Baroness Foster arrived at the inquest on Tuesday morning.
Former Stormont Premier Baroness Foster said the UK government should have stepped in to make decisions in the absence of ministers in Stormont.
Baroness Foster is giving to the UK Covid-19 inquiry,
Northern Ireland’s devolved government did not function from January 2017 to January 2020.
Health officials have argued that this affected Northern Ireland’s preparedness for health emergencies.
The investigation focuses on Northern Ireland this week and its preparation in the run up to the pandemic.
You will also hear evidence from Richard Pengelly, former permanent secretary of the Department of Health.
Former Deputy Prime Minister Michelle O’Neill will appear on Wednesday.
‘Gap in resilience’
Baroness Foster told the inquiry that Northern Ireland ministers “could and should” have been in charge of Stormont government departments in the run-up to the pandemic.
However, he noted that the Northern Ireland Office “made a political decision not to intervene at that time” and instead left Northern Ireland “without any ministerial cover”.
“Because of course we are a devolved administration – the Westminster government is sovereign at all times,” he told the inquiry.
“And if there is a deficiency in the administration of Northern Ireland, then the people in Westminster with responsibility for Northern Ireland have a responsibility.”
He added: “If there is a resilience gap in part of the UK, surely that should worry the UK government.”
Health service reform is a ‘necessity’
She said all parties saw this as a “need” but following the Stormont collapse in January 2017 this was not implemented.
Baroness Foster said she was proud of the Northern Ireland Civil Service and health service’s response to the Covid pandemic, especially in the absence of ministers.
However, she added that she was not sure if any amount of planning would have left Northern Ireland “fit for purpose” in dealing with the covid pandemic due to its scale and nature.
“The number one risk on the risk register across the UK was an influenza pandemic and what came down to us was not an influenza pandemic but a highly communicable disease in the community,” he said.
“So the need to scale and have the ability to deal with that was something we had to dig into very quickly.”
The first phase of the investigation looks at how prepared the UK and decentralized institutions were for the pandemic.
It plans to hold hearings until at least 2025, but its chair, Baroness Hallett, will post updates and reports as it continues.
He added that Brexit has also affected pandemic planning, with resources diverted to help implement changes.
There was also a “very significant” shortfall in resources and personnel to cope with the required response, the chief medical officer said.