- Author, Aleks Phillips
- Role, BBC News
Jeremy Hunt has issued an “unreserved” apology to the families of people who have died from Covid-19 after an inquiry found significant failings in the government’s pandemic preparations.
The former Conservative chancellor – who was also the UK’s longest-serving health secretary – admitted to being part of “groupthink” among officials over pandemic policy.
He told the BBC the government had “overprepared” for a flu pandemic but “had not thought about other types of pandemics”.
On Thursday, an initial report from the Covid inquiry found that “groupthink” – when a group of people reach consensus without critically thinking about alternatives – led officials to plan for the “wrong” pandemic.
Baroness Hallett, who chairs the inquiry, said the government’s only pandemic strategy from 2011 “was outdated and lacking in adaptability”.
She wrote that failures of preparation meant that the Covid-19 emergency – a coronavirus like Sars or Mers, not a flu virus – caused more deaths and more economic damage than it should have.
Mr Hunt told Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday that he was one of “many ministers, many officials, many scientists” who had reached the same presumption, adding: “We should have challenged that groupthink.”
Baroness Hallett’s report also criticises the “labyrinthine” government bureaucracy put in place to respond to pandemics.
She recommended simplifying these formal structures, as well as bringing in external experts to challenge civil service thinking and creating an independent statutory body to address pandemic preparedness.
The Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group welcomed the report’s findings but argued it did not fully address the underlying issues of inequality and public health service capacity that have exacerbated the crisis.
Mr Hunt, now shadow chancellor, said: “I apologise unreservedly to the families – this is the most terrible tragedy to have happened to this country during Covid.
“And I think, by the way, that the report contains very sensible recommendations, including the simplification of the structures for preparing for these types of emergencies.
“I really hope the government will adopt them.”
After the report was published, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said it showed the country was “underprepared for Covid-19”.
He added that his government was committed to “putting in place better measures to protect us and prepare us for the impact of any future pandemic.”
