Recommendation 11

We raised the question of whether individual members of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) should be allowed to make public statements that are inconsistent with the collective messaging of the Group. When asked if refraining from making such statements should be a condition for joining SAGE, the Department expressed concern that this might restrict the range of experts who would be willing to join the group and increase the risk of groupthink.17 The Chief Scientific Adviser and Chief Medical Officer subsequently told us in written evidence that they would regard this as a damaging and unhelpful restriction on the academic independence of individual scientists. They noted that, while the research and interpretations of individual scientists should not be excluded from the media, it is important that they make it clear when they are speaking as individuals, as opposed to members of SAGE.18 10 C&AG’s Report, para. 3.7; Q 31 11 C&AG’s Report, para 1.4 12 HM Government, National Risk Register: 2020 edition, December 2020 13 Q 67 14 Q 66 15 Rhys Blakely, “Safety breaches investigated at UK labs that deal with deadly viruses”, The Times, 17 September 2021 16 Q 48 17 Qq 33–34 18 Letter from the Government Office for Science and the Department of Health & Social Care, 27 January 2022 12 Government preparedness for the COVID-19 pandemic: lessons for government on risk International collaboration