Image source, YouTube/UK Covid-19 Inquiry Live Stream

It’s worth saying that Oliver Dowden is being asked about his time in the Cabinet Office from 2018 onwards.

In that job he had responsibility for resilience, which included emergency planning and response.

In February 2020, just as the scale of the Covid pandemic was becoming clear, he was promoted to culture secretary.

In his time in the Cabinet Office, he says his primary function was to set the overall strategy around resilience and then liaise between different government departments.

He says he took an interest in planning for pandemic influenza and received advice that the UK was in a "pretty strong" state of preparedness at the time.

Jim Reed
Health reporter

This morning we heard evidence from Sir Mark Walport, who was the government’s chief scientific adviser from 2013 until 2017, when he was replaced by Sir Chris Whitty, in an interim capacity, and then Sir Patrick Vallance.

He agreed with Sir Oliver Letwin who called yesterday for the government to appoint a senior minister with responsibility for emergency planning and resilience.

He was asked about the possibility of "group think" in scientific committees - again a risk raised by previous witnesses.

He said that, in his experience, scientists tended to be sceptical and questioning by nature, but it would be "naïve" to think the danger did not exist.

Asked about how to minimise the impact of pandemics, he said there was "no question" that the vulnerability of citizens around the world to Covid depended on social circumstances.

He said reducing those inequalities meant having a medical workforce which can get "out into the community" to tackle issues like obesity and diabetes and "make the population more resilient in the future".

Image source, Covid Inquiry

Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden has just been sworn in.

He will be questioned by Hugo Keith KC, counsel of the inquiry.

He begins by saying that the Covid crisis was the biggest challenge the UK has ever faced in peacetime which impacted "every family in the nation".

He said the government wants to positively engage with the Covid inquiry and learn the lessons which come out of it.

Stay with us as we bring you live updates.

We've been hearing from Sir Mark Walport, former chief scientific adviser to the government, who told the Covid inquiry that risk planning in the UK should have been more proactive.

An email was read to the inquiry which Walport sent in June 2014 to civil servant Julian Miller in the Cabinet Office. It said: “It is as important to be proactive in taking steps to prevent events from happening in the first place, or if that isn’t possible, to take steps to mitigate against their effects.”

Walport responded: “You can firstly try and identify the hazards at the earliest opportunity. In other words, have global screening for emerging infections, proper transparency and data-sharing.

“You can be proactive in developing vaccines that might be relevant. But the other thing you can do is reduce the vulnerabilities of population."

He added that one of the important lessons of the pandemic is a need to “take a much more serious look at risks through the lens of resilience”.

The public inquiry into the government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic is ongoing.

It was launched by Boris Johnson in May 2021 and it will cover decision-making in Westminster and the devolved administrations in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

You might be wondering what the overall aim of a public inquiry is? Well, it aims to respond to "public concern" about events - in this case.

Any inquiry has the power to make people appear as witnesses, and to provide evidence. Inquiries are expected to publish conclusions and may make recommendations.

Baroness Hallett is seated and the questions will begin shortly.

The inquiry is underway again.

Sir Mark Walport has resumed giving evidence.

Image source, Piranha Photography

Today, we are expecting to hear from several key figures - including two Conservative cabinet ministers.

In the hot seat first is Sir Mark Walport, who was director of the Wellcome Trust from 2003 to 2013, before taking on the role of chief scientific adviser to the government until September 2017.

We're due to hear from Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden and after a break for lunch at around 13:00 BST, before reconvening at 14:00 BST, it'll then be Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt.

Timings ran more or less to schedule yesterday, but we will keep you updated if anything changes as the day rumbles on.

Image source, PA

Yesterday we heard from Sir Oliver Letwin, a senior minister in David Cameron's government, who told the inquiry that a rapid turnover of staff hindered the government’s ability to plan for the pandemic.

He said the UK was “wildly under resilient” and there should be a minister solely devoted to resilience.

Then we heard from former chancellor George Osborne, who argued that without austerity Britain would have been "more exposed" and said his spending cuts enabled the UK to cope better with the financial pressures of the pandemic.

Finally, we heard from former chief medical officer Prof Dame Sally Davies who came close to tears when she apologised to the relatives of pandemic victims.

Read more here.

In a slight change of timings, Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden is due to give evidence at the UK Covid-19 inquiry this morning.

He's expected to answer questions from 11:25 BST.

Stay with us for live updates and you can watch live by pressing the play button above.

Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, as we enter the second half of this week’s hearings.

This afternoon, will hear evidence from two Conservative cabinet ministers: deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden and chancellor Jeremy Hunt.

This morning, former government scientific adviser Sir Mark Walport and Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms (COBR) unit director Roger Hargreaves will answer questions.

You can watch all the evidence by pressing play above. We'll have text updates and analysis this afternoon.