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91-618: Exercise Cygnus was a three-day simulation exercise carried out by the UK Government in October 2016 to estimate the impact of a hypothetical H2N2 influenza pandemic on the United Kingdom. It aimed to identify strengths and weaknesses within the United Kingdom health system and emergency response chain by putting it under significant strain, providing insight on the country's resilience and any future ameliorations required. It

182-632: A 2020 policy paper titled "UK pandemic preparedness", the Department of Health and Social Care states that it will continue to incorporate lessons learnt from Exercise Cygnus (2016) into future pandemic control protocol, coupling it with insight from COVID-19 (2019) response. In March 2020, the coronavirus action plan was published by the UK government, adopting and tweaking recommendations from Exercise Cygnus to suit coronavirus rather than influenza virus. Influenza A virus subtype H2N2 Some believe that

273-720: A Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! , in which he finished in third place. He stood down as an MP at the 2024 general election . Matthew Hancock was born on 2 October 1978 in Chester , Cheshire , to Michael Hancock and Shirley Hills. Hancock has an older sister and a brother. Hancock attended Farndon County Primary School, in Farndon, Cheshire , and privately educated at the King's School, Chester . He took A-levels in Maths, Physics, Computing, and Economics. He later studied computing at

364-453: A case against Boris Johnson 's government on 27 April 2022 that discharging people into care homes without testing them was unlawful. Lord Justice Bean and Neil Garnham ruled that the policies were not lawful since they disregarded the risk from non-symptomatic transmission of COVID-19 to elderly and vulnerable residents. The judges stated that in spite of "growing awareness" about the risk of asymptomatic transmission during March 2020, there

455-606: A conflict of interest" that should have been declared. Hancock responded by saying: "I did not know about the framework decision, and so I do not think I could reasonably have been expected to declare it." In May 2021, the former Downing Street chief adviser Dominic Cummings claimed, "tens of thousands of people died who didn't need to die" during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic due to what he claimed to be "criminal, disgraceful behaviour" within Downing Street under

546-499: A director at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), and Hancock was having an extramarital affair with her. Following this controversy, Hancock resigned as health secretary and returned to the backbenches . He was succeeded by Sajid Javid . In November 2022, Hancock had the whip suspended after announcing he would be appearing as a contestant in the twenty-second series of the survival reality television show I'm

637-614: A doctor, had stated in Parliament that a lack of testing was costing lives and Hancock suggested she should "take a leaf out of the Shadow Secretary of State's [ Jonathan Ashworth 's] book in terms of tone". On 15 August 2020, The Daily Telegraph reported that Hancock was to merge Public Health England and NHS Test and Trace into a new body called the National Institute for Health Protection, modelled on

728-708: A lack of resources, with Sally Davies , the Chief Medical Officer at the time, stating that a lack of medical ventilators and the logistics of disposal of dead bodies were serious issues. The full results of the exercise remained classified up till 23 October 2020 following public inquiry and pressure. In November 2020, the United Kingdom government stated that all identified lessons have been discussed accordingly and appropriately taken into account for its pandemic preparedness plans. The Daily Telegraph reported in March 2020 one government source as saying that

819-483: A lack of ventilators being previously identified in Exercise Cygnus, there was a shortage of them during COVID-19 with the government stockpiles proving to be insufficient. In March 2020, six weeks following the first case of coronavirus in the United Kingdom, Matt Hancock , acting Health Secretary of the United Kingdom, turned to a range of corporations such as JCB and Rolls-Royce , stating, "If you produce

910-450: A large pandemic. Investigation also showed that the reverse triage strategy proposed by the NHS , whereby patients are moved from hospitals to social care, may not be well supported by the current social care system. This requires a high level of teamwork across several corporations, which was detailed through a provided framework but may not be viable under the pressure and widespread impact of

1001-433: A local level, implicating the revision of the "Pandemic Concept of Operations". Little tactical coordination was observed when the need for services outweighed the capacity of local responders, particularly in communities with excess death, social care facilities and amongst National Health Service staff. The need for more precise protocols was identified to guide health care providers at an operational level should there be

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1092-488: A mask. On 2 December 2020, Hancock incorrectly claimed that the MHRA 's fast approval of the first COVID-19 vaccine was possible because of Brexit . The MHRA stated that it had followed an expeditious procedure allowed under EU legislation which was still in force in the UK during the transition period . In January 2021, shopping vouchers for families in need were reintroduced. On Good Morning Britain , Hancock praised

1183-503: A minute late" and he should have arrived half an hour beforehand to prepare for the interview. In October 2013, Hancock joined the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills as the Minister of State for Skills and Enterprise . In June 2014, Hancock, in his role as a minister, encouraged employers to become involved in offering more apprenticeships, allowing young people to learn and earn simultaneously. On 15 July 2014, Hancock

1274-434: A need to drastically step up local response. A suggestion was to implement planning at a regional level as opposed to through local resilience forums for crucial aspects of pandemic influenza response (e.g., excess death). This improves coordination across multiple agencies locally. Logistically, more health workers and resources such as ventilators, personal protective equipment (PPE) and hospital beds are required to face

1365-873: A new influenza A (H2N2) virus emerged in East Asia, triggering a pandemic (“Asian Flu”). This H2N2 virus was composed of three different genes from an H2N2 virus that originated from an avian influenza A virus, including the H2 hemagglutinin and the N2 neuraminidase genes. It was first reported in Singapore in February 1957, Hong Kong in April 1957, and in coastal cities in the United States in summer 1957. Some authors believe it originated from mutation in wild ducks combining with

1456-477: A pandemic will further aid the trajectory of emergency strategies and how they can be communicated. In 2019, the Moral and Ethical Advisory Group (MEAG) was established to give unbiased guidance to government regarding controversial health issues. A lack of resources and limited ability to increase supply in face of demand was identified in health disciplines. This affects how emergency plans can be operationalised at

1547-448: A pandemic. Local resilience forums have announced that they depend on subject matter experts for more complicated aspects of pandemic response to implement responses. These professionals do not belong to LRF but give detailed technical support to enable colleagues to comprehend different elements of the response. The Strategic Coordinating Group (SRG) structure is used by experts for holistic contribution. Doubts were raised if this method

1638-553: A pandemic. NHS England recognises that a variety of sectors are implicated, hence a central administration and unified protocol to oversee the whole strategy is required for organisations to work synonymously. Devolved administrations have separate contingency plans which were not investigated during Exercise Cygnus. In this segment, Wales was also excluded as it had previously investigated its response through "Exercise Cygnet" conducted in 2015. The proposition to roll back on legislation and regulatory restrictions, particularly within

1729-710: A payment scheme. Hancock was implicated in the Greensill scandal as the payment scheme was later rolled out within the NHS. In November 2019, Hancock publicly apologised to Bethany, a teenager diagnosed with autism , for being kept in solitary confinement in various psychiatric facilities. Hancock apologised "for the things that have gone wrong in her care" and said her case in particular was "incredibly difficult and complex", calling Bethany's case "heart-rending" and saying that he had insisted on "a case review of every single person in those conditions." On 31 January 2020, COVID-19

1820-430: A place on a " procurement framework " listing to provide services to NHS England in 2019, as well as contracts with NHS Wales . There has been no suggestion that Hancock intervened in the normal processes, and in April 2021, the company had not earned anything through the framework. Lord Geidt later produced a report on ministerial interests saying that the awarding of the contract to Topwood could be seen to "represent

1911-525: A pre-existing human strain. Other authors are less certain. It reached Hong Kong by April, and US by June. Estimates of US and worldwide deaths caused by this pandemic varies widely depending on source; ranging from approximately 69,800 to 116,000 in the United States, and worldwide from 1 million to 4 million, with the World Health Organization (WHO) settling on "about 2 million," with an overall mortality rate of 0.6%. Asian Flu

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2002-516: A senior economic adviser and later chief of staff to MP, George Osborne . Hancock was first elected as MP for West Suffolk at the 2010 general election . Once in Parliament, Hancock served as a junior minister at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills from 2012 to 2015, and was the United Kingdom Anti-Corruption Champion from 2014 to 2015. He attended David Cameron 's cabinet as Minister for

2093-647: A sufficient supply at the beginning of the pandemic and that families of healthcare workers who died from COVID-19 had expressed concerns about the protection they got. Early in the pandemic NHS staff were photographed with poorly fitting personal protective equipment (PPE) and some made improvised gowns for themselves from bin bags. Doctors and MPs criticised Hancock for denying there was a problem. On 5 April 2020, Hancock warned that all outdoor exercise in England could be banned in response to COVID-19 if people did not follow social distancing rules. He said: "So my message

2184-504: A televised debate with other candidates. He withdrew from the race on 14 June shortly after winning only twenty votes on the first ballot. Following his withdrawal, he endorsed Boris Johnson for the role. Hancock continued in his role as Health Secretary in Prime Minister Boris Johnson 's cabinet. He supported the prorogation of parliament in 2019 by Johnson which he had previously opposed while running for

2275-601: A ventilator, we will buy it. No number [you produce] is too high". Results of Exercise Cygnus were leaked to The Guardian newspaper in May 2020. A complete version was later released in October 2020 by the Department of Health and Social Care . Four main areas of improvement as well as 22 other weaknesses were identified. During Exercise Cygnus, the strategy used was a combination of Department of Health and Social Care 's UK Influenza Pandemic Preparedness Strategy 2011, as well as eight or more other scientific documents gleaned from

2366-410: Is determined by pandemic influenza planning assumptions. Previous findings from Department of Health and Social Care provide direction as to what type of corrections are appropriate for health legislation in the midst of a pandemic. Devolved administrations were advised to adopt similar measures in fields of devolved competence. The need for future work to expand on the types of restrictions affected

2457-627: Is now no dispute that, in a substantial number of cases, the secretary of state breached his legal obligation to publish Contract Award Notices (CANs) within 30 days of the award of contracts." The details were published within 47 days. In April 2021, it was reported that Hancock had been given 20% of shares in Topwood Limited, a firm based in Wrexham which is owned by his sister and other close family members. The company specialises in secure storage, scanning and shredding of documents. It won

2548-419: Is really clear. If you don't want us to have to take the step to ban exercise of all forms outside of your own home then you've got to follow the rules and the vast majority of people are following the rules." Hancock received criticism from journalists for perceived sexism after suggesting on 5 May 2020 that Labour MP and shadow health minister Rosena Allin-Khan change the "tone" of her comments. Allin-Khan,

2639-483: The 2016 UK referendum on EU membership , Hancock supported the UK remaining within the EU. Hancock was again re-elected at the snap 2017 general election with an increased vote share of 61.2% and an increased majority of 17,063. He was again re-elected at the 2019 general election with an increased vote share of 65.8% and an increased majority of 23,194. Hancock moved to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport as

2730-473: The COVID-19 pandemic , despite it being previously identified as a weakness through Exercise Cygnus. An explanation given was that Exercise Cygnus was based on a curable influenza, whereas treatment for COVID-19 is still unavailable. In November 2020, the Department of Health and Social Care website stated that findings from Exercise Cygnus, coupled with suggestions from scientific experts, have incorporated in

2821-486: The Channel 4 News question, Hancock said of Charlotte Edwardes, "I know Charlotte well and I entirely trust what she has to say. I know her and I know her to be trustworthy", a view shared by fellow Conservative MP Amber Rudd . Both Johnson and anonymous Downing Street officials denied the allegation. In October 2019, Hancock was lobbied by former Prime Minister David Cameron and financier Lex Greensill to introduce

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2912-513: The Conservative Party leadership election to replace her, but withdrew shortly after the first ballot and subsequently endorsed Boris Johnson . After Johnson became prime minister, Hancock retained his position as health secretary in his cabinet. Hancock's tenure as health secretary was marked by the COVID-19 pandemic , which he played a prominent role in the UK government's response to . Hancock oversaw efforts to procure PPE , but

3003-645: The H1N1 pandemic in 2009. However, the exercise revealed that there was no overview or central management to coordinate all participants. As of October 2016, feedback showed that organisations varied in preparedness, with some relying on corporate memory of the 2009 H1N1 response, and others depending on individual pandemic protocols which may be outdated, missing or incomplete. There was also demonstration of silo planning between and within some corporations, however organisations had different levels of detail and structure that could not correspond well when used simultaneously. It

3094-574: The Minister of State for Digital and Culture on 15 July 2016 after Theresa May became prime minister. As minister for digital policy, Hancock in June 2017 recommitted to a "full fibre" digital policy. This promised that 97% of the UK would enjoy "superfast broadband" at speeds of at least 24 megabits per second by 2020. In August 2017, Hancock oversaw the strengthening of UK data protection law. As Digital Minister he announced people would have more control over their personal data and be better protected in

3185-761: The Robert Koch Institute . The new body, renamed as the UK Health Security Agency , was set up before autumn amid "a feared surge in coronavirus cases". On 11 October 2020, Hancock denied breaching a 10 pm drinking curfew in the Smoking Room bar in the House of Commons, put in place because of the pandemic. Eight days later, the Daily Mirror published a photograph of him riding in his chauffeur-driven car without wearing

3276-665: The Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer , George Osborne , later becoming Osborne's chief of staff. Hancock was selected as the Conservative candidate for West Suffolk in January 2010. He narrowly won the contest, defeating Natalie Elphicke (a solicitor who later became MP for Dover ), by 88 votes to 81 in the final ballot. At the 2010 general election , Hancock was elected as MP for West Suffolk with 50.6% of

3367-622: The 1889–1890 Russian flu was caused by the influenzavirus A virus subtype H2N2, but the evidence is not conclusive. It is the earliest flu pandemic for which detailed records are available. More recently, there are speculations that it might have been caused by one of the coronaviruses first discovered in the 1960s. The "Asian Flu" was a category 2 flu pandemic outbreak of influenzavirus A that first appeared in Guizhou , China in early 1957 and lasted until 1958. The first cases were reported in Singapore in February 1957. In February 1957,

3458-540: The 1957 H2N2 virus were accidentally spread around the world from the College of American Pathologists (CAP). CAP assists laboratories in accuracy by providing unidentified samples of viruses ; private contractor Meridian Bioscience in Cincinnati , U.S. , chose the 1957 strain instead of one of the less deadly avian influenza virus subtypes. The 1957 H2N2 virus is considered deadly and the U.S. government called for

3549-565: The Cabinet Office and Paymaster General from 2015 to 2016. After Theresa May became prime minister following Cameron's resignation, Hancock was moved to the post of Minister of State for Digital and Culture . He was promoted to May's cabinet as Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport . In July 2018, after the promotion of Jeremy Hunt to Foreign Secretary , Hancock replaced him as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care . After May's resignation, Hancock stood in

3640-481: The Conservative leadership. On 24 September the Supreme Court ruled that the prorogation was unlawful. In a September 2019 Channel 4 News interview, Hancock was asked to respond to allegations that at a private lunch in 1999, Johnson had groped the leg of journalist Charlotte Edwardes under a table. Edwardes also claimed that Johnson did the same to another woman at the same private lunch. In his reply to

3731-496: The Department of Health's confirmation that it held no further reports evidencing the findings of Exercise Cygnus, Dr Qureshi withdrew his legal action for Judicial Review. However, questions were later raised about whether the Government had disclosed all relevant material, and Dr Qureshi argued that the Department of Health continued to withhold a plan for surge capacity and "refusing NHS care to large numbers of sick patients" in

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3822-524: The Government for reintroducing the scheme, despite being repeatedly reminded by Piers Morgan that he had opposed it in Parliament. On 19 February 2021, after a legal challenge by the Good Law Project , a High Court judge ruled that Hancock had acted unlawfully by handing out PPE contracts without publishing details in a timely manner. A ruling released by the High Court stated: "There

3913-558: The NHS would face "no privatisation on my watch", was criticised by Labour for allowing 21 NHS contracts worth £127 million to be tendered. After Theresa May announced her intention to resign as prime minister on 24 May 2019, Hancock announced his intention to stand for the Conservative Party leadership. During this campaign, Hancock opposed the prorogation of Parliament to deliver Brexit and called on his fellow leadership candidates to join him on 6 June 2019. He proposed

4004-674: The United Kingdom government, authorities and NHS without their influence. In Exercise Cygnus, the Emergency Response Department was specifically employed within PHE. Its specialists assisted the health community by providing training and expert advice with regards to emergencies. It collaborated with several organisations such as the European Commission , European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and World Health Organization . Dame Sally Davies

4095-527: The United Kingdom response to COVID-19. In July 2020, a request under the Freedom of Information Act was filed by an anonymous citizen nicknamed "P Newton" to seek further transparency of Exercise Cygnus. His Freedom of Information request to Department of Health and Social Care was unanswered twice. It was subsequently rejected by the UK government under Section 35(1)(a) of the Freedom of Information Act on

4186-446: The absence of a competitive tendering process for the award of some contracts proved controversial. He expanded COVID-19 testing and tracing, and also oversaw the early stage of the UK's COVID-19 vaccination programme . In June 2021, it was shown that he had breached COVID-19 social distancing restrictions by kissing and embracing Gina Coladangelo in his office. Coladangelo was at that time

4277-693: The basis that full disclosure of results would affect the ongoing progress of policy making by ministers. In August 2020, Public Health England was placed under a new organisation, the National Institute for Health Protection . Following Exercise Cygnus and COVID-19, several health professionals working on epidemics and primary care have provided suggestions to help the UK manage pandemics more effectively. Areas of improvement identified include bridging disease communication by focussing on specific vulnerable demographic groups and relaying layman instructions to control transmission. Exercise Cygnus led to

4368-530: The budget for equipment. In 2016, she raised the need to adapt to an increasingly ageing population which will be more susceptible to disease and vulnerable to pandemics, and "welcomes" a larger budget on "public health and prevention fields". However, she understands "times of austerity" and the difficulties faced by the central government. Matt Hancock was the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care of United Kingdom (2018–2021). On 28 April 2020, Hancock

4459-555: The conclusions reached by Exercise Cygnus. There was criticism that no follow-up document was written detailing how to deal with an influenza pandemic after December 2016. In March 2020, the three government documents available for response to COVID-19 were those published in 2011 ("Influenza Pandemic Preparedness Strategy"), 2012 ("Health and Social Care Influenza Pandemic Preparedness and Response") and 2014 ("Pandemic Influenza Response Plan") respectively, with no revised report following Exercise Cygnus and no mention of ventilators. Despite

4550-474: The crisis, when there is the greatest demand for healthcare. At this stage, an estimated 50% of the population had been infected, with close to 400,000 deaths. The hypothetical situation was that the vaccine had been made and purchased but not yet delivered to the United Kingdom. Hospital and social care officials were to come up with emergency plans managing resource strain, while government officials were exposed to situations requiring quick decision-making. To make

4641-498: The department and later to a paid non-executive director role on its board, for which Coladangelo would earn between £15,000 and £20,000 annually from public funds . Coladangelo became a close friend of Hancock after meeting him while they were both undergraduates at Oxford University. Later that day on 25 June, Hancock said that he had "breached the social distancing guidelines in these circumstances" and apologised for "letting people down". Boris Johnson later said that he accepted

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4732-600: The development of a pandemic influenza draft legislation "Pandemic Influenza Draft Bill", a collaboration by Civil Contingencies Secretariat (CCS), Department of Health and Social Care and Devolved Administrations . This later formed the basis for further developed into the Coronavirus Act 2020 . Legislation easements drawn from Exercise Cygnus include emergency recruitment and registration of retired healthcare professionals and protection against clinical negligence action for health workers. The complete 57-page report

4823-531: The digital age. On 8 January 2018, Hancock was appointed Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport in Theresa May's 2018 cabinet reshuffle , succeeding Karen Bradley . On his first day in the role he criticised the BBC for the amounts of pay its foreign journalists received, and said that some men at the corporation were paid "far more than equivalent public servants". In early 2018, Hancock

4914-421: The event of an overwhelming pandemic. Following the UK's response to COVID-19 in 2020, criticism arose questioning whether the findings of Exercise Cygnus have been implemented. In June 2020, an enquiry by the House of Lords was conducted to investigate if follow-up actions had been executed as suggested. Baron Bethell raised several concerns including persistent lack of medical equipment in United Kingdom during

5005-462: The full report and other supporting documentation related to Exercise Cygnus. In November 2020, Liberal Democrat MP Tim Farron submitted a written question to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care asking whether the full findings of Exercise Cygnus will be published; no immediate answer was forthcoming. Moosa Qureshi is a National Health Service doctor campaigning for disclosure of

5096-594: The further education college, West Cheshire College . Hancock then studied at the University of Oxford where he was an undergraduate student at Exeter College, Oxford , and graduated with a first class degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE), and later earned a MPhil degree in Economics from the University of Cambridge where he was a postgraduate student at Christ's College, Cambridge . He

5187-480: The government had been threatened with legal action over demands to publish the results of the study. A version of the report, classified as "Official – Sensitive", was leaked and published (with redaction of some contact details) in The Observer ' s sister paper The Guardian on 7 May 2020. As of October 2020, legal action is in progress to force the Department of Health and Social Care to publish

5278-446: The health sector, is considered. This would aid in managing essential services and operationalising increased health care demands with fewer obstacles. Greater flexibility is recommended especially in a pandemic when situations evolve quickly and decisions need to be made as soon as possible. Key suggestions were for rules to be more malleable and easily adapted to the circumstance at hand. The choices as to which legislation will be amended

5369-616: The reports following Exercise Cygnus. In response to the UK government's refusal on the grounds of inciting public fear, Dr Qureshi pursued legal action under both the Freedom of Information Act and an application for Judicial Review. On 28 September 2020, the Information Commissioner's Office ordered the Department of Health and Social Care to respond to Dr Qureshi's Freedom of Information request, and Matt Hancock announced publication of "the report into Exercise Cygnus" on 20 October 2020. Following publication, and following

5460-431: The results of Exercise Cygnus following the 2020 COVID-19 outbreak. According to Dr Qureshi, who has experience treating leukemia patients severely impacted by COVID-19, healthcare should be built on transparency and collaborative peer review. In April 2020, he raised more than £46,000 through crowdjustice.com for this cause. Dr Qureshi, represented by UK solicitor Leigh Day , filed action against Matt Hancock for withholding

5551-435: The results of the simulation were "too terrifying" to be revealed. According to The Telegraph , the exercise led to assumptions that a " herd immunity " approach would be the best response to a similar epidemic. The New Statesman had been first to report on the results of Cygnus two weeks earlier. A partial report of findings was later released by British newspaper The Guardian , leading to public dissatisfaction on how it

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5642-500: The situation more realistic, COBRA meetings were held between ministers and officials. Simulated news outlets and social media such as "WNN" and "Twister" were also employed to give fictitious updates. A government disclaimer on the UK pandemic preparedness website stated that Exercise Cygnus was not intended to manage future pandemics of different nature, or to pinpoint what measures to adopt to avoid widespread transmission. Jeremy Hunt , Secretary of State for Health and Social Care at

5733-544: The supervision of Hancock. Cummings also said that Hancock should have been fired as Health Secretary for "15 to 20" different things. Following his testimony, YouGov noted that more people in the general public thought Hancock should resign than stay in his post, despite questions over the accuracy of Cummings's statements. Prime Minister Johnson defended Hancock and his decision-making. Over 20,000 care home residents who were elderly or disabled had died from COVID-19 in England and Wales. The High Court of Justice ruled in

5824-454: The three-day simulation, and their ability to cope under situations of high medical stress was tested. The exercise was named "Cygnus" as the theoretical H2N2 virus was nicknamed "swan 'flu" and said to originate from swans , the Latin name for which is Cygnus. In the scenario, the 950 participants from central and local government were placed in the seventh week of the pandemic – the peak of

5915-434: The time, recounts how he was confronted with a decision to close all the intensive care units and switch off the ventilators because redeploying the staff would save more lives - not a decision he felt a minister should be asked to make. Results from the exercise identified four main learning points and 22 further recommendations. In general, it showed that the pandemic would cause the country's health system to collapse from

6006-403: The vials containing the strain to be destroyed. Matt Hancock Matthew John David Hancock (born 2 October 1978) is a British politician who served as Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General from 2015 to 2016, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport from January to July 2018, and Secretary of State for Health and Social Care from 2018 to 2021. He

6097-619: The vote and a majority of 13,050. In June 2010, Hancock was elected to the Public Accounts Committee . He served on this committee until November 2012. Hancock also served on the Standards and Privileges Committee from October 2010 to December 2012. In 2011, Hancock became a member of the Free Enterprise Group , a group of Thatcherite Conservatives co-founded by Liz Truss . In January 2013, he

6188-457: Was Chief Medical Officer (United Kingdom) and Chief Medical Advisor to the United Kingdom government (March 2011 – September 2019) at the time of the exercise. Additionally, she was on the World Health Organization executive board then (2014 - 2016). She previously raised concerns for the lack of medical resources, specifically ventilators and hospital beds. The Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt , and NHS chief executive Simon Stevens , had reduced

6279-538: Was Member of Parliament (MP) for West Suffolk from 2010 to 2024. He is a member of the Conservative Party . Hancock was born in Cheshire , with his family running a software business. He studied a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) at the University of Oxford , and an MPhil in Economics at the University of Cambridge . He was an economist at the Bank of England before serving as

6370-470: Was a visit to a university and discussion about investment. Hancock was later criticised for accepting money from a key backer of climate change denial organisation, Global Warming Policy Foundation . In October 2014, he apologised after retweeting a poem suggesting that the Labour Party was "full of queers", describing his actions as a "total accident". At the 2015 general election , Hancock

6461-404: Was accused of dishonesty by Daybreak presenter, Matt Barbet , after claiming he had been excluded from a discussion about apprentices after turning up "just 30 seconds late". Hancock acknowledged on social media that he was running late, but said he turned up ahead of time for the interview and was unfairly blocked from going on set by producers. Barbet said Hancock knew he was "much more than

6552-557: Was appointed to the position of Minister of State for Business and Enterprise. On 27 July, he announced protection from fracking for National Parks , seen as a method of reducing anger in Conservative constituencies ahead of the election. Interviewed on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, he rejected the suggestion that fracking was highly unpopular but he was unable to name any village that backed it. Hancock served as Minister of State for Energy from 2014 to 2015. In this role he

6643-440: Was conducted by Public Health England representing the Department of Health and Social Care , as part of a project led by the "Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response Partnership Group". Twelve government departments across Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, as well as local resilience forums (LRFs) participated. More than 950 workers from those organisations, prisons and local or central government were involved during

6734-798: Was confirmed to have spread to the UK . Hancock said the Government was considering "some quite significant actions that would have social and economic disruption". After the government gave strict social distancing advice which was defied by large numbers of people, Hancock took a stronger line than the prime minister on condemning those still socialising in groups and derided them as being "very selfish". The Government later implemented legislation banning such groups from forming. On 27 March 2020, along with Boris Johnson, Hancock himself tested positive for COVID-19. He stayed in self-isolation with mild symptoms for seven days, before delivering an update on COVID-19 testing targets and on Government plans to write off £13.4 billion of NHS debt. In April 2020, Hancock

6825-818: Was criticised after appearing to endorse a mobile phone health app marketed by the subscription health service company Babylon in the Evening Standard . Babylon allegedly sponsored the newspaper article. The Labour MP Justin Madders wrote to Theresa May accusing Hancock of repeatedly endorsing the products of a company that receives NHS funds for patients it treats, which contravenes ministerial guidelines. The ministerial code includes that ministers should not "normally accept invitations to act as patrons of, or otherwise offer support to, pressure groups or organisations dependent in whole or in part on Government funding". In April 2019, Hancock, who had previously said

6916-524: Was criticised for hiring a private jet with senior diplomatic officials to fly back from a climate conference in Aberdeen , where he signed a deal with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto to use British expertise in Mexico. A Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) spokesman said the chartered flight was organised to fit around diary commitments, and the conference was not about climate change, but it

7007-507: Was criticised when it emerged that the target he had set for 100,000 daily COVID-19 tests had been met only by changing the method of counting, to include up to 40,000 home test kits which had been sent, but not yet completed. This change was challenged by the UK Statistics Authority and labelled a " Potemkin testing regime". Doctors' groups maintained that they helped deliver 45,000 masks to hospitals that did not have

7098-410: Was diagnosed with dyslexia at university. Hancock became a member of the Conservative Party in 1999. After university, Hancock briefly worked for his family's computer software company, Border Business Systems, and for a backbench Conservative MP, before moving to London to work as an economist at the Bank of England , specialising in the housing market . In 2005, he was an economic adviser to

7189-496: Was granted by the user. The app was eventually shut down at the beginning of 2023. In May 2018, as Media Secretary, Hancock confirmed the highest stake on fixed odds betting terminals would be cut to £2, after Prime Minister May sided with him over the issue. Following Jeremy Hunt 's appointment as Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs , Hancock was appointed Secretary of State for Health and Social Care for England on 9 July 2018. In November 2018, Hancock

7280-550: Was identified and understood as a possible limitation to Exercise Cygnus, and the role of public opinion on pandemic response still requires further investigation. It was stated that in reality, moral decisions, such as those involving mass burials or population triage, may differ in face of public reaction. Further work is required to understand public reaction, so that it can be factored into significant decisions and communication strategies, particularly for ethically charged scenarios. Research into how public perception and response to

7371-454: Was managed. In May 2020, when interviewed by The Guardian , Martin Green, chief executive of Care England, one of the United Kingdom's biggest private care home companies, said that the government did not previously alert private health sectors to the lack of capacity should a pandemic arise. A number of news reports criticised the government's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in the light of

7462-419: Was no evidence Hancock had taken the risk to care home residents into account. The judges stated: "The document could, for example, have said that where an asymptomatic patient (...) is admitted to a care home, he or she should, so far as practicable, be kept apart from other residents for up to 14 days. (...) there is no evidence that this question was considered by the Secretary of State." On 25 June 2021, it

7553-503: Was noted. Exercise Cygnus was centred around assumptions of public responses that have yet to be validated. Expectations of how the public will react was postulated based on the magnitude of "swan flu". This may not have been entirely representative of what would have happened in real life. For example, Exercise Cygnus did not involve live broadcasting or widespread coverage which typically characterises an actual pandemic. Hence, its reactions are based around theoretical public reaction. This

7644-567: Was of the H2N2 subtype (a notation that refers to the configuration of the hemagglutinin and neuraminidase proteins in the virus) of type A influenza, and an influenza vaccine was developed in 1957 to contain its outbreak. The Asian Flu strain later evolved via antigenic shift into H3N2 which caused a milder pandemic from 1968 to 1969. Both the H2N2 and H3N2 pandemic strains contained avian influenza virus RNA segments. From October 2004 to February 2005, approximately 3,700 test kits of

7735-471: Was questioned by British radio host Nick Ferrari regarding findings of Exercise Cygnus leaked to The Guardian . Responding, Hancock said officials informed him that "everything that was recommended has been done". In March 2020, according to The Sunday Times , Downing Street officials found follow-up planning from Exercise Cygnus lacking, with one stating that it "never went into the operational detail". In late April 2020, The Observer reported that

7826-627: Was re-elected as MP for West Suffolk with an increased vote share of 52.2% and an increased majority of 14,984. Hancock became Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General on 11 May 2015. Hancock launched a new social mobility drive to promote diversity within the civil service, outlining his vision in a speech in February 2016. He led David Cameron 's "earn or learn" taskforce which aimed to have every young person working or studying from April 2017. He announced that jobless 18 to 21-year-olds would be required to do work experience as well as looking for jobs, or face losing their benefits. In

7917-579: Was released by the Department of Health and Social Care on 23 October 2020. The Telegraph raised doubts as to whether full implementation of improvements were conducted before COVID-19, as previously reassured. Six possible areas of contention were identified. Key complaints include: improper management of surge capacity, incomplete "silo planning between and within organisations", disorganised school closures, consistent lack of funding for care homes, inefficient public communication and lack of social distancing which were still unresolved during COVID-19. In

8008-619: Was revealed that Hancock had breached COVID-19 social distancing restrictions with Gina Coladangelo, an adviser in the DHSC with whom he was having an extramarital affair , after CCTV images of him kissing and embracing her in his Whitehall office on 6 May were published in The Sun newspaper. The Government's guidelines allowed intimate contact with people from a different household only from 17 May. The previous year, Hancock had failed to declare he had appointed Coladangelo as an unpaid adviser at

8099-423: Was sustainable in the case of a fast-moving pandemic, since experts would have to aid more than one SRG. The 22 further recommendations, listed per the report, include: Public Health England (PHE) was an executive agency within the Department of Health and Social Care whose goal was to "protect and improve the nation’s health and well-being, and reduce health inequalities". It had the autonomy to guide and help

8190-498: Was the first MP to launch his own mobile app , eponymously named the "Matt Hancock MP App", which functioned as a social network for him to communicate with his constituents and give people updates in relation to his cabinet role. The head of privacy rights group Big Brother Watch called the app a "fascinating comedy of errors", after the app was found to collect its users' photographs, friend details, check-ins, and contact information. Hancock said his app collected data once consent

8281-431: Was understood that up to half the population will be implicated should there be insufficient understanding of the severity of a pandemic during the response. Exercise Cygnus revealed the need to develop a "Pandemic Concept of Operations" to bridge communication between organisations. This aims to manage collective response strategically by delegating specific roles to each organisation and directing their interactions during

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