Matt Hancock has denied lying to Boris Johnson at any point during the pandemic, telling MPs he has always been driven to behave with “honesty and integrity”.

The Health Secretary was questioned over allegations made by the Prime Minister’s former aide Dominic Cummings to the Health and Social Care Committee and Science and Technology Committee.

Asked by science committee chairman Greg Clark if he ever said anything to the Prime Minister he knew was untrue, Mr Hancock replied: “No.”

He said he has always answered “questions – both in public and in private – to the best of my ability”.

Regarding Mr Cummings’s claims that he told Mr Johnson in March 2020 that people being discharged to care homes would be tested, Mr Hancock said: “We set out a policy that people would be tested when tests were available and then I set about building the testing capacity to be able to deliver on that.”

Earlier, Mr Clark said the committee had not received any written evidence from Mr Cummings to back up his claims or any explanation as to why it had not been provided.