Matt Hancock faces long-awaited Covid Inquiry grilling - latest updates

'Ex-cabinet member hiding behind the elephant in the room'

Mr Hancock has been accused of 'hiding' rather than focusing on long-term failures.

Elkan Abrahamson, head of major inquests and inquiries at Broudie Jackson Canter, who represents Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, said: “From the outset, the former health secretary referred to what he saw as the ‘elephant in the room’, namely that the government in its preparation accepted that the disease was unstoppable.

"He then spent the rest of the session hiding behind that elephant rather than focusing on the long list of other failures, such as the focus on influenza pandemics only, the diversion of resources to a no deal Brexit, and the failure of his department to implement recommendations from exercises.

“For the bereaved, it has been shocking for them to hear that the person with overall responsibility for the health of the nation was asleep at the wheel. We all deserve better from a secretary of state as he so catastrophically failed in his duty to protect the public.”

NHS 'not as resilient as systems abroad', ex-health secretary admits

Mr Hancock admitted the NHS was not as resilient as health systems abroad because the Tories spent less on healthcare.

He said: “There is actually a really big question that the nation needs to ask itself, which is that you wouldn't send the whole of your army out at once.

“You have spare capacity in case there's a crisis. You have what they call redundancy, in the in the military sense.

“Yet every single day, we send our whole NHS army out into the field and there is no redundancy. We run the NHS incredibly tight.

Richard 'shuts up' GMB guest who says Hancock 'deserved' being called 'd***head'

“That means that there simply isn't the resilience when a crisis comes.

“That would require a materially huge increase in that already very, very large NHS budget but other countries choose to spend a higher proportion of GDP on healthcare and have that redundancy.

“It means that they are better able to respond.”

(PA)

'Serious and significant inadequacy in pandemic preparation', Hancock admits

Mr Hancock admitted there was a “serious and significant inadequacy in preparation for a pandemic health emergency”.

Mr Keith QC said: “Preparing for this… catastrophic health emergency was at the core of your own department’s functions, would you agree and therefore as Secretary of State you bear responsibility for that particular state of affairs do not?

Mr Hancock replied: “I bear responsibility for all the things that happened not only in my department, but also the agencies that reported to me as Secretary of State.”

International organisations advised against lockdown, Hancock claims

Independent international organisations advised against locking down during a pandemic, Matt Hancock told the UK Covid-19 Inquiry.

Mr Hancock said an influenza strategy refresh in 2011 was considered "best in class" by the World Health Organisation (WHO) but was "woefully inadequate" when it came to planning for a pandemic.

He added that it "would only have been significant if that refresh had completely changed the strategy that the entire Western world was following".

Mr Hancock said: "I don't think a refresh would have changed that because all of the independent external advice, the World Health Organisation advice, indeed the International Health Regulations, stated that we should not have lockdowns.

"In fact in a 2017 document, it said the evidence is not strong enough to warrant advocating legislated restrictions.

"I thought at the time it was simply an oversight not to consider lockdowns. Actually, it was an explicit decision.

"The London Resilience Partnership published document in May 2018, and I quote: 'it will not be possible to hold the spread of a new pandemic'.

"That was the attitude. It was the doctrine, and it was wrong."

No-deal Brexit planning bailed us out, says Hancock

Mr Hancock claimed that planning for drug shortages linked to a no-deal Brexit meant the UK did not run out of drugs during the pandemic.

He said: “The work done for a no deal Brexit on supply chains from medicines, was the difference between running out of medicines in the peak of the pandemic and not running out.

“We came extremely close within hours of running out of medicines for intensive care during the pandemic. It wasn't widely reported at the time.

“We knew not more about the pharmaceutical supply chain in the UK than at any time in history and we have relationships with the pharmaceutical suppliers and the data to know exactly who had what available and where.”

Mr Keith QC countered: “Across the swathes of the healthcare and social, adult social care sectors, important other areas of work, of which there were many more than a single issue and medicinal supply chains were paused or interrupted. That is the point isn't it?”

Social care capacity wasn't ready for pandemic, inquiry told

Mr Hancock was asked why social care surge capacity was not prepared for a pandemic and pointed the blame on local councils.

He said: “There was work required of local authorities to put in place pandemic preparedness plans.

“When the pandemic struck and I was told that local authorities were required to have pandemic preparedness plans.

“I asked my Minister for Social Care Helen Whateley who reported to me that they were wholly inadequate.

“One of the central challenges in social care is that whilst I have the title Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, the legal responsibility for social care falls to local councils in a national crisis. This is a very significant problem.”

Mr Keith KC countered: “The obligation to get ready did not go through the local authority.”

Mr Hancock said: “The obligation for the policy rested with me the obligation for delivery in social care rests with local authorities.”

Hancock asked why he didn't act on PPE warnings

Mr Hancock was grilled by chief counsel to the inquiry why he did not act on earlier warnings that there were insufficient PPE supplies and testing capacity.

Mr Hancock said: “There were no recommendations to build a testing system that I was aware of. There was no recommendations to change the stockpile.”

Hugo Keith KC said: “It doesn't need a formal submission from civil servants for something to be done. If in the course of this debate, you asked yourself ‘where are the antivirals for a novn influenza pandemic? Where is the stockpile for a non influenza pandemic? Where areall the plans for mass testing?’

“You could have ordered it to be addressed and you could have pursued and harried them until something was done.”

Mr Hancock replied: “Of course, had I known that pandemic was about to strike then would have done that, but this was an unprecedented pandemic and nobody was to know.

“All I can explain is that when you become the Secretary of State… there are a significant number of recommendations of what needs to be changed.”

Hugo Keith said: “How could that be missed? How could those recommendations not have been put into place Between July 18 When you took that post, and 2020 when the chickens get home to roost?”

Mr Hancock said: “As a secretary of state you have a limited set of resources and you have to make sure that those resources are targeted at the threats that you face. And one of those risks was a disorganised Brexit.”

Mr Hancock admitted his department had failed to implement recommendations from Exercise Cygnus - a 2016 simulation of a flu outbreak that predicted tens of thousands of deaths.

He said: “I'm not denying any of that. I'm explaining firstly the different pressures that you have on resources and, Brexit was real and a pressure, and then also explaining the consequences of those decisions.

“I tried to articulate that there was a much bigger problem that must be the central lesson.”

Mr Hancock insisted that the “central lesson” was that the pandemic plans did not sufficiently try to prevent a pandemic taking hold.

He added: “The inquiry will be wrong to conclude that because not everything less than from Cygnus had been implemented, that had every lesson been implemented the response would have been that much better, because Cygnus was flawed in its central assumption about how best to respond to a pandemic.”

'I am profoundly sorry for each death' says Hancock

An emotional sounding Mr Hancock apologised to bereaved families for a emergency planning "doctrine" of "how to clear up a disaster not prevent it".

He admitted there were insufficient PPE stockpiles and testing capacity.

Mr Hancock said: "That doctrine underpins many of the problems that made it extremely difficult to respond and if I may say so, I am profoundly sorry for the impact that had.

"I'm profoundly sorry for each death that has occurred and I also understand why, for some, it will be hard to take that apology from me. I understand that, I get it but it is honest and heartfelt, and I'm not very good at talking about my emotions and how I feel but that is honest and true.

"And all I can do is ensure that this inquiry gets to the bottom of it and for the future we learn the right lessons, so that we stop a pandemic in its tracks much, much earlier.

"And that we have the systems in place ready to do that because I'm worried that they're being dismantled as we speak."

(SKY NEWS)

Hancock snaps back after criticism over social care

Mr Hancock started off in bullish mood during opening exchanges with chief counsel to the inquiry.

Hugo Keith KC introduced him and stated: “You were responsible in broad terms for health and social care, and that includes therefore health protection, health improvement, healthcare systems, the social care system, that's largely in the hands of local authorities, and and most importantly, perhaps the NHS. So it's a very wide briefing.

Mr Hancock snapped back: “I wouldn't say most importantly the NHS. I'd say that there are many, many areas of importance.

“Actually, one of the challenges of the job is to try to put your attention to the most important areas because it's so broad.”

Mr Hancock has faced furious criticism from bereaved families for claiming to have “thrown a protective ring” around social care.

In reality Covid positive patients were being discharged from hospitals into care homes without being tested.

Mr Hancock had been confronted by the widow of a man who died from Covid-19 in a care home who demanded he "tell the truth" after he arrived to give evidence to the inquiry on Tuesday morning.

Vincent Marzello died of coronavirus in March 2020 at the age of 72. He was living in a care home at the time due to suffering young onset dementia.

Speaking outside the Covid-19 Inquiry, his widow, Lorelei King, 69, from London, said: "We would visit by FaceTime. I noticed something was wrong - his breathing wasn't quite right.

"At that time there wasn't any testing available, and he died five days later.

"Care homes became charnel houses because there was no testing, there was insufficient PPE, but, most disastrously, it's because they discharged people from hospitals without testing them."

She called on Mr Hancock to "tell the truth" to the inquiry, adding: "The bereaved families deserve that much."

Hancock says he asked about pandemic preparedness 'on day one'

Mr Hancock said he was given a file on his first day outlining his responsibilities if a pandemic broke out - and claimed to have asked for more info on preparedness.

He told the inquiry: "It was on my recall that on my first day, I was given a briefing document about as big as this one.

"And one of the elements of it was making clear my responsibility as the tier one national responder for a pandemic flu for other infectious diseases.

"I was already aware of this element of the role from my time at the Cabinet Office, but nevertheless, it was properly and formally brought to my attention and on day one I asked for more information on preparedness, because I have been involved in previous crises, for instance, at the Bank of England, and before I went into politics,

"I knew that when things go wrong, move quickly and you need to be as well prepared as you can."

Hancock 'had experience of dealing with crises at a more junior level'

The former Health Secretary is underway giving his evidence.

Mr Hancock said: "Going into the job, I had some experience at a more junior level of dealing with crises and emergencies and so I took my responsibilities as the as the principal responder to a pandemic very seriously.

"As Secretary of State, I felt key the the responsibility as essentially the lead and responder in the first instance to those sorts of health emergencies. and it was a it was a part of my day to day work, because these emergencies happen from time to time."

Families hold up pictures of loved ones as Hancock arrives

Members of the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group were outside to greet Mr Hancock as he arrived.

The former cabinet member will face tough questions over the Government's preparedness for the pandemic.

Devastated families held up pictures of their loved ones as the ex-Health Secretary arrived, demonstrating the heartbreaking human impact of the crisis.

(AP)

Widow of Covid victim tells Matt Hancock bereaved families deserve the truth

The widow of a man who died from Covid-19 in a care home has described the facilities as "charnel houses" and called on former health secretary Matt Hancock to "tell the truth" after he arrived to give evidence to the inquiry on Tuesday morning.

Vincent Marzello died of coronavirus in March 2020 at the age of 72. He was living in a care home at the time due to suffering young onset dementia.

Speaking outside the Covid-19 Inquiry, his widow, Lorelei King, 69, from London, said: "We would visit by FaceTime. I noticed something was wrong - his breathing wasn't quite right.

"At that time there wasn't any testing available, and he died five days later.

"Care homes became charnel houses because there was no testing, there was insufficient PPE, but, most disastrously, it's because they discharged people from hospitals without testing them."

She called on Mr Hancock to "tell the truth" to the inquiry, adding: "The bereaved families deserve that much."

(AP)