Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether a Pandemic Concept of Operations was produced following Exercise Cygnus.

The United Kingdom Government’s Concept of Operations describes how the Government response to civil emergencies will be organised, and the relationship between central, regional and local tiers in England. Following Exercise Cygnus, a cross-Government work programme was established to improve plans for the use of information in a flu pandemic. This work builds upon the current UK Government Concept of Operations, specifically for pandemic influenza.

The lessons learned from Exercise Cygnus continue to be considered by Government, and have been shared with a range of stakeholders, to ensure that the UK remains well-prepared for infectious disease outbreaks.