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COVID-19: Boris Johnson announces independent public inquiry into government handling of pandemic to begin in spring 2022
Boris Johnson revealed the news in a
COVID-19 statement to MPs on Wednesday, telling the Commons it will be able to take oral evidence under oath and put the state s actions under the microscope .
Live COVID updates from the UK and around the world
More than 127,000 people have died within 28 days of a positive
coronavirus test since the pandemic began last year, while more than 150,000 deaths have mentioned COVID-19 on the death certificate.
Updated 17 minutes ago
Downing Street says the procedure is not public facing .
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The government has conducted a secret “lessons learned” review on the Covid pandemic but is refusing to publish it, Downing Street has admitted.
Whitehall civil servants in the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) have conducted internal assessments of what went wrong to improve best practice, HuffPost UK has been told.
Boris Johnson announced a statutory inquiry into the pandemic on Wednesday, but the prime minister’s official spokesman later confirmed that at least one review has already been completed.
Asked about the existence of such an internal review, the spokesman said: “What you are referring to is an informal, not public-facing work.
Live as PM Boris Johnson makes Covid statement in House of Commons
The Prime Minister is giving an update on the latest coronavirus changes and lockdown plans
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Prime Minister Boris Johnson is giving a statement on coronavirus in the House of Commons.
Mr Johnson will update MPs on lockdown, vaccination and plans for the roadmap in England.
Mr Johnson is speaking in Parliament after a live briefing on Monday when he told the UK that England s lockdown lifting plans will continue on May 17.
He will face MPs today to make a fresh statement on the status of Covid in the UK - amid fears new variants such as the one from India could derail lockdown lifting plans.
The Trussell Trust Brent Food Bank, Neasden, London (Jonathan Brady/PA)
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Some 700,000 UK households used a food bank in the year prior to the coronavirus outbreak, according to estimates from a study on food poverty.
This represents 2.5% of all UK households between 2019-20, the Trussell Trust said, with food bank users at the start of last year living on just £248 a month on average after paying for their housing.
Money for specialist care for young people with eating disorders has been “diverted” from the front line, experts have warned.
Eating disorder charity Beat said that it was “unacceptable” that many local health bodies had spent “so little” on services, despite being given additional funding.
The charity warned that the coronavirus pandemic has “increased pressure” on services for children and young people with eating disorders.
It comes as a report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Eating Disorders and researched by Beat, claims that Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) in England increased their spending on children and young people’s community eating disorder services by just £1.1 million in 2019/20, despite having received an extra £11 million in funding for these services.