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

• The reinvigorated Scottish Training and Exercising Calendar went live on 10 February 2026. The Calendar was published on Resilience Direct and work is ongoing to ensure that responders are aware of the calendar and associated resources. It is also a standing agenda item on the multi-agency Scottish Civil Contingencies Development Forum, which met again on 11 June 2026.
• The Scottish Government and the UK Government are both undertaking analysis and evaluation of Exercise Pegasus. The findings from both reports will be published in late 2026. The Scottish Government is committed to the continuous monitoring and evaluation of the recommendations identified.