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

9. Red teams

Recommendation Nine – Regular use of red teams

Chair’s recommendation:

The governments of the UK, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland should each introduce the use of red teams in the Civil Service to scrutinise and challenge the principles, evidence, policies, and advice relating to preparedness for and resilience to whole-system civil emergencies. The red teams should be brought in from outside of government and the Civil Service.

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

• By July 2025, we will have scoped the potential use of further ‘red teaming’ and external scrutiny to support the development and implementation of our plans, processes, and procedures

Progress update as at July 2026:

• The Scottish Government is working with NHS Highland to develop red team resources for use across the civil contingencies landscape. A delivery session for colleagues involved in the Crisis Preparation Oversight Programme will be held during August 2026 to help disseminate learning.
• Scottish Government officials have developed an internal suite of resources that can be used to support whole-system critical challenge.
• The National Centre for Resilience has now finalised its reports following its series of round-table workshops on emergency planning policy. Workshops were attended by individuals with academic expertise, policy leads, people with lived experience, and practitioners. A range of topics were discussed at workshops, including mis- and dis-information, strengthening the civil contingencies resilience system with disabled people, and the role of educators in supporting the development of emergency resilience in younger people. Key learning points from the report include that:
  • trust must be actively built on sustained relationships, especially with local communities, trusted messengers, and underrepresented groups;
  • inclusion improves outcomes, and leads to more practical, credible, and usable resilience systems; and
  • that resilience to emergencies is a system, which requires continuous investment in skills, infrastructure, partnerships, and learning.