Publish Technical Advice During Emergencies

The government agrees with the Inquiry that it is important to provide clear communications to the public during an emergency. The government has made significant progress on the provision of guidance to departments when dealing with whole system risks, as well as to the public on the steps that they can take to prepare for emergencies.

Progress has already been made to improve transparency during emergencies since the pandemic - for example, the UK CMOs have developed and published scripts containing health advice that would be given to the public in the event of a national power outage.

Information and guidance on how to prepare for and respond to emergencies is readily available for the public through the GOV.UK/PREPARE website. This provides simple and effective steps that people can take to be more prepared. It also encourages people to take action in advance so that it will be easier to manage an emergency if it does happen. The website will be updated in 2026, as part of efforts to improve public engagement on risk and resilience.

In addition to this, the Amber Book, which was updated in April 2025, sets out a national framework for crisis response, establishing clear roles and responsibilities and defining expectations across the lifecycle of a crisis. The updated Amber Book represented a fundamental review and refresh of its predecessor, and was reflective of the lessons identified over the last 10 years. The update provided further details on the process for considering scientific and technical advice in a crisis, which could include public health, environmental, social or economic factors. The update also provides further clarity on the roles and responsibilities for communicating with the public, and the particular considerations that should be given to how the government communicates with and listens to vulnerable and at-risk groups in the response to an emergency.

Specifically in respect of scientific advice, the approach to publishing SAGE minutes is in the published SAGE guidance on GOV.UK. As the Inquiry notes, SAGE advice was published from 29 May 2020 onwards. In 2024 GO-Science and the Cabinet Office published updated SAGE guidance that stated in future emergencies SAGE papers and minutes will be published as and when appropriate. GO-Science will endeavour to publish as soon as practicably possible, noting the importance of transparency in emergencies. Some information may need to be omitted or redacted to protect sensitive information ahead of publication.

The government will continue to review and update guidance as appropriate, including clearly defining the roles and responsibilities of the UK government in regards to the publication of technical advice during a whole-system emergency, to aim to continue to improve transparency as much as possible.

As the Inquiry has highlighted, however, full disclosure may not always be appropriate depending on the specific circumstances of the emergency at hand - for example, where novel aspects of the emergency mean that sharing scientific or technical advice could drive unintended or harmful outcomes. Whilst this principle of sharing technical advice with the public is important, it would be for the government of the day to assess the risks associated with sharing certain information against factors such as, the nature of the emergency, the maturity of the technical advice and public opinion.

Accepted

The Executive supports the recommendation that technical advice on scientific, economic and social matters should be published at the earliest appropriate opportunity. Early publication can strengthen public confidence by transparently setting out the evidence base underpinning decisions and by helping to counter misinformation during civil emergencies. However, careful consideration will be required to ensure that the timing of publication does not place undue external pressure on the scientific deliberation and debate necessary to produce robust advice.

Publication of technical material will also need to be accompanied with a clear explanation highlighting that in the early stages of ongoing or future emergencies, data may be incomplete, and scientific advice may by necessity rely on modelling, preliminary assessments and consensus‑building among experts. Communicating these limitations clearly will be essential to ensuring that published advice is properly understood by the public and stakeholders.

The Scottish Government accepts this recommendation which is in line with current practice and will be delivered following the principles of open government of transparency, participation, and accountability.

Scottish Government analysts proactively publish data and evidence to enhance transparency, accountability, and public trust. The Scottish Government has developed an analytical framework for future pandemics setting out principles, structures and arrangements that should underpin our analytical response to a future pandemic.

The framework highlights the critical need for transparency and clear communication of evidence and reasoning behind decisions to reduce the spread of mis- and disinformation, and emphasises the policy of Scottish Government analytical professions to proactively publish data and evidence in a timely way.

The framework also sets out how to work effectively with the UK Government and the other four nations; while ensuring practice takes account of Scottish and local circumstances, outlining the value of strong communications and the need to work with trusted community messengers.

Further information regarding the analytical framework is covered in our response to recommendation 12.

1.8. The Welsh Government is committed to ensuring transparency continues to be at the heart of its approach to future emergencies, as it was during the Covid-19 pandemic. As the Inquiry notes, during the pandemic nearly all Technical Advisory Cell and Technical Advisory Group documents were published from May 2020 onwards, and we welcome its conclusion that “publishing these documents gave the Welsh public insight into the science behind key decisions, helping to explain lockdowns and social distancing rules.”

1.9. We therefore accept the Inquiry’s recommendation 4, that during a whole-system civil emergency, each government should routinely publish advice on scientific, economic and social matters at the earliest opportunity, along with minutes of meetings, except where there are good reasons such as commercial confidentiality, personal safety or national security, or because legal advice privilege applies.

1.10. We have already made a firm commitment to transparency in our Wales Resilience Framework published in May 2025, which includes enhanced transparency and engagement as a key strategic aim, the purpose being to ensure that the people of Wales have a shared understanding and an increased awareness of the risks and the arrangements to manage those risks, and that we improve accountability to the public, maintaining confidence in the actions the Welsh Government is taking to keep our citizens safe. Our Wales Resilience Delivery Framework (Wales Resilience Framework 2025) sets out a range of other actions we will take to ensure the public has an improved awareness of the civil contingencies risks in Wales.

1.11. Consistent with our commitments in the Wales Resilience Framework, in any future whole system emergency our aim will be for the maximum possible transparency about the advice upon which decisions are made. However, publication of individual pieces of advice will depend upon the specific circumstances of the emergency at the time as well as the content of the advice; for example, it may not be practical or desirable to publish advice during an emergency of short duration. Publication of advice will ultimately be a decision for the Welsh Government which is in office at the time of the emergency, balancing transparency with the risks of disclosing specific pieces of advice.

No statement on delivery from Cabinet Office has been found in the sources searched. This is separate from the response above.