NHS calls, is to take up that vaccine and get it done. It will protect them and their community and help to protect the whole country and get us all out of these restrictions at which we choke.

[Wendy Chamberlain (North East Fife) (LD)]

Yesterday, on College Green, I met members of the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group and spoke with those who have lost loved ones during the pandemic and will be spending a first Christmas without them. They delivered a 200,000-strong petition to Downing Street asking for an immediate public inquiry in order to identify and learn lessons. There has been an ongoing inquiry by the all-party parliamentary group on coronavirus, to which the group has given evidence. May I ask whether the Secretary of State has read the APPG’s interim report and engaged with its findings?

[Matt Hancock]

I look at all these sorts of reports, as does the team at the Department, constantly to try to learn. Given that this is an unprecedented situation, all health authorities across the UK, whether here or in Edinburgh, Cardiff or Belfast, are constantly talking and trying to make sure that all the insights that can be gained can be applied. One example is that we now have contact tracing in the UK reaching over 90% of contacts. That is due to hard work and improvement, learning the insights from each other about how we can make systems better.