Policy paper

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and First Ministers Call: 21 January 2021

Updated 22 December 2021

This was published under the 2019 to 2022 Johnson Conservative government

© Crown copyright 2021

This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.

Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.

This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/communiques-on-covid-19-engagement/chancellor-of-the-duchy-of-lancaster-and-first-ministers-call-21-january-2021

Communiqué: 21 January 2021

This communiqué summarises the meeting chaired by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster on 20 January 2021.

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster chaired a meeting with the First Ministers of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to discuss the ongoing COVID-19 response on 20 January. The meeting took place via video conference.

The attending Ministers were:

For the UK Government:

  • The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Rt Hon Michael Gove MP
  • The Secretary of State for Wales, Rt Hon Simon Hart MP
  • The Secretary of State for Scotland, Rt Honourable Alister Jack MP
  • The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Rt Hon Brandon Lewis MP

For the Scottish Government:

  • First Minister, Rt Hon Nicola Sturgeon MSP

For the Welsh Government:

  • First Minister, Rt Hon Mark Drakeford MS

For the Northern Ireland Executive:

  • First Minister, Rt Hon Arlene Foster MLA
  • Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill MLA
  • Junior Minister, Gordon Lyons MLA
  • Junior Minister, Declan Kearney MLA

The group discussed the COVID-19 response and reflected on lessons learned from their respective community testing programmes including opportunities for ongoing and future collaboration.

The attendees agreed to discuss behavioural insights as part of a future call, and that the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster will continue to chair regular engagement via videoconference with the First Ministers of Scotland and Wales and the First Minister and deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland.

Back to top