Hancock is presented with extracts from the diaries of the government's chief scientific adviser at the time, Patrick Vallance.

The extracts, from the summer of 2020, quote senior official expressing concern about the state of the Department for Health and Social Care, describing it as a "mess".

Asked if this is a correct characterisation, Hancock says of course the department did not get everything right and he "wouldn't expect it to".

He adds that it is natural for the Cabinet Office to be "sceptical" of departments, partly to hold them to account.

Hancock says a "toxic culture" at the centre of government was "unhelpful" as it assumed when things went wrong someone was at fault or to blame.

He argues the department did "rise to the challenge" of the pandemic and was successful in areas including testing and vaccines.

Jim Reed
Health reporter, BBC News

The inquiry is getting straight into one of the main issues raised by previous witnesses: the performance of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), particular at the start of the pandemic.

We were shown a serious of diary entries written by the former chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance.

In one, from June 2020, he writes about the "massive operational mess" inside both the department itself and Public Health England.

In another he quotes the then cabinet secretary, Mark Sedwell, as saying there was a "lack of clear grip in DHSC".

Asked to respond, Hancock says his department had to "rise to the challenge" but he accepts that "of course" it didn't get everything right.

He said, at the start of the pandemic, the department was trying to "wake up Whitehall" to the threat of the virus, and ended up doing things which shouldn't have been in its remit.

Hugo Keith KC is referencing a report to the prime minister made in 2020 by the UK's top civil servant Sir Mark Sedwill.

In it, Sedwill wrote that he worried the Department of Health and Social Care was not "structured or resourced" for a public health crisis of the scale that Covid presented.

Hancock is asked if he thinks this is a correct statement – he replies: "I would reject that." Hancock says senior personnel rose to the challenge of Covid-19.

Keith follows up by asking Hancock whether, as well as the absence of plans, the health department found itself in "real difficulties" when it came to dealing with the pandemic.

Hancock takes issue with the idea that there was no plan - he says plans "weren't adequate" but that they did exist.

He highlights areas he believes the UK responded well - early surveillance and early diagnostic testing are areas he lists.

"Even if you had the very best plans, those responsible for responding would have to strengthen the operation," he adds.

He adds that, in the early days, the health department was expanded, army personnel brought in and people were taken off non-pandemic related work.

Image source, UK Covid-19 inquiry

Hancock reiterates some of the arguments he made in his earlier evidence during module one of the inquiry - that the plans the government had for a pandemic were "not adequate".

He is asked by the inquiry's lawyer if this had "serious and significant consequences".

Hancock replies that in practical terms the UK did not have a significant testing capability.

He adds that the government also had the "wrong doctrine" because all its planning was based on the assumption it would be dealing with the consequences of a pandemic rather than trying to supress it.

Hugo Keith KC, lawyer for the inquiry, is referencing Hancock's "lengthy statement" for the inquiry.

He also says they have read Hancock's book Pandemic Diaries.

Keith adds this book is a "significant contribution" to the debate about the pandemic response, and that in Hancock's own words this book is "pieced together" from memos, interviews and papers.

Hancock says this is right: "It was written after the pandemic using contemporaneous materials."

The inquiry is under way and there are a few technicalities to get out of the way first.

Inquiry lawyer Hugo Keith KC begins by asking Hancock about key moments of his career, including as health secretary during the pandemic.

Stay with us for the latest.

Image source, UK Covid-19 inquiry

Matt Hancock is sworn in and his evidence session is about to begin.

We'll be bringing you all the key lines in this text stream.

You can also watch the action inside the inquiry live by clicking the Play button at the top of the page.

Matt Hancock will be up at the inquiry soon. As a reminder, you can watch every moment of today’s public hearing by pressing Play at the top of this page.

If you can't see the icon, refresh your browser or reload this page on the BBC news app.

The decision in March 2020 to discharge hospital patients to care homes without testing them for Covid has been one of the key controversies of Matt Hancock's time as health secretary.

In May 2020 Hancock claimed the government had "tried to throw a protective ring around our care homes".

But in the first few months of the pandemic nearly 20,000 care home residents in England and Wales died with Covid.

The issue came up in an email shown to the inquiry yesterday from England's deputy chief medical officer at the time, Jenny Harries, to Rosamond Roughton, an official at the Department of Health.

In the email exchange, on 16 March 2020, Roughton wrote: "My working assumption was that we would have to allow discharge to happen, and have very strict infection control? Otherwise the NHS presumably gets clogged up with people who aren't acutely ill."

Harries replied: "Whilst the prospect is perhaps what none of us would wish to plan for, I believe the reality will be that we will need to discharge Covid-19 positive patients into residential care settings for the reason you have noted."

Matt Hancock gave evidence to the Covid Inquiry in June. He criticised the UK's pandemic planning before Covid hit, saying it was "completely wrong". He told the inquiry that planning was focused on the provision of body bags and how to bury the dead, rather than stopping the virus taking hold.

He said he was "profoundly sorry" for each death.

After giving evidence he approached some of the bereaved families, but they turned their backs on him as he left. He said he understood his apology might be difficult for families to accept, even though it was "honest and heartfelt".

He also told the inquiry that medicines for intensive care were "within hours" of running out at the peak of the pandemic. The only reason they did not was because of work done in 2019 in preparation for a no-deal Brexit.

Jim Reed
Health reporter

While we wait for Matt Hancock, the inquiry has just confirmed that Boris Johnson will be giving evidence over two days next week.

The former Prime Minister will appear on both Wednesday and Thursday from 10am.

He is the only witness scheduled over the week..

Although not confirmed yet, the current prime minister Rishi Sunak is then expected to give evidence on Monday 11 December.

He will be the last witness scheduled for this module, although the current cabinet secretary Simon Case is expected to be asked back next year once he returns to work from sick leave.

Jim Reed
Health reporter

Matt Hancock's performance as health secretary is a subject this inquiry has come back to repeatedly over the last few months.

Some of the criticism, revealed in documents from the time and in evidence given by other witnesses, has been scathing including:

• In WhatsApp messages written in August 2020, former No 10 adviser Dominic Cummings described Hancock as a "proven liar" and pushed from him to be removed from his post.
• Cummings also accused Hancock of being a "leaker" along with a handful of other cabinet ministers.
• Lord Sedwill, who was cabinet secretary until the autumn of 2020, said he spoke to Boris Johnson at the start of the pandemic and left the then-prime minster "under no doubt" that Hancock should be replaced.
• Helen McNamara, the former deputy cabinet secretary, said Hancock displayed "nuclear levels" of overconfidence.

Others though have been supportive of the former health secretary.

Giving evidence, the former chief executive of NHS England Lord Stevens said that "for the most part" Hancock was someone he could trust.

And this week, Michael Gove, now the secretary of state for levelling up, said he had a "high opinion" of the health secretary and that many of his decisions displayed "foresight and wisdom".

The inquiry was also read out parts of Boris Johnson's witness statement in which the former prime minister said he had no concerns about the performance of any cabinet member, including Hancock.

Image source, Reuters

Hancock was in charge of the government health department when the pandemic began.

He was tasked with overseeing restrictions such as lockdowns and social distancing, and became a familiar face from his television updates on things like infection rates, public safety and the vaccine rollout.

Hancock was born in Cheshire in 1978. He was elected Conservative MP for West Suffolk at the 2010 election.

He became health secretary in Theresa May’s cabinet in July 2018 and continued in that role when Boris Johnson became PM.

Hancock resigned in June 2021, after he was caught on CCTV breaking social distancing guidance by kissing a colleague.

Image source, EPA

Here's a quick reminder of some of the key things to know about the UK's Covid inquiry:

• It’s being chaired by Baroness Hallett - a former Court of Appeal judge who previously led the inquests into the 7 July London bombings in 2005
• The names of people giving evidence will be announced for each week - they include key politicians, scientists, unions, health and care organisations, Covid bereavement groups and more
• Members of the public are being encouraged to share their stories with the inquiry by filling in this form online, external
• No-one will be found guilty or innocent during this inquiry
• This is about going through what happened and learning lessons
• Any recommendations made by the inquiry at the end of this process do not have to be adopted by governments

Image source, PA Media

As we've mentioned, yesterday we heard from other former cabinet ministers.

Dominic Raab was one of them, and he told the inquiry he had been given 'five minutes' notice' to stand in for Boris Johnson when the then-PM was in hospital with Covid in April 2020.

Raab insisted "the best decisions" about when to go into lockdown were made with the "fluid" information available at the time.

He denied claims there was a "puppet regime" in No 10 - appearing to contradict the former Chancellor Sajid Javid, who in his evidence said Dominic Cummings acted as prime minister in "all but name" at the start of 2020.

Javid - who replaced Hancock as health secretary - repeated his call for a Royal Commission to reach political agreement on the future funding of the NHS, and said one of the problems was a lack of hospital beds in the UK.

Image source, Reuters

Ahead of his turn to give evidence at the UK's Covid inquiry, Matt Hancock has arrived.

It's being held at Dorland House in central London and starts at 10:00 GMT.

You will be able to watch it live by pressing the Play button at the top of this page.

Nadia Ragozhina
Live reporter

Good morning and welcome to our live coverage as another day of the Covid inquiry hearing gets underway.

Today we’re hearing from former health secretary Matt Hancock. He gave evidence to the inquiry before, in the first phase in the summer which was looking at preparedness.

This module is looking at the core UK decision-making and political governance during the pandemic.

Yesterday Dominic Raab rejected a claim by Sajid Javid, a former cabinet colleague, that many of key government decisions at the start of the Covid pandemic were taken by Dominic Cummings, a senior adviser to Boris Johnson.

Earlier on Wednesday, the inquiry also heard that England's deputy chief medical officer said in March 2020 it would be "entirely clinically appropriate" to discharge infected patients from hospitals into care homes.