March 15, 2021

expert reaction to a report from the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee about Government data transparency during the COVID-19 pandemic

The House of Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee have published a report calling for improved data transparency in the fight against COVID-19.

Dr Michael Head, Senior Research Fellow in Global Health, University of Southampton, said:

“The UK has done some things well during the pandemic, but this new House of Commons report highlights the lack of transparency with top-level decision-making. Governance is a very dull but hugely important topic. Given top-level decision-making can literally mean the difference between life and death during a pandemic, we do need transparency around policy and real-time access to the data that underpins those decisions.

“As well as transparency, quality of data is hugely important. The old adage goes that ‘if you put rubbish in, you get rubbish out’. The government coronavirus dashboard, where daily updates are posted, is now very good. The Office for National Statistics has produced consistently useful information throughout the pandemic. The lessons learned during this pandemic must include consideration of timely access to information, more immediate access to minutes from expert advisory groups and other internal discussions within government.

“The UK has genuinely been ‘world-beating’ with our infrastructure for research. There is so much expertise in universities, and the National Institute for Health Research has helped to ensure that research relevant to, and involving patients, is widespread. We have seen the results of this for example through the multi-site COVID-19 vaccine studies, and also the RECOVERY trials to assess medicines like dexamethasone.  During this pandemic, it’s no accident that so much of the vital new knowledge relevant to patients has come from the UK. Within the Clinical Informatics Research Unit here at Southampton, we have been supporting research across the NHS with software and systems to facilitate real-time reporting that promotes immediate sharing of new data. There is a huge amount of ‘behind the scenes’ activity that allows research to happen smoothly and for impactful results to be generated quickly. But it’s the transparency of how that new knowledge is used that can too often be blurred behind the political curtain.”

The House of Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee report titled ‘Government transparency and accountability during Covid 19: The data underpinning decisions’ was published at 00:01 UK time on Monday 15^th March.

All our previous output on this subject can be seen at this weblink:

www.sciencemediacentre.org/tag/covid-19

Declared interests

None received.