Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason the report into Exercise Cygnus was not published until 20 October 2020.

The Government does not routinely publish reports on exercises. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a degree of public interest in the report of Exercise Cygnus.

Prior to publishing the report on Exercise Cygnus and its outcomes, the Department engaged with officials from a range of Government departments and agencies to determine whether publication during the current pandemic was in the public interest. The Department took a cautious approach to publication because of the risk that the response to the current pandemic could be negatively impacted.