Exercise Holly report and Scottish Government involvement in disease related exercises: FOI release
Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
Information requested
- Under the FOI (Scotland) Act 2002 please confirm if the Scottish Government has a copy of the Exercise Holly report referenced in the PQ below. If yes, please provide the final report on the exercise (detailing lessons learned, concerns raised by participants, improvements needed, areas of good practice, what exercises involved/tested, the scenario, etc)
- Further please list all diseases related exercises the Scottish Government has i) led ii) participated in since July 2020. Please provide the finalised reports for each of these exercises (detailing lessons learned, concerns raised by participants, improvements needed, areas of good practice, what exercises involved/tested, the scenario, etc)
- Finally, for the avoidance of doubt, please can you can confirm if Silver Swan is the only pandemic management exercise the Scottish Government has led/run since 2010. If there were other pandemic management exercises please provide the final reports on each of these exercises (detailing lessons learned, concerns raised by participants, improvements needed, areas of good practice, what exercises involved/tested, the scenario, etc)
Response
- While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have a copy of the report on Exercise Holly. However, you may wish to contact the Animal and Plant Health Agency, please contact: customeradvice@apha.gov.uk, who may be able to help you. The reasons why we do not have this information are explained in the Annex to this letter.
- Disease related exercises that the Scottish Government has i) led ii) participated in since July 2020.
| Disease | Exercise | Date | Description | Link to the Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| COVID-19 | Nimbus | February 2020 | Exercise Nimbus rehearsed Ministerial-level decision-making in relation to the United Kingdom’s pandemic preparedness and response within the context of what was known at that point about COVID-19. UK Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) are unable to provide further information on this exercise as it relates to the formulation or development of Government policy. | Further details are provided in the attached FoI response from DHSC (16/08/22). |
| African Swine Fever | Ivy | October 2020 | A virtual Scottish African swine fever (ASF) exercise held in October 2020, organised by the Scottish Government (SG) in co-operation with the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) and a major Scottish pig producer. | Copy of the report attached. |
| Rabies | Bonzo | April 2022 | The Scottish Government participated in Exercise Bonzo in April 2022, which simulated a rabies outbreak. This was organised by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). | Please contact defra.helpline@defra.gov.uk to request a copy of this report. |
- Exercise Silver Swan - This is the only pandemic management exercise that the Scottish Government has led and run since 2010. Since the H1N1 pandemic in 2009-10, Exercise Silver Swan (2015) is the only Scottish Government exercise that has been run in relation to an influenza pandemic. The exercise report and recommendations are available on the Scottish Government website: https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-202000026935
Other exercises:
| Disease | Exercise | Date | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Infectious diseases | Alice | February 2016 | Exercise was to test health system capabilities and protocols in the event of a larger outbreak, below pandemic level, of a high consequence infectious disease. Scotland (as a devolved administration) made a limited contribution in support of this exercise. |
Link to the Report - Report - Exercise Alice Middle East Respiratory Syndrome 15 Feb 2016 - DocumentCloud
| Pandemic influenza | Cygnus | October 2018 | UKG Department of Health and Social Care led on two pandemic preparedness exercises. The most recent exercise to test preparedness for an influenza pandemic was Exercise Cygnus in 2016. The report from Exercise Cygnus was published in October 2020 alongside information on how elements of our pandemic influenza plans were used in response to COVID-19. |
Link to the Report - https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/927770/exercisecygnus-report.pdf
| MERS-CoV | Iris | 2018 | Assessed Scotland’s readiness to respond to a suspected outbreak of Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV). |
Link to the Report The report was published on the Scottish Government website: https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/corporate-report/2020/06/exercise-iris-report/ documents/exercise-iris-report/exercise-iris-report/govscot%3Adocument/Exercise%2BIris%2B- %2BFinal%2Breport.pdf
Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.
About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.
Contact
Please quote the FOI reference
Central Enquiry Unit
Email: ceu@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000
The Scottish Government
St Andrews House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG
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