Councils could have been given a greater role in the initial response to COVID-19, a new cross-party report by MPs has said.
The joint report, by the Commons Science and Technology and Health and Social Care Committees, said the UK’s failure to do more to stop the virus spreading early in the pandemic was one of the country’s worst public health failures.
The government approach was to try to manage the situation and, in effect, achieve herd immunity by infection, it said.
The start of NHS Test and Trace was “slow, uncertain and often chaotic” and the system was too centralised – only later making use of the expertise in local public health teams run by councils.
But the report also highlighted successes, including the vaccination rollout.
Cllr David Fothergill, Chairman of the LGA’s Community Wellbeing Board, said: “Councils have been leading their communities through the pandemic.
“Directors of public health and their teams, working in councils, know their areas best and were eventually able to complement the national test and trace system by setting up their own local contact tracing partnerships and successfully tracing many hard-to-reach cases.
“Coronavirus will be with us for some time to come and challenges remain, including the need for greater data sharing with councils to help them deal with localised outbreaks, alongside the necessary resources and personnel.”
