Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 10
10
Accepted
Government plans two major exercises to test animal disease outbreak preparedness
Conclusion
The government is planning to test its preparedness to respond to outbreaks with two major exercises during 2025. Exercise Pegasus, which is a whole-of-government exercise led by the Department of Health and Social Care alongside the Cabinet Office, will take place this autumn to test preparedness for a pandemic of a zoonotic disease (one that can transfer from animals to humans). The Department confirmed it will publish a post-Exercise report. This will be followed by Exercise Aspen, which will specifically test preparedness for a foot and mouth disease outbreak.12 7 Qq 19-21 8 Q 1 9 Qq 1, 22 10 Cabinet Office, Local resilience forums: contact details 11 Q 25 12 Qq 4, 25; Letter from Defra to Committee, 18 September 2025 9 Vet vacancies
Government Response Summary
The government agrees and will apply the lessons from Exercise Pegasus, a cross-government exercise carried out between September and October 2025, and a post-exercise report will be delivered in due course.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
1.8 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: February 2027 1.9 Two exercises to fully evaluate the UK’s preparedness for severe outbreaks were run during 2025 and the department and APHA will apply the lessons from these: 15 • A cross-government exercise (Exercise Pegasus), including the Devolved Governments, was carried out between September and October 2025 to test the UK government’s response to a pandemic which had a zoonotic component. The exercise consisted of three stages (1. Emergence, 2. Containment and 3. Mitigation) each involving a day of live play including Ministerial COBR meetings to test decision making. The government has committed to communicating the findings and lessons of the exercise as recommended by the Covid-19 inquiry and a post-exercise report will be delivered in due course. Further work will be carried out within Defra to ensure that lessons identified through Exercise Pegasus are addressed and applied to strengthen future preparedness.