Central Emergency Taskforces
COVID-19 Inquiry · Module 2: Core Decision-Making · Issued 20 November 2025 · Addressed to: Cabinet Office
Source — verbatim from the inquiry
●Inquiry recommendation
The response to a future whole-system civil emergency should be coordinated via central taskforces in each of the UK, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, with responsibility for the commissioning and synthesis of advice, coordination of a single data picture and facilitation of decision-making processes.
COVID-19 Inquiry, Module 2: Core Decision-Making · 20 Nov 2025 Source PDF →
Published evidence summary
Publicly available evidence relating to this recommendation:
- The Amber Book, updated April 2025, sets out principles for establishing and running a taskforce for protracted crises (Managing Crisis in Central Government, Cabinet Office, April 2025).
- Operational plans for a pandemic taskforce have been drafted within the Cabinet Office Pandemic Concept of Operations.
- Exercise Pegasus (Autumn 2025) tested key elements of a taskforce model, including devolved government liaison officers.
- The Pandemic Concept of Operations has not been published; Exercise Pegasus post-exercise report is expected Winter 2026.
Response — verbatim from government
●Scottish Government — initial response
No formal response published by this government.
Scottish Government · 20 Nov 2025
●Welsh Government — follow-up
No formal response published by this government.
Welsh Government · 20 Nov 2025
●Northern Ireland Executive — follow-up
No formal response published by this government.
Northern Ireland Executive · 20 Nov 2025
●UK Government — follow-up
The government has revised its crisis management governance processes. The Amber Book, which was updated and republished in April 2025, sets out the principles for establishing and running a taskforce to oversee the enduring response to a significant and protracted crisis. As a part of routine planning for large-scale risks, operational plans for a pandemic taskforce have been drafted and are included in the Cabinet Office Pandemic Concept of Operations.
The UK government taskforce would be situated within the Cabinet Office in order to support ministerial collective agreement, coordinate and oversee strategy and policy, and coordinate the data and analysis needed to support cross-government decision-making, including equalities-related data. Strong links will be maintained between the taskforce and UK government departmental response functions. As set out in the Amber Book, the Cabinet Secretary is expected to appoint a Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) for the taskforce.
The taskforce would incorporate liaison officers representing the devolved governments and the UK government. This structure is intended to facilitate alignment across the four nations and between all enduring response structures. The recent national pandemic exercise (Exercise Pegasus) tested key elements of a taskforce, and included participation of liaison officers from the devolved governments.
SAGE and its sub-groups would be activated to provide scientific and technical advice, with representation from all four nations.
A number of pre-existing four nations bodies, which provide advice to the government on the management of zoonotic disease, would be integrated into the pandemic response should the pathogen be zoonotic in nature. These bodies support the 'One Health' approach adopted by the UK government, which considers the interdependencies of human, animal, plant, and environmental health.
UK Government · 20 Nov 2025 Written response →
Evidence trail — what's actually happened since
- 20 Nov 2025 Status: In Progress. The government has revised its crisis management governance processes. The Amber Book, which was updated and republished in April 2025, sets out the principles for establishing and running a taskforce to oversee the enduring response to a significant and protracted crisis. As a part of routine planning for large-scale risks, operational plans for a pandemic taskforce have been drafted and are included in the Cabinet Office Pandemic Concept of Operations. The UK government taskforce would be sit 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.