Source · Select Committees · Health and Social Care Committee
Recommendation 20
20
Accepted
There are several possible explanations for what was a significant error in policy and advice...
Conclusion
There are several possible explanations for what was a significant error in policy and advice early in the pandemic. These include: • the lack of adequate data on the spread of covid-19, as a result of the inadequacy of the UK testing operation; • overreliance on specific mathematical models when there were too many uncertainties; • assumptions about public compliance with rules that turned out to have underestimated the willingness to conform even for long periods; • the composition of SAGE suffered from a lack of representation from outside the United Kingdom; and • a preference for a particular UK approach may have been favoured above advice based on emulation of what was being pursued elsewhere. (Paragraph 154) Coronavirus: lessons learned to date 127
Government response summary AI-generated
The government accepts the recommendation, committing to ensuring future policy is developed through robust questioning, drawing on diverse expertise, and continuously learning lessons. It notes the Cabinet Office and Government Office for Science are leading work to strengthen government's futures capability, including external challenge and international engagement.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government · verbatim extract
Accepted
The government accepts this recommendation. The government is committed to ensuring that future policy is developed through robust questioning and challenge. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the government brought together a diverse group of over 100 experts, including epidemiologists, behavioural scientists, economists, and modellers, to provide scientific and technical advice to policy makers. Ministers continuously challenged advice from SAGE and officials throughout the pandemic as part of the normal policy-making process. The government also ensured that SAGE’s membership and advice was published as soon as possible after meetings, allowing for wider public scrutiny and enabling other experts to interrogate the evidence and challenge the advice, as appropriate. The government will continue to learn lessons from the pandemic and ensure that it is able to draw on a diverse range of expertise and challenge in the future. In addition, the Cabinet Office and the Government Office for Science are leading work to strengthen futures capability across government, including through improving external challenge and international engagement.
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