Recommendation 28

The Department established the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) on 1 April 2021 as a new executive agency to be the UK leader for health protection responsible for ensuring the nation can respond quickly and at greater scale to deal with pandemics and future threats. Public Health England’s (PHE’s) health protection functions transferred into UKHSA on its abolition on 1 October 2021. On the same date, UKHSA also took over the functions of NHS Test and Trace and the Joint Biosecurity Centre from the Department itself.52 The Department confirmed that the vast majority of the UKHSA’s £15.8 billion budget for the 2021–22 financial year was for testing and tracing.53