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

6. Regular Response Exercises

Recommendation Six – A regular UK-wide pandemic response exercise

Chair’s recommendation:

The UK Government and devolved governments should together hold a UK-wide pandemic response exercise at least every three years. The exercise should:

• Test the UK-wide, cross-government, national and local response to a pandemic at all stages, from the initial outbreak to multiple waves over a number of years;
• Include a broad range of those involved in pandemic preparedness and response; and
• Consider how a broad range of vulnerable people will be helped in the event of a pandemic.

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

• We will participate in the UK-wide Tier 1 Pandemic Exercise during autumn 2025 (Exercise Pegasus).

Progress update as at July 2026:

• The Scottish Government fully engaged in Exercise Pegasus, delivered between September and October 2025 across three consecutive Phases, and most recently took part in Phase Four on 16 June 2026.
• The Scottish Government is committed to supporting future UK-wide exercises and taking part when appropriate.

• The Scottish Government has commenced a full process of review, evaluation, and debriefing to capture recommendations for both the improvement of future exercises and the response to emerging pandemics.
• The UK Government and the Scottish Government have committed to publishing recommendations from Exercise Pegasus in winter 2026.
• On 11 June 2026, the Scottish National Debriefing and Lessons Protocol, supported by the Scottish National Lessons Matrix, was fully launched and operational on Resilience Direct under the debriefing and lessons section. These documents were designed to standardise the approach to debriefing and manage lessons in an auditable way.

The Scottish Government wrote to the inquiry chair on 18 May 2026 to confirm that this recommendation has been delivered and closed.