Ministers and emergency services to hold national test of pandemic preparedness

Senior Government figures and the emergency services will take part in a multi-day pandemic preparedness exercise, as ministers aim to bolster the UK against future threats like Covid-19.

Blue light services will join senior ministers, and representatives from the nations and regions in the first test of pandemic preparedness in nearly a decade, Pat McFadden has announced.

The Cabinet Office minister, whose title is the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, said the Government also plans to train thousands of people to be better prepared for crises like pandemics.

The Emergency Alert System (EAS) – which can sound an alarm through mobile phones – will be tested later this year, as part of a series of steps ministers are taking in response to recommendation from the Covid inquiry.

Vulnerable groups, including elderly and disabled people disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, will also be provided with more support.

Mr McFadden, sometimes referred to as the “real Deputy Prime Minister” because of his influence in Government, said: “We must learn lessons from the Covid pandemic as we cannot afford to make the same mistakes again.

“But we will plan in a way that recognises the next crisis may not be the same as the last.”

Baroness Hallett, the chair of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, warned the UK was not prepared nor resilient enough to deal with another pandemic at the conclusion of the probe’s first module.

She called for pandemic preparedness exercises to be held at least every three years in future.

Mr McFadden added: “We agree with the inquiry that more needs to be done and are announcing measures to make sure that we are as prepared as possible for future pandemics.

“These changes will improve our resilience and preparedness and help to safeguard our citizens.”

The national exercise is expected to be held on different days over several months in the autumn, and will involve thousands of participants across the UK.

All Government departments, local councils, emergency services and the devolved authorities have been invited to take part.

Exercise Cygnus was the last test of pandemic preparedness by the UK Government, and was held in October 2016.

There is no exact date yet for when the Government plans to test the EAS alarm, but it is expected to be later this year.

The alert has been deployed four times since it was launched in 2023, including in areas hit hardest by Storm Darragh this winter.

Some 4,000 people will meanwhile be trained in resilience and emergency roles, with the aim of helping emergency services and other public authorities to prepare for crises like pandemics.

Shadow cabinet office minister Richard Holden said: “I appreciate the Government is planning a full pandemic exercise for this year, but also acknowledge the risks we will face going forwards will be dynamic, and that’s an important point that we need to recognise, because we do not know what the future will hold.

“So I hope that the pandemic exercise will involve cross-cutting segments of microbial resistance and technology infrastructure as well, which we know are going to be some of the key challenges that continue to grow in importance for the future.”

Mr McFadden replied: “(Mr Holden) is right to say that the future may not be the same as the past, and that’s why flexibility has to be built into all of this.”

Conservative Sir Bernard Jenkin (Harwich and North Essex) was among those MPs to press for a quicker conclusion to the Covid inquiry.

He said: “It’s taking far too long and what can we learn from other countries about how they have conducted their lessons learned exercise in order to make sure the people watching these proceedings who lost people, who lost their loved ones, feel that something has been done in good time?”

Sir Bernard added: “The next emergency could strike tomorrow. We haven’t got time to hang around and have these very long blame-fest inquiries with criminal lawyers asking gotcha questions to get headlines.”

Mr McFadden, in his reply, said: “I do believe there is a legitimate question to be asked about can there be a quicker way for the state to admit when it’s wrong and get justice for the victims.

“But it’s important in the processes that we set up that we don’t lose the valuable question of independence and we don’t lose the valuable capacity these inquiries have for the victims themselves to have a voice, which has sometimes been denied in other areas.”

Reform UK MP Richard Tice (Boston and Skegness) said: “The previous pandemic response exercise some nine years ago, Exercise Cygnus, the results of that were so shocking they were kept from this House and the British people.

“So will the minister commit that the results of this pandemic exercise later this year will be transmitted totally openly with full transparency to this House and the British people?”

Mr McFadden said: “Yes, the findings of the exercise will be made public.”