Independent Statutory Resilience Body
COVID-19 Inquiry · Module 1: Resilience and Preparedness · Issued 18 July 2024 · Addressed to: Cabinet Office
Source — verbatim from the inquiry
●Inquiry recommendation
The UK government should, in consultation with the devolved administrations, create a statutory independent body for whole-system civil emergency preparedness and resilience. The new body should be given responsibility for: providing independent, strategic advice to the UK government and devolved administrations on their planning for, preparedness for and building resilience to whole-system civil emergencies; consulting with the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector at a national and local level and directors of public health on the protection of vulnerable people; assessing the state of planning for, preparedness for and resilience to whole-system civil emergencies across the UK; and making recommendations on the capacity and capabilities required. As an interim measure, the new body should be established on a non-statutory basis within 12 months of this Report.
COVID-19 Inquiry, Module 1: Resilience and Preparedness · 18 Jul 2024 Source PDF →
Published evidence summary
Publicly available evidence relating to this recommendation:
- The government stated it "will always remain responsible and accountable for policy and resource allocation" and determined an independent statutory body was unnecessary given existing expert advisory structures (UK Government Response to the Covid-19 Inquiry Module 1 Report, Cabinet Office, 16 January 2025).
- As an alternative, the UK Resilience Academy will convene expert panels chaired by external figures to scrutinise whole-system risk preparedness, with findings to be published alongside government responses (Module 1 Implementation Update, Cabinet Office, 8 July 2025).
- The July 2025 implementation update marked this recommendation as IN PROGRESS, with a pilot process running in the second half of 2025 and panel operations commencing from April 2026 (Module 1 Implementation Update, Cabinet Office, 8 July 2025).
Response — verbatim from government
●UK Government — initial response
Since the pandemic, significant strategic and material changes have been made to the way in which the UK and devolved governments handle crises. Considerable progress has been made against the longer-term programme to build a more resilient UK. The UK and devolved governments now have greater access to strategic expert advice and challenge. The government recognises the need to go further, to ensure the system benefits from fresh thinking and new perspectives. Local Resilience Forums (LRFs) will be key in this, given they provide critical knowledge and expertise by bringing multi agency partnerships together to plan, prepare for and recover from local incidents and emergencies. This government is committed to supporting and strengthening local partnerships and improving local risk management, including by investing in LRF capacity and capability.
Recognising the importance Baroness Hallett placed on this recommendation when publishing the Module 1 report, we accept that independent strategic advice and assessment is an essential component for an effective UK wide civil emergency and resilience system. The government will always remain responsible and accountable for policy and resource allocation decisions and we will spend further time working on the appropriate solution to deliver challenge, direction and strategic advice.
We will consider how the work of experts could be called upon to provide further advice and assessment to the government. Use of scientific and expert advice is already being strengthened through improvements already made to SAGE and associated independent advisory groups. In addition, the new NSRA process is expanding the use of external advice and challenge by establishing eight standing advisory groups of technical and scientific experts, each led by an independent chairperson. The government also welcomes the establishment of the multidisciplinary pandemic science networks and institutes that provide world-leading academic and scientific expertise.
As part of our consideration of the best mechanism to provide challenge, direction and strategic advice to government on resilience, we will look at how the government could further draw on independent expertise to provide challenge and undertake reviews. The introduction of a new ‘Hillsborough Law’ will place a legal duty of candour on public servants and authorities. This will be a catalyst for a changed culture in the public sector by improving transparency and accountability where public services have failed.
UK Government · 16 Jan 2025 Written response →
●UK Government — follow-up
[IN PROGRESS] Alternative approach: Rejected creation of new statutory body. Instead, UK Resilience Academy will convene expert panels chaired by external figures to scrutinize whole-system risk preparedness. Pilot process running second half 2025; panels commence April 2026.
UK Government · 8 Jul 2025 Written response →
Evidence trail — what's actually happened since
- 15 Oct 2025 Status: In Progress. Since the pandemic, significant strategic and material changes have been made to the way in which the UK and devolved governments handle crises. Considerable progress has been made against the longer-term programme to build a more resilient UK. The UK and devolved governments now have greater access to strategic expert advice and challenge. The government recognises the need to go further, to ensure the system benefits from fresh thinking and new perspectives. Local Resilience Forums (LRFs) will Source →
- 8 Jul 2025 · UK Government Implementation update (8 Jul 2025): [IN PROGRESS] Alternative approach: Rejected creation of new statutory body. Instead, UK Resilience Academy will convene expert panels chaired by external figures to scrutinize whole-system risk preparedness. Pilot process running second half 2025; panels commence April 2026. Source →
- 16 Jan 2025 Since the pandemic, significant strategic and material changes have been made to the way in which the UK and devolved governments handle crises. Considerable progress has been made against the longer-term programme to build a more resilient UK. The UK and devolved governments now have greater access to strategic expert advice and challenge. The government recognises the need to go further, to ensure the system benefits from fresh thinking and new perspectives. Local Resilience Forums (LRFs) will be key in this, given they provide critical knowledge and expertise by bringing multi agency partnerships together to plan, prepare for and recover from local incidents and emergencies. This government is committed to supporting and strengthening local partnerships and improving local risk management, including by investing in LRF capacity and capability. Recognising the importance Baroness Hallett placed on this recommendation when publishing the Module 1 report, we accept that independent strategic advice and assessment is an essential component for an effective UK wide civil emergency and resilience system. The government will always remain responsible and accountable for policy and resource allocation decisions and we will spend further time working on the appropriate solution to deliver challenge, direction and strategic advice. We will consider how the work of experts could be called upon to provide further advice and assessment to the government. Use of scientific and expert advice is already being strengthened through improvements already made to SAGE and associated independent advisory groups. In addition, the new NSRA process is expanding the use of external advice and challenge by establishing eight standing advisory groups of technical and scientific experts, each led by an independent chairperson. The government also welcomes the establishment of the multidisciplinary pandemic science networks and institutes that provide world-leading academic and scientific expertise. As part of our consideration of the best mechanism to provide challenge, direction and strategic advice to government on resilience, we will look at how the government could further draw on independent expertise to provide challenge and undertake reviews. The introduction of a new ‘Hillsborough Law’ will place a legal duty of candour on public servants and authorities. This will be a catalyst for a changed culture in the public sector by improving transparency and accountability where public services have failed. ISBN: 978-1-5286-5386-2 E-Number: E03271203 01/25 Source →
Each entry above links to a primary source — gov.uk written statement, consultation response document, or inspection report. The Index does not characterise government intent; it tracks what has been published.
How this page is built
Source and Response are verbatim from primary documents. The Evidence trail records published activity since — written statements, consultation outcomes, inspection findings, parliamentary references. The Index does not paraphrase or characterise intent; it tracks what has been published. Where the evidence is the absence of action (a missed deadline, a slipped timetable), that absence is documented from primary sources rather than inferred.
This recommendation's data is verified periodically against primary sources. The Index is monitored for staleness weekly.