Matt Hancock told the Covid Inquiry he did not know about the Eat Out to Help Out Scheme until the cabinet meeting the day it was announced to the public
The former health secretary went on to say he does not know what he would have said if he had been told about it in advance.
Mr Hancock also admitted the UK went into the first Covid lockdown three weeks too late.
He explained that he regarded February 28 2020, as the “moment that the centre of Government, led by the Prime Minister, really started to come into action".
He said that ministers should have acted on February 28 after seeing Sage's calculation that half a million people could die without intervention.
“Having obviously thought about this and reflected on this a huge deal over the last few years, the first moment we realistically could have really cracked it was on March 2, three weeks earlier than we did.”
