Written statement (Wales): Six-month update following the Welsh Government’s response to the Covid-19 Inquiry’s Module 1 report - July 14

Eluned Morgan, First Minister: In January of this year, I provided a written statement to Members, setting out the Welsh Government's response to the Rt Hon Baroness Hallett DBE, Chair of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry's Module 1 report ‘The resilience and preparedness of the United Kingdom'.

I would like to take this opportunity to update Members on the progress that has been made since our response earlier this year.

Structure and GovernanceRecommendation 1 – A simplified structure for whole-system civil emergency preparedness and resilience.

The evolving and wide-ranging threats facing the UK and Wales reinforce the need for effective risk management and preparedness and the value of robust emergency response arrangements.  The Welsh Government and the responder community work together closely to assess the potential impacts of evolving risks and ensure resilience arrangements flex to reflect the changing landscape. 

With the support of the responder community, we have made substantial progress in the last twelve months to modify and strengthen resilience governance, accountability and oversight structures, both within the Welsh Government and for the emergency responder communities. 

As set out in our initial response to the inquiry's report, we now have a dedicated Cabinet meeting each year to consider risks and preparedness (and provide more frequent updates if needed as risks arise). This reflects the interest that all ministers maintain for emergency preparedness and keeps a focus on emergency planning at the highest level of government.  We have already established our Welsh Government governance structures, which bring together senior officials. 

A review has also been undertaken of the pan-Wales governance arrangements. In May, I chaired the first meeting of the newly reconstituted Wales Resilience Forum. The Wales Resilience Forum, supported by the strengthened Wales Resilience Partnership is joining-up decision-making and delivery, with clear lines of responsibility.

As set out in the Welsh Government's initial response to the inquiry, the Risk and Preparedness Committee is an important part of the Welsh Government's governance and oversight arrangements. The Committee, which meets quarterly, brings together directors across the Welsh Government to help ensure resilience structures remain efficient, focused and fit for purpose and takes account of lessons identified from incidents, exercises and an evolving risk profile. The Committee transitions from ‘peacetime' functions of risk management and preparedness, to crisis response functions providing oversight of coordination arrangements.

Since our initial response, the Committee has met on three occasions to discuss and consider proposals on a range of topics including, but not limited to, the Wales Resilience Framework, lessons from the response to Storms Bert and Darragh, evolving cyber and national security threats, preparations for Exercise Pegasus, Critical National Infrastructure resilience, and improvements to data management during emergencies. 

Providing support to the Risk and Preparedness Committee and coordinating and driving delivery is the Senior Officials Working Group which meets monthly.

In the light of the Module 1 report, we reviewed these governance arrangements in April 2025, and, as part of our commitment to continued improvement, the purpose and remit of the Committee will be reviewed annually.

I will keep these arrangements under review, but in the light of the actions we have taken, I consider implementation of Recommendation 1 of Module 1 has been completed.

Recommendation 2: Cabinet Office leadership for whole-system civil emergencies in the UK.

We set out in our initial response to the Chair of the Covid-19 Inquiry that the Welsh Government adopts the lead department model to cover all phases of risk assessment, emergency preparedness, response and recovery. We adhere to the long-established and best practice emergency planning principle of subsidiarity, whereby decisions are taken at the lowest appropriate level, while coordination occurs at the highest necessary level. 

Relevant policy teams are, in general, responsible for leading the strategic response to an emergency, where it falls within their policy remit. Where emergencies have impacts beyond a single Welsh Government policy team, well-rehearsed coordination arrangements are activated to support the strategic response, decision-making and information sharing. We recognise, however, that in the event of a prolonged, whole-system emergency, such as a pandemic, there may well be a need to bolster this approach, rather than replace it.

Our new governance arrangements through our Risk and Preparedness Committee and our crisis management structures provide this cross-government approach to preparedness and response, particularly where an incident impacts several different policy areas. Our new governance arrangements also enable a critical assessment to be made on our progress to mitigate the high priority risks identified in our new risk evidence base. These central coordinating structures allow more effective coordination and information and data sharing. 

We recognise there is also a need to ensure our own processes are appropriate, so we are prepared for any future challenges. We are undertaking a review of the preparedness of lead policy teams and are already rolling-out new crisis management training, so officials continue to have the skills to provide the necessary response capability. To provide clarity on our processes, in addition to roles and responsibilities, we have developed a Concept of Operations (CONOPs) on our crisis management response within the Welsh Government.

Strategy, Data and RiskRecommendation 3: A better approach to risk assessment

Understanding risk is an essential part of resilience preparation, planning and response. It informs our approach to mitigation and helps identify the capabilities and structures we need to reduce the impact of that risk should it materialise. 

Until recently, the main risk assessment tool used in Wales was the National Security Risk Assessment, a UK Government tool which provided a foundation for assessing the most serious risks facing the UK. The tool supported risk management and planning at all tiers of the UK resilience system but not all of the risks that were significant for Wales were addressed. 

We need to have a full understanding of the risks which are specific to Wales. We also need to understand not only the global risk picture, but how these risks may impact on the special characteristics of our communities, economy and environment. 

Over the last two years, the Welsh Government has developed a suite of Wales-specific risk reports to provide an enhanced risk evidence base for Welsh responders and the Welsh Government. This includes a specific classified Wales Risk Register, which was completed in the autumn of 2025. This independently reviewed risk register draws on the UK National Security Risk Assessment but also assesses the most significant risks that are specific to Wales over the next two to five years. This now informs our emergency preparedness and strengthens our response and recovery capabilities. It also enables the Welsh Government and responders to identify concurrent risks and thereby inform consequence management and resource planning. 

The risk register will be subject to ongoing review and updates to reflect the ever-changing risk landscape. We will also continue to produce six-monthly risk outlooks.  

In line with our commitment to continually improve approaches to risk assessment, we are continuing to work closely with the UK and other devolved governments to collectively strengthen approaches to risk assessment across the UK as well as support developments in risk methodologies.

We are also continuing to work with the UK Government on its development of the classified UK National Security Risk Assessment, and in improving approaches to understanding risks that may cause or increase the likelihood of another, or risks that would have significantly greater impacts if they manifested concurrently. 

We are also working with the UK Government to ensure that there are consistent approaches in how we assess the impact of risks on people with vulnerabilities and specific needs.  This is a priority area for the new resilience evidence and data team. Drawing on the learning from the pandemic and more recent emergencies, including storms Bert and Darragh in late 2024, and the mains water outage which occurred in North Wales in early 2025, we are intending to build on the functionality of the JIGSO data platform to provide improved and rapid data access for responders to support the multi-agency response during emergencies. 

Recommendation 4: A UK-wide whole-system civil emergency strategy

The Wales Resilience Framework and its supporting delivery plan, which I announced in May 2025, confirms how we are enhancing resilience across Wales.  It includes specific actions to improve our approach to risk assessment, including the impacts on vulnerable people and our plans to work in partnership with statutory responders to enhance community resilience to enable individuals, businesses and civil society to improve their resilience. 

However, as emergencies do not respect borders, we are committed to working with the UK Government and the other devolved governments to ensure we have a joined-up approach to UK-wide whole-system emergencies and to align policies and facilitate closer cooperation for the benefit of all our citizens. To support this, we are currently working with the other UK governments to establish a Four Nations Interministerial Group to address and work together on strategic resilience issues and priorities. 

Recommendation 5: Data and research for future pandemics

Over the past six months, the Welsh Government has made strides in enhancing its emergency preparedness and response capabilities related to data.

We have begun establishing a data, evidence and analytical team which will integrate data into emergency planning and response activities. Moreover, a memorandum of understanding has been agreed with the UK's National Situation Centre which will be signed in the coming weeks. This will ensure reciprocal data provision during crises, underscoring a firm commitment to data-driven decision-making in times of emergency. 

Since its establishment in 2019, the National Data Resource Programme has enhanced Wales' health data infrastructure. Two key services – the Care Data Repository and the National Data and Analytics Platform – are now operational, enabling the development of real-time, standards-driven data sharing across the NHS in Wales. These developments will in future strengthen Wales' ability to share timely, governed health data with partners, particularly during emergency responses.

Formal programme governance has been established and funding has been awarded to Public Health Wales from the Digital Priorities Investment Fund to transform the core health protection system so that it can also manage major incidents and mass contact tracing and improve sharing of data and intelligence. Work is continuing, with the award of the current stage funding, to complete the Full Business Case by October 2025.

Progress has been made in the introduction of the Welsh Emergency Care Data Set. The two vanguard health boards were due to be complete by April 2025, however, there have been some delays to this due to underlying issues having been identified during the roll-out. The target for full adoption of the dataset remains in place, Autumn 2026; however, there remains the risk that other operational pressures could delay the implementation beyond this date.

We have developed an online Geographical Information System mapping tool to help enable the secure sharing of data with emergency responders to prioritise help to those who may need it the most. Further work will be undertaken with the responder community to understand how this platform can be further enhanced to ensure it meet the needs of responders.

A recent table-top exercise with key partners across the health and care system has helped assess pandemic preparedness on health and care data collection and sharing, with these arrangements due to be tested further during Exercise Pegasus. 

Accountability, lessons learned and challengeRecommendation 6: A regular UK-wide pandemic response exercise

We set out in our response to the Module 1 recommendations that the Welsh Government has long recognised the importance of training and exercises as part of emergency planning and major incidence response and that we, alongside other governments of the UK will take part in national and local level exercises across all of the UK's catastrophic risks through a National Exercise Programme for Tier 1 exercises.

The Welsh Government is fully engaged with the planning for a cross-system, UK Tier 1 national level pandemic exercise (Exercise Pegasus) that will take place between 17 September and 5 November. Exercise Pegasus will be the biggest pandemic exercise that the UK has ever run and will include participation at national, devolved and local levels from ministers, officials, responder organisations and the third sector. We have established a Wales Coordination Group to oversee planning and participation in Wales which has representation from all key organisations involved in the exercise, including the third sector. Warm up exercises have taken place ahead of the main exercise including Exercise SOLARIS run on behalf of the Welsh Government by Public Health Wales on 30 April aimed at the local response tier (local resilience forums) and Exercise ALKARAK aimed at UK Government departments and devolved governments, held on 15 May.  

Recommendation 7: Publication of findings and lessons from civil emergency exercises

The Welsh Government has accepted that for Tier 1 civil emergency exercises we will publish findings and lessons learned (except where there are legitimate security or public safety reasons not to do so). 

As part of our commitment to continual improvement, we have already developed a lessons management system within the Welsh Government. This enables us to identify lessons from exercises, incidents and inquiries and to put in place the appropriate processes to ensure the lessons are implemented. However, we also recognise that there is value in how we manage lessons at a pan-Wales level and the UK Resilience Academy will be working with the responder community on how a pan-Wales lesson management system can be developed.

Recommendation 8: Published reports on whole-system civil emergency preparedness and resilience

One of the four objectives of the Wales Resilience Framework is ‘Enhanced Transparency, Communication and Engagement'. As part of that objective, the Welsh Government has committed to introduce an annual statement to the Senedd on civil contingencies risks and resilience. It will include information on the current risk picture, our resilience performance and our current state of preparedness. This aims to increase public accountability on risk.

We will also lay a State of Resilience Report in the Senedd every four years on levels of preparedness across Wales. It will consider assessments from organisational, regional and national levels.

Recommendation 9: Regular use of red teams

Red-teaming is already a core feature of our exercising programme. In addition, as part of our commitment in the Wales Resilience Framework to ensure we have the appropriate capabilities in place, we will explore suitable opportunities for incorporating red teaming into our capabilities' reviews. 

Recommendation 10: A UK-wide independent statutory body for whole-system civil emergency preparedness and resilience

We agree there are benefits to independent advice and support within our resilience structures, particularly in relation to preparing for a whole-system civil emergency. In reviewing this recommendation, we agree with the UK Government's assessment and do not believe an independent statutory body is the most appropriate and effective response as it would divert vital resources from our capabilities to prepare and respond to crises. 

Working with the UK Government and the other devolved governments we have agreed to the development of independent expert panels to be convened by the UK Resilience Academy to focus on the key risks in the National Security Risk Assessment. 

These panels will consider preparedness for these risks across the UK and will report back to governments across the UK.  A pilot process will be run in 2025 to test this new mechanism.

Documents

• Covid Inquiry Module 1 report 6 month update - Annex