Last week, the Government provided a response to module 1 of the Covid Inquiry.
Baroness Hallett published her report from the first module of the inquiry in July 2024. It concluded that the UK was not as prepared as it should have been for the pandemic. Years of underinvestment meant that pandemic planning was not a sufficient priority.
In response, the Prime Minister has established a cabinet committee for resilience and has adopted the 2023 Biological Security Strategy to protect the UK from significant biological risks.
In April, the new UK Resilience Academy will be launched, training 4,000 people for resilience every year to help plan for future crises, such as pandemics. Post-pandemic improvements made to resilience have been put to test over the past six months, including work on the Mpox outbreak.
The Government has also announced that country’s pandemic preparedness will be tested through the largest ever national response exercise, due to be held in the Autumn, as recommended by the inquiry. All government departments will play a role and it will be led by senior ministers. Findings and lessons from this exercise will be published.
New software will be developed to map the UK for different risks, ensuring that vulnerable groups can receive targeted support in the event of a pandemic.
Other recommendations pertaining to module 1 have been released by the inquiry, including:
- A better approach to risk assessment is required across different organisations. The Government will therefore publish an updated national risk register, which provides businesses, the voluntary and community sectors the latest information about the risks they face.
- The Cabinet Office should lead on preparing for and building resilience to whole-system civil emergencies across UK government departments. The Government agreed, but for lower-scale emergencies they believe the lead department model still has value.
- The Government agrees with the the inquiry’s assessment that independent strategic advice and challenge is needed, including the use of so-called ‘red teams’. Eight independent advisory groups are being established to combat ‘groupthink’ in the Government’s understanding of risk.
- Expertise of multidisciplinary pandemic science institutes, such as the Liverpool Pandemic Institute, should be sought. The Government has welcomed this suggestion.
