House of Lords Science and Technology Committee recommendations on COVID-19

Yesterday, the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee wrote to the Prime Minister setting out five recommendations that the Government should undertake to reduce the likelihood of a resurgence of COVID-19 over winter.

The Committee has been taking evidence on the current pandemic as part of their ‘Science of COVID-19’ inquiry. Our Director, Hugh Whittall, gave evidence on contact tracing and data ethics to the Committee earlier this month.

We welcome the Committee’s recommendations. The letter echoes many of our own calls to Government during the pandemic, such as the need for fuller explanations to the public of uncertainty in the evolving scientific evidence, greater transparency in how scientific advice is used in policy making, and greater clarity on who is responsible for implementing policies. We highlighted this in a joint letter with Involve to the Prime Minister in April. We agree with the Committee that this is essential for improving public trust in the Government’s response to the pandemic.

We look forward to seeing the recommendations of the Committee swiftly implemented.