What did the government know about coronavirus before christmas?
richard clarke made this Freedom of Information request to Department of Health and Social Care This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.
Dear Department of Health and Social Care,
There has been a lot of speculation about what the government knew during the early stages of the pandemic. I believe that we the public have been denied information about what the government knew in advance of the crisis and I think we deserve to be told the truth.
Yours faithfully,
richard clarke
Our ref: DE-1242920
Dear Mr Clarke,
Thank you for your correspondence of 25 July about coronavirus. I have
been asked to reply.
COVID-19 is the biggest challenge the UK, together with other nations
around the world, has faced in decades. The Government, the NHS, the
public and private sectors, and many more, have been working day and night
in the fight against the virus.
The fact that this is a new virus has been a key feature of the response
from the start. It has inherently been a continuous and active process of
learning, reviewing, adapting and responding as we discover more about how
the virus works in light of the latest scientific research and available
data.
As the Government has made clear, at some point in the future there will
be an opportunity for it to look back, to reflect and to learn lessons.
However, at the moment, the important thing is to focus on responding to
the current pandemic. The Government has set out its strategic response to
COVID-19 in its recovery strategy, which can be found at [1]www.gov.uk by
searching for ‘our plan to rebuild’
I hope this reply is helpful.
Yours sincerely,
Toni Peters
Ministerial Correspondence and Public Enquiries
Department of Health and Social Care
Dear Department of Health and Social Care,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Department of Health and Social Care's handling of my FOI request 'What did the government know about coronavirus before christmas?'.
I feel that the government knew more than they let on before christmas and are hiding the truth from the general public.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/w...
Yours faithfully,
richard clarke
Dear Mr Clarke,
Your correspondence has not been handled as a freedom of information request and is therefore not subject to an internal review. Should you wish to complain about the response you received, you may do so at the following link: https://contactus.dhsc.gov.uk.
As previously suggested to you, should you wish to submit an FOI request, you may find it useful to refer to the Information Commissioner’s guidance on communicating effectively with public authorities at: https://ico.org.uk/your-data-matters/off....
Yours sincerely,
FOI Team
Department of Health and Social Care
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