UK committed to working with stats watchdog over virus, says PM's spokesman

LONDON (Reuters) - British health minister Matt Hancock has spoken to the head of the country's statistics watchdog to pledge his commitment to work closely with it after David Norgrove criticised the government for publishing testing data that were "far from complete".

"The secretary of state has spoken to Sir David and reiterated his department's commitment to continuing to work closely with the UK Statistics Authority to address their concerns, a spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson said.

"We sought to work closely with the UKSA throughout our response to coronavirus ... Our approach throughout has been to increase transparency around the government's response to the virus."

(Reporting by Elizabeth Piper; editing by Stephen Addison)