Covid laid bare existing weaknesses in UK government, says NAO

Report highlights data failings, workforce shortages and disconnect between health and social care

Coronavirus has exposed decades-long weaknesses in government and divisions in wider society, an official parliamentary watchdog has said, including neglect of social care and chronic underfunding in local government.

Amid renewed questions over the reopening timetable, the National Audit Office (NAO) warned that from the very start of the pandemic a lack of planning had left ministers without a playbook" on how to respond.