UK Covid-19 Inquiry - Module 1 report: progress update - January 2026

1. Simplified Structure

Recommendation One – A simplified structure for whole system civil emergency preparedness and response

Chair’s recommendation:

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 this Report (by July 2025). Within six 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 (by July 2026), 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.

Implementation actions and timescales set out in our January 2025 response:

• Cabinet will consider the first of its biannual papers on whole system civil emergencies in spring 2025;
• The Future Pandemic Preparedness Ministerial Oversight Group will meet for the first time in early 2025 and will meet on a six-monthly basis thereafter; and
• The Crisis Preparation Oversight Group will continue to meet on a quarterly basis to discuss cross-government preparedness and structures and will meet again in early 2025.

Progress update as at January 2026:

• Cabinet considered the cabinet paper ‘Civil Contingencies Risk and Preparedness Arrangements in Scotland’ in September 2025 and noted the importance for Cabinet to continue to provide leadership and have regular oversight of Civil Contingencies Risk and Preparedness Arrangements;
• Cabinet has agreed to actively engage with the Crisis Preparation Oversight Group programme, and to incorporate assurance mechanisms into Portfolio-level discussions across the Scottish Government to ensure appropriate resourcing, prioritisation, and urgency for identified risks or impacts;
• The Future Pandemic Preparedness Ministerial Oversight Group’s next meeting will take place early in 2026; and
• The programme continues to embed cross-government ownership of Civil Contingencies mitigation and preparedness activity across Scotland. It has delivered sessions and workshops to senior strategic leads to further enhance understanding of risk awareness and preparedness for responding effectively to specific emergencies.