Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many full-time equivalent members of staff work on pandemic preparedness in (a) her Department and (b) the UK Health Security Agency.

The Government continues to plan and prepare for a range of pandemic and emerging infectious disease scenarios, including those caused by respiratory contact, both influenza and non-influenza, and vector-borne pathogens, building on lessons learned from exercises and incidents, including the COVID-19 pandemic. There are currently 21.35 full time equivalent (FTE) staff working on pandemic preparedness within the Global and Public Health Group of the Department.

Every team across the United Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is playing a critical role in the nation’s pandemic preparedness and is committing significant resource and effort to meet our remit. As a result, it is not possible to provide an FTE figure of all staff whose work forms part of pandemic preparedness. The UKHSA’s Centre for Pandemic Preparedness (CPP) holds some members of staff who are focused primarily on pandemic preparedness policy and coordination. There currently are 18.4 FTEs working in CPP.