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

8. Regular reporting

Recommendation Eight – Published reports on whole-system civil emergency preparedness and resilience

Chair’s recommendation:

The governments of the UK, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland should each produce and publish reports to their respective legislatures at least every three years on whole-system civil emergency preparedness and resilience. The reports should include as a minimum:

• The risks that each government has identified are likely to result in whole-system civil emergencies;
• The recommendations that have been made to each government to mitigate those risks, and whether these recommendations have been accepted or rejected;
• A cost–benefit analysis setting out the economic and social costs of accepting the risks as against taking action to mitigate the risks;
• Who may be vulnerable to the risks and what steps are being taken to mitigate those risks;
• A plan setting out the timescales for implementing the recommendations that have been accepted; and
• An update on the progress that has been made on implementing previously accepted recommendations.

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

• We will lay our first report before the Scottish Parliament during September 2025, with further reports to follow at least every three years.

Progress update as at July 2026:

• The first report was laid before the Scottish Parliament in September 2025 and the Scottish Government has committed to providing a report to Parliament at least every three years.

The Scottish Government wrote to the inquiry chair on 12 January 2026 to confirm that this recommendation has been delivered and closed.