Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the comments by the Chief Executive of NHS Providers on 6 June about the Government’s introduction of new measures to counter the COVID-19 pandemic, and in particular that NHS Trust leaders (1) felt “completely in the dark” about "significant and complex" changes; (2) are asked to make operational changes with little notice; (3) are concerned that there is insufficient strategy and planning; and (4) felt that last-minute decisions are overly influenced by politics. [T]

We are committed to working closely with the National Health Service on the introduction of new measures to counter the COVID-19 pandemic and give as much advance notice as possible. However, this is a fast-moving situation and at times it has been necessary to introduce measures at short notice.