Public Inquiry

UK COVID-19 Inquiry

Status: Ongoing Chair: Baroness Heather Hallett Established: Apr 2022 Commissioned by: Cabinet Office

Public inquiry examining the UK's response to and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and learning lessons for the future. The inquiry is examining preparedness, decision-making, health and social care, vaccines, and the impact on different communities.

Response breakdown

55 recommendations total

35%

47%

19 (35%) — Accepted

5 (9%) — Accepted in Part

3 (5%) — Under Review

26 (47%) — Awaiting Response

2 (4%) — Not Applicable

Data last updated: 16 Jul 2026 · Data verified: 14 Jul 2026 (Claude)

Key facts

Duration (ongoing): 4 years, 3 months Total cost: £213.7m

Reports & milestones

Reports

18 Jul 2024 10 tracked recs Module 1: Resilience and Preparedness · Tracked recommendations · PDF

20 Nov 2025 19 tracked recs Module 2: Core Decision-Making · Tracked recommendations · PDF

19 Mar 2026 10 tracked recs Module 3: Impact on Healthcare Systems · Tracked recommendations · PDF

16 Apr 2026 5 tracked recs Module 4: Vaccines and Therapeutics · Tracked recommendations · PDF

14 Jul 2026 11 tracked recs Module 5: Procurement · Tracked recommendations · PDF

30 Nov 2023 0 tracked recs Every Story Matters · PDF

Timeline

12 May 2021 Inquiry announced Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a statutory public inquiry. · Source

15 Dec 2021 Chair Appointed Baroness Hallett appointed as Chair.

28 Jun 2022 Terms of Referenc… Terms of Reference finalised after consultation. · Source

04 Oct 2022 Preliminary Heari… First preliminary hearing held.

13 Jun 2023 Module 1 hearings… Module 1 examining preparedness and resilience began.

03 Oct 2023 Module 2 Hearings Module 2 examining core UK decision-making.

15 Jan 2024 Module 2 Devolved… Hearings examining Scottish, Welsh and NI decision-making.

18 Jul 2024 Module 1 report p… First report on pandemic preparedness published. · Source

Show all 15 milestones

09 Sep 2024 Module 3: Healthc… Module 3 examining impact on healthcare systems began.

20 Nov 2025 Module 2 report p… The Inquiry published its report on core UK decision-making and political governance (Modules 2, 2A, 2B and 2C). · Source

31 Dec 2025 Further Modules P… Modules on vaccines, care sector, and other topics planned through 2026.

05 Mar 2026 Hearings conclude The Inquiry concluded its public hearings with Module 10, after 32 preliminary and 242 public hearing days involving … · Source

19 Mar 2026 Module 3 report p… The Inquiry published its report on the impact of the pandemic on healthcare systems in the four nations … · Source

16 Apr 2026 Module 4 report p… The Inquiry published its report on vaccines and therapeutics (Module 4). · Source

14 Jul 2026 Module 5 report p… The Inquiry published its report on procurement (Module 5). · Source

Recommendations

55 shown

Code	Recommendation	Addressed to	Response
COVID-M1.1	Simplify Emergency Preparedness Structures The governments of the UK, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland should each simplify and reduce the number of structures with responsibility for …	Cabinet Office	Accepted	View →
COVID-M1.2	Cabinet Office Leadership for Emergencies The UK government should: abolish the lead government department model for whole-system civil emergency preparedness and resilience; and require the Cabinet Office …	Cabinet Office	Accepted in Part	View →
COVID-M1.3	Improved Risk Assessment Approach The UK government and devolved administrations should work together on developing a new approach to risk assessment that moves away from a …	Cabinet Office	Accepted	View →
COVID-M1.4	UK-wide Civil Emergency Strategy The UK government and devolved administrations should together introduce a UK-wide whole-system civil emergency strategy (which includes pandemics) to prevent each emergency …	Cabinet Office	Accepted in Part	View →
COVID-M1.5	Pandemic Data Systems and Research The UK government, working with the devolved administrations, should establish mechanisms for the timely collection, analysis, secure sharing and use of reliable …	Cabinet Office	Accepted	View →
COVID-M1.6	Triennial Pandemic Exercises The UK government and devolved administrations should together hold a UK-wide pandemic response exercise at least every three years. The exercise should: …	Cabinet Office	Accepted	View →
COVID-M1.7	Publish Exercise Reports and Lessons For all civil emergency exercises, the governments of the UK, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland should each (unless there are reasons of …	Cabinet Office	Accepted	View →
COVID-M1.8	Triennial Parliamentary Resilience Reports The governments of the UK, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland should each produce and publish reports to their respective legislatures at least …	Cabinet Office	Accepted in Part	View →
COVID-M1.9	External Red Teams for Resilience The governments of the UK, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland should each introduce the use of red teams in the Civil Service …	Cabinet Office	Accepted	View →
COVID-M1.10	Independent Statutory Resilience Body The UK government should, in consultation with the devolved administrations, create a statutory independent body for whole-system civil emergency preparedness and resilience. …	Cabinet Office	Under Consideration	View →
COVID-M2.1	NI CMO Independence The Department of Health (Northern Ireland) should reconstitute the role of the Chief Medical Officer for Northern Ireland as an independent advisory …	Department of Health NI Northern Ireland Executive	Not Applicable	View →
COVID-M2.2	Devolved Nations SAGE Attendance The Government Office for Science (GO-Science) should invite the governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to nominate a small number of …	Government Office for Science	Accepted	View →
COVID-M2.3	UK-wide Expert Register The Government Office for Science (GO-Science) should develop and maintain a register of experts across the four nations of the UK who …	Government Office for Science	Accepted	View →
COVID-M2.4	Publish Technical Advice During Emergencies During a whole-system civil emergency, the UK government and devolved administrations should each routinely publish technical advice on scientific, economic and social …	Cabinet Office	Accepted	View →
COVID-M2.5	Advisory Group Terms of Appointment The Government Office for Science (GO-Science), the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government and the Department of Health (Northern Ireland) should each develop …	Government Office for Science	Accepted	View →
COVID-M2.6	Enact Socio-economic Duty The UK government should bring into force in England section 1 of the Equality Act 2010, implementing the socio-economic duty. The Northern …	Cabinet Office	Accepted	View →
COVID-M2.7	Statutory Child Rights Impact Assessments The UK government should introduce legislation to place child rights impact assessments on a statutory footing in England. The Northern Ireland Executive …	Cabinet Office	Under Consideration	View →
COVID-M2.8	Vulnerable People Framework The UK government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive should each agree a framework that identifies people who would be …	Cabinet Office	Accepted	View →
COVID-M2.9	NI Emergency Powers Review The Northern Ireland Executive and UK government (in consultation with the Irish government where necessary) should review the structures and delegated powers …	Northern Ireland Executive	Under Consideration	View →
COVID-M2.10	Pandemic Decision-Making Framework The UK government and devolved administrations should set out in future pandemic preparedness strategies how decision-making will work in a future pandemic. …	Cabinet Office	Accepted	View →
COVID-M2.11	Leadership Succession Arrangements The UK government and the devolved administrations should each establish formal arrangements for covering the roles of Prime Minister and First Minister …	Cabinet Office	Accepted	View →
COVID-M2.12	Central Emergency Taskforces The response to a future whole-system civil emergency should be coordinated via central taskforces in each of the UK, Scotland, Wales and …	Cabinet Office	Accepted	View →
COVID-M2.13	NI Executive Confidentiality Duty The Executive Office should amend the Ministerial Code to impose a duty of confidentiality on ministers that prohibits the disclosure of the …	The Executive Office	Not Applicable	View →
COVID-M2.14	Accessible Emergency Communications The UK government and the devolved administrations should each develop action plans for how government communications will be made more accessible during …	Cabinet Office	Accepted	View →
COVID-M2.15	Parliamentary Scrutiny of Emergency Powers The UK government and devolved administrations should ensure that the draft affirmative procedure is the standard process for enacting substantial and wide-ranging …	Cabinet Office	Accepted in Part	View →
COVID-M2.16	Civil Contingencies Act Review The UK government should undertake a review of the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 to assess its potential role in managing future civil …	Cabinet Office	Accepted	View →
COVID-M2.17	Public Emergency Information Portal The UK government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive should develop an online portal for use in future civil emergencies, …	Cabinet Office	Accepted in Part	View →
COVID-M2.18	Devolved Nations COBR Attendance The UK government should invite the devolved administrations, as a matter of standard practice, to nominate relevant ministers and officials to attend …	Cabinet Office	Accepted	View →
COVID-M2.19	Four Nations Pandemic Structure While intergovernmental relations should be facilitated through COBR in the initial months of any future pandemic, the UK government and devolved administrations …	Cabinet Office	Accepted	View →
COVID-M3.1	IPC Structures and Transmission Risk The UK government must ensure that there is a body (equivalent to the UK Infection Prevention and Control Cell) in place ready …	Department of Health and Social Care	No Published Response	View →
COVID-M3.2	Visiting Restrictions Guidance The UK government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive should publish guidance for the implementation of visiting restrictions in hospitals …	Department of Health and Social Care	No Published Response	View →
COVID-M3.3	Fit-Testing Preparedness The UK government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive should work with employers, including health boards and trusts, to review …	Department of Health and Social Care	No Published Response	View →
COVID-M3.4	Data Systems for High-Risk Individuals The UK government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive must ensure that health data and digital systems have the capability …	Department of Health and Social Care	No Published Response	View →
COVID-M3.5	Scale Up Urgent and Emergency Care The UK government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive, in conjunction with organisations responsible for delivering services, should plan for …	Department of Health and Social Care	No Published Response	View →
COVID-M3.6	Scale Up Hospital Capacity The UK government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive should work with trusts and health boards to ensure that pandemic …	Department of Health and Social Care	No Published Response	View →
COVID-M3.7	ICU Resource Allocation Framework The UK government and devolved administrations should publish a UK-wide framework setting out ethical and operational principles to guide the allocation of …	Department of Health and Social Care	No Published Response	View →
COVID-M3.8	Recording Healthcare Worker Deaths The UK government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive should work with their respective public health agencies and healthcare employers …	Department of Health and Social Care	No Published Response	View →
COVID-M3.9	Standardised Advance Care Planning The UK government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive, working with trusts and health boards, should establish and promote one …	Department of Health and Social Care	No Published Response	View →
COVID-M3.10	Healthcare Worker Support The UK government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive, working with healthcare employers and professional bodies, should put in place …	Department of Health and Social Care	No Published Response	View →
COVID-M4.1	Establish Pharmaceutical Expert Advisory Panel The UK government should establish a standing pharmaceutical expert advisory panel, in consultation with the Department of Health and Social Care and …	Department of Health and Social Care	No Response	View →
COVID-M4.2	Formalise Community Vaccine Equity Networks The UK government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive should maintain networks with local communities to produce targeted vaccination strategies …	UK Health Security Agency	No Published Response	View →
COVID-M4.3	Improve Vaccine Uptake Monitoring and Evaluation Each of the four UK public health or health security agencies should work together to: maintain accurate, UK-wide insight into the state …	UK Health Security Agency	No Published Response	View →
COVID-M4.4	Proportionate Access to Linked Healthcare Records The UK government and devolved administrations should work together, with their respective health delivery services, to facilitate and coordinate regulatory bodies' access …	Medicines and Healthcare products Reg…	No Published Response	View →
COVID-M4.5	Reform Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme The UK government must reform the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme as soon as possible. The reform should include as a minimum: increasing …	Department for Work and Pensions	No Response	View →
COVID-M5.1	Pandemic Stockpile Composition and Inspection The UK government and devolved administrations should ensure, within 12 months of the publication of this Report, that the pandemic stockpiles: retain …	Department of Health and Social Care	No Published Response	View →
COVID-M5.2	Pandemic Exercises to Include Emergency Procurement The UK government and devolved administrations should evaluate the readiness of the structures, systems and processes for the emergency procurement and distribution …	Cabinet Office	No Published Response	View →
COVID-M5.3	Emergency Procurement and Distribution Systems The UK government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive, within 12 months of the publication of this Report, should each …	Department of Health and Social Care	No Published Response	View →
COVID-M5.4	Emergency Healthcare Equipment Regulations The UK government and devolved administrations should publish simplified regulations for emergency healthcare equipment that are aligned with and cover the range …	Department of Health and Social Care	No Published Response	View →
COVID-M5.5	Emergency Healthcare Equipment Plan UK regulators, including the Health and Safety Executive, the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland, the Office for Product Safety and …	Health and Safety Executive	No Published Response	View →
COVID-M5.6	Blueprints for Critical Care Medical Technology The UK government and devolved administrations should jointly commission a group of experts to develop blueprints for rapidly scalable critical care medical …	Department of Health and Social Care	No Published Response	View →
COVID-M5.7	Trade and Industry in the Civil Emergency Strategy The UK-wide whole-system civil emergency strategy, which the Inquiry has recommended should be developed by the UK government and devolved administrations (see …	Cabinet Office	No Published Response	View →
COVID-M5.8	Training in Emergency Procurement and Distribution The UK government and devolved administrations should each establish a pool of officials who are trained in the emergency procurement and distribution …	Department of Health and Social Care	No Published Response	View →
COVID-M5.9	Commercial Framework for Emergency Procurement The UK government and devolved administrations should collaborate to establish a UK-wide commercial framework agreement of pre-approved external specialists in the emergency …	Department of Health and Social Care	No Published Response	View →
COVID-M5.10	Transparency, Governance and Accountability in Emergencies The UK government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive should improve transparency, governance and accountability for procurement in an emergency. …	Cabinet Office	No Published Response	View →
COVID-M5.11	Data and Technology in Emergency Procurement Within three years of the publication of this Report, the systems for the procurement and distribution of healthcare equipment should be digitalised …	Department of Health and Social Care	No Published Response	View →

Parliamentary activity

242 mentions since Jul 2020

9 debates 98 questions 36 statements

03 Jun 2026 Written Question Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme
Sir Christopher Chope (Conservative)

01 Jun 2026 Written Question Covid-19 Inquiry
Jess Asato (Labour)

20 May 2026 Written Ministerial Statement UK COVID-19 Inquiry response costs for Quarter 3 25/26
Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Labour)

20 May 2026 Written Ministerial Statement UK COVID-19 Inquiry response costs for Quarter 3 25/26
Nick Thomas-Symonds (Labour)

19 May 2026 Written Question Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme
Ian Roome (Liberal Democrat)

View all 242 mentions →

Costs

Total: £213,708,000

Period	Total	Inquiry legal	CP legal	Source
Mar 2026 (cum.)	£213,708,000	£67,344,000	£54,773,000	link
Sep 2025	£19,012,000	£10,892,000	£8,471,000	link
Mar 2025	£66,723,000	£18,704,000	£20,470,000	link
Mar 2024	£80,889,000	£20,453,000	£19,335,000	link
Mar 2023	£25,625,000	£9,210,000	£3,129,000	link