The Covid Inquiry is spending hundreds of thousands of pounds on polling on its own reputation, The Telegraph can reveal.

The inquiry handed a polling firm a contract for £275,000 for research on the “public perception” of its work, before later revising the budget down to £180,000.

Ipsos, the market research giant, has been asked to carry out monthly surveys on the public’s view of proceedings – research which will not be published by the inquiry.

The independent inquiry was set up after the pandemic and designed to examine the UK’s response to it and learn lessons for the future.

It is currently on its fifth module examining procurement during the pandemic and will not complete all of its investigations until 2026, having already cost more than £144million.