UK COVID-19 Inquiry

The governments of the UK, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland should each simplify and reduce the number of structures with responsibility for preparing for and building resilience to whole-system civil emergencies. The core structures should be: a single Cabinet-level or equivalent ministerial committee (including the senior minister responsible for health and social care) responsible for whole-system civil emergency preparedness and resilience for each government, which meets regularly and is chaired by the leader or deputy leader of the relevant government; and a single cross-departmental group of senior officials in each government (which reports regularly to the Cabinet-level or equivalent ministerial committee) to oversee and implement policy on civil emergency preparedness and resilience. This should be put in place within 12 months of the publication of this Report. Within 6 months of the creation of the group of senior officials, it should complete a review to simplify and reduce the number of structures responsible for whole-system civil emergency preparedness and resilience. Subsequently, within 24 months of the publication of this Report, the ministerial committee should rationalise and streamline subordinate or supporting groups and committees responsible for whole-system civil emergency preparedness and resilience. Any groups and committees retained or created to support this core structure should have a clear purpose and should report regularly about progress with, and completion of, tasks assigned to them.

The Inquiry asked UK administrations to simplify and streamline civil emergency preparedness structures. The UK Government (Cabinet Office) stated in July 2025 that the recommendation was closed, having established the National Security Council (Resilience) and refreshed catastrophic risk governance (Cabinet Office, Jul 2025). In July 2026, the Scottish Government reported that its Crisis Preparation Oversight Programme continued to support preparedness work alongside regular Cabinet updates (Scottish Government, Jul 2026). The Northern Ireland Executive stated in January 2026 that options to review its civil contingencies landscape remained under consideration (Northern Ireland Executive, Jan 2026), while the First Minister of Wales, Eluned Morgan MS, reported in July 2025 that implementation in Wales was completed (Eluned Morgan MS, Jul 2025).

The UK government and devolved administrations should work together on developing a new approach to risk assessment that moves away from a reliance on single reasonable worst-case scenarios towards an approach that: assesses a wider range of scenarios representative of the different risks and the range of each kind of risk; considers the prevention and mitigation of an emergency in addition to dealing with its consequences; provides a full analysis of the ways in which the combined impacts of different risks may complicate or worsen an emergency; assesses long-term risks in addition to short-term risks and considers how they may interact with each other; undertakes an assessment of the impact of each risk on vulnerable people; and takes into account the capacity and capabilities of the UK. In doing so, the UK government and devolved administrations should perform risk assessments that reflect the circumstances and characteristics particular to England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the UK as a whole.

The Inquiry recommended creating a new multi-scenario approach to national risk assessment. In January 2026, the Cabinet Office reported that it had begun reviewing the National Security Risk Assessment methodology to reference varied scenarios, issued guidance on vulnerable groups, and continued developing a digital platform to analyse linked risks (Cabinet Office, Jan 2026). The department also noted progress on an alternative capability-based assessment pilot with the Royal Academy of Engineering, though joint work with devolved administrations was not mentioned (Cabinet Office, Jan 2026). It stated that the methodology review is scheduled to conclude in summer 2026 with changes implemented in 2027, alongside rollout of the digital platform and delivery of the pilot during 2026 (Cabinet Office, Jan 2026).

The UK government, working with the devolved administrations, should establish mechanisms for the timely collection, analysis, secure sharing and use of reliable data for informing emergency responses, in advance of future pandemics. Data systems should be tested in pandemic exercises. The UK government should also commission a wider range of research projects ready to commence in the event of a future pandemic. These could be ‘hibernated’ studies or existing studies that are designed to be rapidly adapted to a new outbreak. Better working with international partners should be encouraged. This should include projects to: understand the prevalence of a new virus; measure the effectiveness of a range of different public health measures; and identify which groups of vulnerable people are hardest hit by the pandemic and why.

The Inquiry asked the UK government to establish pandemic data systems and adaptable research. The Cabinet Office reported in January 2026 that the Biothreats Radar platform was launched across government, the Risk Vulnerability Tool was made available during Exercise PEGASUS, and a chair was appointed for the Health Data Research Service (Cabinet Office, Jan 2026). The Northern Ireland Executive stated in January 2026 that legislative amendments to permit sharing health datasets remained scheduled for 2025 to 2026 (Northern Ireland Executive, Jan 2026). Eluned Morgan MS stated in January 2026 that full adoption of the Welsh Emergency Care Data Set remained targeted for autumn 2026 (Eluned Morgan MS, Jan 2026).

The UK government and devolved administrations should together hold a UK-wide pandemic response exercise at least every three years. The exercise should: test the UK-wide, cross-government, national and local response to a pandemic at all stages, from the initial outbreak to multiple waves over a number of years; include a broad range of those involved in pandemic preparedness and response; and consider how a broad range of vulnerable people will be helped in the event of a pandemic.

The Cabinet Office reported in January 2026 that live participation in Exercise Pegasus, a UK-wide pandemic exercise involving all government departments and devolved administrations, concluded in November 2025 (Cabinet Office, Jan 2026). It stated that a fourth tabletop phase focusing on recovery was planned for summer 2026 to examine the impact of response decisions (Cabinet Office, Jan 2026). The department aims to deliver an outstanding post-exercise report communicating the findings and lessons in winter 2026 (Cabinet Office, Jan 2026).

For all civil emergency exercises, the governments of the UK, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland should each (unless there are reasons of national security for not doing so): publish an exercise report summarising the findings, lessons and recommendations, within three months of the conclusion of the exercise; publish an action plan setting out the specific steps that will be taken in response to the report's findings, and by which entity, within six months of the conclusion of the exercise; and keep exercise reports, action plans, and emergency plans and guidance from across the UK in a single, UK-wide online archive, accessible to all involved in emergency preparedness, resilience and response.

The Cabinet Office reported in January 2026 that development was underway on a UK-wide online repository for civil emergency exercise information and a cross-government lessons management framework (Cabinet Office, Jan 2026). In the same January 2026 update, the department noted that repository scoping work was expected to conclude in 2026, while the publication schedule for the Exercise PEGASUS report remained to be confirmed with publication likely in winter 2026 (Cabinet Office, Jan 2026).

The governments of the UK, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland should each introduce the use of red teams in the Civil Service to scrutinise and challenge the principles, evidence, policies and advice relating to preparedness for and resilience to whole-system civil emergencies. The red teams should be brought in from outside of government and the Civil Service.

The Cabinet Office reported in January 2026 that an October 2025 pilot was being applied to incorporate red teaming into the ongoing 2026 Capabilities Assessment, the Government Office for Science had established a resilience red teaming function, and remaining expert advisory groups were being stood up to review risks throughout the year (Cabinet Office, Jan 2026). The department previously stated in July 2025 that a broader red teaming capability to test departmental risk planning is due in autumn 2026 (Cabinet Office, Jul 2025).