Governmentt data presentation "misleading" - Ashworth responds

Jonathan Ashworth MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, responding to the UK Statistics Authority letter describing the Government’s COVID-19 testing data presentation as "misleading", said:

“Following the Cummings scandal it’s vital ministers rebuild trust in their strategy especially as we want the public to adhere to social distancing to keep everyone safe.

“This intervention from the UK statistics authority is damning. For test and trace to be effective we all need confidence in the data.

“The Health Secretary must start publishing the numbers of people tested and the number of contacts traced. He must stop including mailed tests as completed. He must offer a full update on how many care home residents, care staff and NHS staff have been routinely tested whether symptomatic or not.”

Ends

Notes to Editors

·       Sir David Norgrove response to Matt Hancock regarding the Government’s COVID-19 testing data https://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/correspondence/sir-david-norgrove-response-to-matt-hancock-regarding-the-governments-covid-19-testing-data/