Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the principle of transparency set out on page 18 of the Government document entitled Our Plan to Rebuild: The UK Government’s COVID-19 recovery strategy, CP239, for what reason he has not published the scientific and technical advice arising from Exercise Cygnus; and if he will make a statement.

Reports on exercises are not routinely published by the Department to allow full, candid and proper deliberation of the lessons learnt.

The scientific and technical advice from Exercise Cygnus was based on a hypothetical scenario for a fictional influenza pandemic and is therefore not suitable for publication.

Lessons from Exercise Cygnus, in conjunction with expert advice, continue to be used in planning for a future influenza pandemic and inform policy development.