Covid-19 Inquiry

Lord Harris of Haringey Excerpts

Thursday 23rd January 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Harris of Haringey (Lab)]

My Lords, I refer to my chairing of the National Preparedness Commission. I welcome the Government’s response to the module 1 report. The nation is on a journey, which was started by the previous Government; I am pleased that it has been continued by the present Government. In particular, I welcome the recognition that resilience and preparedness are an essential underpinning of the Government’s missions for change and everything else, and that those missions themselves feed back into preparedness and resilience. I specifically welcome the fact that the emergency alerts scheme—which, as noble Lords know, I have been championing for some time—is to be tested on a regular basis in addition to when it is used, if you like, in anger.

I was interested in the slight differences in emphasis on recommendation 10, but surely the important point is that, when the Government bring forward their review of resilience, they recognise that there needs to be a legal underpinning. In the same way that the Climate Change Act requires Government Ministers and government departments to work towards delivering net zero, there should be a similar sort of obligation requiring them to work towards resilience. Is that under active consideration? There is also the question of whether something like the Climate Change Committee—which, if you like, marks the Government’s homework—which would have a validity under those circumstances. The prime responsibility is to make sure that everybody recognises that they all have to contribute to this.

[Baroness Twycross (Lab)]

My noble friend makes a really important point about this being something that everybody has to contribute to. On his point about potential need for changes to the legislative framework, the current basis of legislation is the Civil Contingencies Act, and the next formal statutory review should be completed by 2027. However, in light of the recent inquiries around Covid and Grenfell, it is right that we look at the legislative framework and ensure that it meets the need of the evolving risk landscape and the growing expectations on the local tier in particular. We are considering the legislative framework as part of the resilience review, which, as noble Lords will be aware, will conclude in spring 2025.