Chancellor understood to believe £2.6bn of public money lost to fraudsters during pandemic could be recouped Rachel Reeves will appoint a commissioner within weeks tasked with recouping billions from Covid contract fraud, in an initiative that will turn the spotlight on to government waste. The chancellor is understood to believe the Treasury can recoup £2.6bn from waste, fraud and flawed contracts signed during the pandemic ..read more

Responsibility for prescriptions moving to 42 integrated care boards has led to patients having to work out how to get treatment, often when ill Clinically extremely vulnerable (CEV) people with Covid are struggling to get timely access to treatments such as antiviral drugs, charities, patients and doctors have warned amid a summer wave of the virus. People with certain health conditions or who meet other specific criteria are eligible for medications that can help the body fight the virus that causes Covid. They include those 85 years or older or who have Down’s syndrome, an organ transplant ..read more

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Lady Hallett says failure to challenge consensus views on UK’s readiness to respond to pandemic was ‘acute problem’ Groupthink underpinned the flawed thinking behind the UK’s pandemic response, a succession of witnesses at the heart of government told the Covid-19 public inquiry. The former prime minister and the former chancellor, David Cameron and George Osborne, admitted it; as did the current and former chief medical officers Prof Chris Whitty and Dame Sally Davies. The former health secretary Jeremy Hunt and the Cabinet Office minister Sir Oliver Letwin agreed ..read more

While many of the failings are seen as institutional, the report names some politicians for their role in the crisis The first report by the official Covid inquiry has been damning about the UK’s seeming lack of preparedness for the pandemic. Much of the fault is seen as being institutional, but some politicians are mentioned in the 240 pages. Here are the main players ..read more

The UK must never succumb to such shocking complacency again. Planning for the next pandemic must start now In 2002, Sars, a dangerous coronavirus, spread across the world with a fatality rate of around 10%. Although it was contained relatively quickly, east Asian countries learned from this experience and updated their pandemic preparedness plans. Their governments wanted to be ready if the virus returned. On the other side of the world, the UK didn’t react or adapt. Complacency was at play, especially with the assumption that Britain was one of the most prepared countries in the world for a ..read more

Health secretaries failed to fix flaws in contingency planning before Covid killed more than 230,000 in UK, report says Covid inquiry – live updates Five key takeaways from Covid report The former health secretaries Jeremy Hunt and Matt Hancock have been criticised for their failure to better prepare the UK for the pandemic, in a damning first report from the Covid inquiry that calls for an overhaul in how the government prepares for civil emergencies. Hunt, who was the health secretary from 2012-18, and Hancock, who took over until 2021, were named by the chair to the inquiry, Heather Halle ..read more

Teachers struggling with disruptive and violent behaviour as record 787,000 pupils suspended in 2022-23 Teachers in England continue to struggle with disruptive and violent behaviour in classrooms and playgrounds, as figures show a sharp increase in the number of pupils suspended or excluded from school. Ministers described the Department for Education figures for 2022-23 as “shocking”, with a record 787,000 pupils suspended – equivalent to nearly one in every 1,000 pupils in England being temporarily sent home ..read more

The UK government and civil service 'failed' the public due to 'significant flaws' in preparing for the Covid pandemic, a public inquiry has found. The inquiry chair, Heather Hallett, read out passages from the scathing report Covid inquiry – live updates Five key takeaways from Covid report ..read more

The pandemic caused ‘grief, untold misery and economic turmoil’ which could have been cut if the UK had been better prepared, report states Hancock and Hunt ‘failed to prepare UK for pandemic’ UK Covid-19 inquiry live – latest updates Was the UK prepared for Covid? The statutory public inquiry into the pandemic has given its verdict, revealing the impact of austerity and Brexit on the UK’s response and giving bereaved families a measure of vindication and validation. Here are the main points covered in the first of several reports from the inquiry ..read more