Dr. Fiona Keogh:

I might speak briefly to the issue of long Covid. There is a developing response within the health service and the recognition that cross-specialty teams, a bit analogous to the cross-Department work we are trying to encourage, are needed. Certainly, mental health would be a component of that support that would be needed.

We are on a learning curve. I was looking at some research from other countries and they are still trying to understand what is going on there.

It would be a good opportunity to - I know rehabilitation services are being developed - include other post-viral syndromes that have been ignored for a long time. I am thinking of one but the name escapes me. Somebody might jump in with it. It was ignored for so long. Anyway, it will come back to me. It is a post-viral long-term condition. It is the same kind of structure. I refer to people whose needs across specialties often fall between the cracks in the health services.

In terms of the cross-Government structures, I am trying to think back. There were some very effective structures ten or 15 years ago around implementing social inclusion policies. The structures need to bring Departments together at a very high level. One needs principal officers or assistant secretaries sitting on these with decision-making authority. The key is a joint funding pot that they are responsible for that goes towards achieving agreed cross-cutting outcomes. That structure needs to be mimicked, probably all the way up to a Cabinet sub-committee and, as the Chairman suggests, also all-party committees, to reflect that. When one has a similar type of grouping cutting across both the Civil Service structures and the Government structures, that helps to improve delivery.