UK Covid-19 Inquiry - Module 1 report: Scottish Government response

7. Publication of findings and lessons

Recommendation Seven – Publication of findings and lessons from civil emergency exercises

Chair’s recommendation:

For all civil emergency exercises, the governments of the UK, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland should each (unless there are reasons of national security for not doing so):

• Publish an exercise report summarising the findings, lessons and recommendations, within three months of the conclusion of the exercise
• Publish an action plan setting out the specific steps that will be taken in response to the report’s findings, and by which entity, within six months of the conclusion of the exercise and
• Keep exercise reports, action plans, and emergency plans and guidance from across the UK in a single, UK-wide online archive, accessible to all involved in emergency preparedness, resilience and response.

Scottish Government response:

The Scottish Government accepts this recommendation and acknowledges the need to publish exercise reports and associated action plans for civil emergency exercises. We support increased transparency around the exercises conducted. Therefore, we support the publication of reports and their associated action plans in relation to Tier 1 exercises, increasing accessibility to information on civil emergency exercises and their findings (unless there are reasons of national security for not doing so).

We agree that exercising reports and corresponding plans and guidance should be accessible to those who are involved in emergency preparedness, resilience and response. We are committed to continuous learning. Having more openness regarding Tier 1 civil emergency exercises will provide us with an opportunity to share learning with a wider audience, including the voluntary and community sector, who play an important role in emergency preparedness and response.

We recognise that categorised responders carry out civil emergency exercises as part of their duties under the Civil Contingencies Act, and so we have already taken action to increase efficiency and clarity around the exercise process. We are currently working actively with multi-agency partners to reinvigorate the Scottish Exercise notification process and Scottish National Exercise Calendar. This will provide uniform knowledge of planned exercises, promote information sharing and prevent duplication. This will be in place for use by categorised responders by July 2025.

In order to support and encourage a robust debriefing and lessons process amongst categorised responders, the Scottish Government has developed and released a National Debriefing and Lessons Protocol. The Protocol aims to support the lessons and debrief process, which is a vital part of the learning cycle, and provides an opportunity to demonstrate continuous improvement within resilience in Scotland. Preparing Scotland Exercise Guidance also sets out that where categorised responders are conducting exercises, the Post-Exercise Reports should be produced and shared on Resilience Direct to ensure the learning can be shared across Scotland. Resilience Direct is a Cabinet Office-owned web-based platform which provides government and categorised responders a secure space to share information relating to planning, response and recovery from emergencies.

We are supportive of the publication of findings and lessons reports wherever possible from Tier 1 civil emergency exercises.

Accountable Officer:

The Director General for Strategy and External Affairs, working with the Civil Contingencies Division within the Scottish Government will be accountable for the implementation of the Scottish elements of this recommendation.

Implementation timescales:

• We will reinvigorate the Scottish Exercise notification process and Scottish National Exercise Calendar by July 2025
• We will publish lessons learned reports and findings, to the extent possible, within six months of each exercise.