Covid Inquiry: Matt Hancock tells bereaved families he is ‘sorry’ for ‘huge error’ in UK's pandemic planning

Former Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said he is “profoundly sorry” for his part in mistakes which ensured the UK was not properly prepared for Covid-19, saying the UK made a “huge error” in assuming the pandemic was flu based and could not be prevented from spreading. 

Hancock is the first politician directly involved in the government’s response to coronavirus to be questioned by the Covid-19 inquiry today (27 June). The questions aimed to look at the UK’s resilience to and preparedness for the pandemic and his testimony lasted around 3 hours, with a 15-minute break. 

He said that he had not properly challenged assurances that sufficient planning was in place for the pandemic. Hancock said: “The doctrine of the UK was to plan for the consequences of a disaster. Can we buy enough body bags? Where are we going to bury the dead? And that was completely wrong. Of course, it’s important to have that in case you failed to stop a pandemic. But central to pandemic planning needs to be how do you stop that disaster from happening in the first place? How do you suppress the virus?”

Hugo Keith KC, who is the lead counsel for the inquiry, asked Hancock as to why in the 18 months he served as health secretary before Covid-19 he did not attempt to change this, as he said he had worries over areas including vaccines and testing.

Hancock responded: “Because I was assured that the UK planning was among the best and in some instances the best in the world. Of course, with hindsight, I wish I’d spent that short period of time as health secretary before the pandemic struck changing the entire attitude to how we respond to a pandemic.”

The former Health Secretary looked directly at the bereaved families and said: “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 on 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 that for the future we learn the right lessons so that we stop a pandemic in its tracks much, much earlier.”

When discussing healthcare during the pandemic, the former Health Secretary said the UK came within hours of running out of medicines for intensive care, and the only reason they did not run out is due to the preparation for a no-deal Brexit. He said these plans helped create relationships with pharmaceutical suppliers. 

However, to make way for Brexit planning, the cross-government Pandemic Flu Readiness Board (PFRB) did not meet for a year between November 2018 and November 2019. When he was pressed by the inquiry’s barrister, about the reallocation of pandemic planning, he said: “I wasn't enthusiastic about it, but I signed it off and the reason I signed off the overall reshaping of the department is because we had a very real and material threat should a disorganised Brexit happen that we needed to be prepared for. There are many bad things you have to prepare for when you are in the health department."

During the questioning, Hancock revealed the health department did not have a plan to identify how many people were in the care sector, and there were no local authority level plans to deal with the impact of the pandemic on the elderly. He said "the system for how we run adult social care is flawed".

Regarding PPE, Hancock told the inquiry that when he became health secretary in 2018: "I was told we had a very significant stockpile of PPE and we did.” However, this depleted very quickly, and problems with the stockpile was "very significant", with the logistical complexity of setting up supply chains is "exceptionally difficult". He, however, prioritised vaccines in terms of preparing for the pandemic, saying this was the one area in which the UK performed “incredibly well” in. 

Hancock’s overall evidence covered areas spanning from adult social care to PPE, and also told the inquiry that everybody in the Western world failed to see that lockdowns were going to be necessary. The inquiry barrister concluded his questions to the former health secretary by saying: "Lions led by donkeys, Mr Hancock. Personally, everyone gave their all, but the system was not fit for purpose."

Hancock replied: "That's absolutely right. That was a problem across the Western world and it goes back a long, long way in the assumptions underpinning how we plan for these things. It must never happen again."