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

7. Publication of findings and lessons

Recommendation Seven – Publication of findings and lessons from civil emergency exercises

Chair’s recommendation:

For all civil emergency exercises, the governments of the UK, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland should each (unless there are reasons of national security for not doing so):

• Publish an exercise report summarising the findings, lessons and recommendations, within three months of the conclusion of the exercise;
• Publish an action plan setting out the specific steps that will be taken in response to the report’s findings, and by which entity, within six months of the conclusion of the exercise; and
• Keep exercise reports, action plans, and emergency plans and guidance from across the UK in a single, UK-wide online archive, accessible to all involved in emergency preparedness, resilience and response.

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

• We will reinvigorate the Scottish Exercise notification process and Scottish National Exercise Calendar by July 2025; and
• We will publish lessons learned reports and findings, to the extent possible, within six months of each exercise.

Progress update as at January 2026:

• The Scottish Exercise Notification process and Scottish National Training and Exercising Calendar continues to be improved. The Scottish Civil Contingencies Development Forum (SCCDF), which meets quarterly, will oversee the Scottish Lessons process along with debriefing, training and exercising activity;
• Consultation has been carried out on a Scottish Lessons process with categorised responders, which will be developed in partnership with them. This consultation identified the courses with the greatest demand, which allowed Scottish Government officials to prioritise their update and publication, as part of a new Scottish Government syllabus offer on our newly launched Resilience Direct pages. The course syllabus will grow as more of the legacy material is refreshed and updated. The Scottish Lessons process will go live in the first quarter of 2026, although the principles are already being applied in terms of process and output. A Lessons Matrix for Scotland has been developed, which will show lessons identified, implemented into policy and practice and then integrated by evidence of change or benefit. The Lessons Matrix will go live in the first quarter of 2026 having been approved by SCCDF;
• A ‘Cold Case’ review will be instigated to retrospectively assess debrief reports over a set period to ensure that they have been taken to a satisfactory conclusion;
• The Scottish Government will publish findings from Tier 1 exercises in line with the approach taken by UK Government and devolved governments and commits to continuous monitoring and evaluation of recommendations identified; and
• In line with recommendations from the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, the UK Government has committed to publishing the findings and lessons identified from Exercise Pegasus in winter 2026.