The UK Government should be more transparent and stop "moving the goalposts" over its lockdown decisions, MPs have urged.
The Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (PACAC) said the Government should publish data on its thresholds for dialling down coronavirus restrictions.
It warned in a report that "repeated" changes over lockdown and tiering decisions had led to "uncertainty" among the British public.
The lack of transparency caused "confusion and mistrust", it said.
The MPs said the Government’s priority must be to ensure there is a “clear and consistent framework for making lockdown decisions as a path back to normality is charted”.
As an example, the PACAC noted that leisure and hospitality businesses had not seen the data underpinning decisions to put restrictions on their sectors.
It also said that Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove's decision to decline an appearance before the committee last month was "contemptuous of Parliament".
MPs added that ministers sent in his place were “poorly briefed and unable to answer the committee’s questions”.
The PACAC report said: “The new road map must be updated to point to where data can be found under each indicator.
“The road map indicators should be added to the dashboard, with clear links through to the data at lower local authority level underpinning each one.
“The framework for lockdown and tiering decisions has changed repeatedly throughout this pandemic.
“While the Committee does not object to the inclusion of new metrics (such as vaccines), changes in the framework to date have not always appeared to reflect new information.
“This has amounted to a moving of the goalposts, which creates uncertainty, makes it impossible to see trends and therefore must stop.”
Committee chairman William Wragg said: “This report is not intended to look at the rights and wrongs of the Government’s decisions in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. It is about ensuring that we, as parliamentarians, can hold the Government to account for those decisions by examining the data.
“The British public must be commended for how it has risen to challenges that would be unimaginable in any other circumstance. Securing their trust is a crucial factor in the success of our response to the pandemic.
"For the Government to build public confidence, it is absolutely vital that it is open on how it reaches its decisions and the data underpinning them.
“Lessons must also be learnt on how the Government shares information with local partners.
"Delays in sharing vital data, and a reluctance to share detailed data almost certainly hampered the local response. This over-centralisation must not be repeated.
“I, like the rest of the country, look forward to the easing of lockdown restrictions and a return to normality. If the Government learns the right lessons and improves how it shares data with partners and the public, we can be in the best possible position to react to any future stages of the pandemic.”
