COVID ‘exposed’ UK’s vulnerability and government was not ‘fully prepared’, report finds
The government was not “fully prepared” for the “wide-ranging impacts” of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new report, which found that Brexit both helped and hindered preparations for future crises.
There was a lack of detailed plans for shielding, job support schemes and school disruption, the National Audit Office found.
According to the watchdog, lessons from previous “simulation exercises” that would have helped when COVID-19 hit were “not fully implemented”.
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“This pandemic has exposed the UK’s vulnerability to whole-system emergencies, where the emergency is so broad that it engages all levels of government and society,” said Gareth Davies, head of the NAO.
“Although the government had plans for a flu pandemic, it was not prepared for a pandemic like COVID-19 and did not learn important lessons from the simulation exercises it carried out.”
A government spokesperson defended its handling of COVID, stressing the “unprecedented” nature of the pandemic.
“We have always said there are lessons to be learnt from the pandemic and have committed to a full public inquiry in spring,” they said.
“We prepare for a range of scenarios and while there were extensive arrangements in place, this is an unprecedented pandemic that has challenged health systems around the world.
“Thanks to our collective national effort and our preparations for flu, we have saved lives, vaccinated tens of millions of people and prevented the NHS from being overwhelmed.”
The NAO said that resources dedicated to preparing for Britain’s exit from the European Union had both a positive and negative impact on planning for future crises.
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March 2020: Life under lockdown
In some instances, work on Brexit enhanced the “crisis capabilities” of certain government departments.
But on the flipside, the strain on resources meant the government had to pause or postpone some planning work for a potential flu pandemic.
“Some work areas of the Pandemic Flu Readiness Board and the Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Programme Board, including scheduling a pandemic influenza exercise in 2019-20, were paused or postponed to free up resources for EU exit work,” the report said.
Of the Cabinet Office’s 94 full-time equivalent staff in its emergency planning unit, 56 were allocated to prepare for potential disruption caused by a no-deal Brexit.
The NAO said this had the result of “limiting its ability” to plan for other crises.
“This raises a challenge for the government as to whether it has the capacity to deal with multiple emergencies or shocks,” its report said.
According to the NAO, the pandemic has “exposed a vulnerability to whole-system emergencies”.
And while ministers had plans to try and handle a pandemic, many of them were “not adequate” for the challenges that COVID posed, it said.
The report cited the findings of Exercise Winter Willow, a large-scale pandemic simulation exercise from 2007.
This found that business continuity plans needed to be “better coordinated” between organisations, but the NAO said this was “not evidence in most of the plans it reviewed.
In the wake of another pandemic simulation, Exercise Cygnus in 2016, the government noted that “consideration should be given to the ability of staff to work from home, particularly when staff needed access to secure computer systems”.
But the NAO said that when coronavirus reached the UK, “many departmental business continuity plans did not include arrangements for extensive home working”.
The watchdog found that the government prioritised preparations for “two specific viral risks” – an influenza pandemic and an emergency high-consequence infectious disease.
As a result, there was no plan specific to a disease with the characteristics of COVID, with it being found that scientists considered such a disease “less likely” to occur.
While the report noted that the government was able to use some of the mitigations it had in place when the pandemic struck, such as the stockpile of personal protective equipment (PPE), it was “not fully prepared” for the “wide-ranging impacts” the virus would have on society, the economy, and key public services.
The NAO queried why this was the case, given that the government’s 2019 National Security Risk Assessment said that a flu-like pandemic could have “extensive non-health impacts, including on communications, education, energy supplies, finance, food supplies and transport services”.
In addition, the watchdog said that there was no agreement in government of “what level of risk it was willing to accept for an event like COVID-19”.
According to the NAO, it was told by the Cabinet Office that the government’s “risk appetite changed” and it “lowered the threshold for the health and societal impacts of the pandemic that it deemed acceptable” as COVID hit.
In conclusion, the NAO found that the pandemic had flagged up the need to beef up the government’s risk management process and “national resilience” to be ready for future crises of a similar nature.
It made a number of recommendations to the Cabinet Office on risk management and preparedness.
The watchdog did note that the government had already begun considering how to address the issues raised in its report, for instance through its National Resilience Strategy.
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Lobby Akinnola, a spokesperson for the COVID-19 Bereaved Families for Justice campaign group, said the report “confirms what the whole country has long known, that the government was unprepared for the pandemic and that our loved ones might be here today if they had been”.
“What’s most important now is that the government is able to learn lessons from the inquiry to ensure that we are never in this position again.”
Labour’s shadow cabinet office minister Fleur Anderson said the report shows that ministers “failed to prepare and they failed the public”.
“It is vital that preparedness and planning is addressed in the public inquiry into the Conservatives’ mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic,” she said.
Sir Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, said: “This is a damning report that reveals a comprehensive failure from the government to prepare adequately for the pandemic.”
A man has been charged with murder after 14-year-old Daniel Anjorin was killed and four people were injured near a London Tube station.
Two Metropolitan Police officers were among those hurt as they responded to reports of an attacker with a sword in Hainault, northeast London, on Tuesday.
The man charged has been named as Marcus Aurelio Arduini Monzo, a 36-year-old dual Spanish-Brazilian national from Newham, east London.
He has also been charged with two counts of attempted murder, two counts of grievous bodily harm, aggravated burglary and possession of a bladed article.
Monzo will appear at Barkingside Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.
The families of all those affected by the incident have been informed.
Daniel Anjorin was killed as he walked to school. Pic: Met Police
Daniel Anjorin was a pupil at Bancroft’s private school in Woodford Green – also attended by Nottingham attack victim Grace O’Malley-Kumar.
Staff and pupils at the school said they were in “profound shock and sorrow” at his death.
Daniel’s family told Sky News he was “a wonderful child” who was “well loved” and “hard working” – and that his death “leaves a gaping wound in the family”.
“No family should have to go through what we are experiencing today,” they said. “Any family will understand it’s an absolute tragedy.”
Floral tributes for Daniel have been placed in Hainault. Pic: PA
Monzo is accused of crashing a van into a fence just before 7am, and attacking two members of the public with a sword.
It is alleged he then killed the 14-year-old and seriously injured two police officers as they tried to stop him – one of whom nearly lost her hand.
The suspect was initially taken to hospital after suffering injuries in the van crash.
Jaswant Narwal, chief crown prosecutor for CPS London North, said: “Our thoughts remain firmly with the family of Daniel and all those who have been impacted by this horrific incident.”
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“We remind all concerned that criminal proceedings against the defendant are active and that they have a right to a fair trial,” she continued.
“It is extremely important that there should be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings.”
The Met Office has issued warnings for rain and thunderstorms – with the alerts in place until Thursday morning.
The first warning began at 8pm and covers an area stretching from Portsmouth to Plymouth, and northwards to South Wales, and lasts until 8am.
Heavy rain is expected, with a chance of thunderstorms, and the Met Office said it could bring difficult driving conditions and some flooding.
The second warning kicks in at 11pm and covers nearly all of southeast England, stretching as far north as Oxford and including London. It’s in force until 6am on Thursday.
“Thunderstorms are likely at times later this evening and overnight, leading to travel disruption and some flooding,” said the Met Office.
There will be a risk of sudden flooding and power blackouts in both affected warning areas, added the forecaster.
There’s also a chance of hail and strong winds.
Flooding and lightning strikes could cause disruption on the roads, as well as delays and cancellations to rail and bus services.
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Around 2cm to 4cm of rain is expected overnight, with 5cm possible in some places.
“Much of this rain may fall over a two or three-hour period,” the Met Office said.
Met Office meteorologist Alex Deakin said: “You may well get woken up tonight by a rumble of thunder, or some flashes of lightning across parts of the South.
“A lot of heavy rain falling in a short space of time as well.”
He said it could create a lot of spray and surface water on the roads for commuters on Thursday morning.
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Elsewhere, it will stay dry with temperatures mostly holding up in double figures across England and Wales, or staying at around 8C to 9C in towns and cities further north.
Deakin said: “A cloudy start then to Thursday one way or another, still some heavy bursts of rain early on across the South West.
“That should tend to clear away, but always the likelihood of further showers across southern parts of England, Mid and South Wales.”
He added: “Parts of northwest Scotland, Northern Ireland, northwest England, much of the Midlands down towards East Anglia should have a fine and sunny day tomorrow.”
The Scottish government has survived a vote of no confidence at Holyrood.
Scottish Labour pressed ahead with its motion despite Humza Yousaf announcing earlier this week his intention to stand down as SNP leader and first minister.
It failed by 58 votes to 70.
The Scottish Greens voted against the motion, with party co-leader Patrick Harvie branding it “chaos for the sake of chaos”.
If it had passed, all ministers in the minority SNP government would have been forced to quit.
Opening the debate, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar thanked Mr Yousaf for his service and wished him well, but said Scotland was “crying out for change” from the UK Conservative government and the SNP Scottish government.
He said the country needed “credible and effective leadership” to deal with “twin crises” in the economy and NHS.
Mr Sarwar added: “I have no confidence in the SNP’s ability to deliver that and that is why I am bringing this motion to parliament today.”
The outgoing first minister defended his government’s record, adding that in the 13 months he has spent in charge he had not “heard a single positive idea” from Scottish Labour.
Anas Sarwar thanked Mr Yousaf for his service, but said Scotland was ‘crying out for change’. Pic: PA
Mr Yousaf added: “What I have heard is the deafening sound of principle after principle being thrown out of Anas Sarwar’s window.
“U-turning on the two-child cap, U-turning on the devolution of employment law, U-turning on the devolution of drug law, U-turning on his support for Waspi women.”
Mr Yousaf said pro-UK parties, in their “cosy Westminster alliance”, would be “terrified” of a vote of no confidence.
He added: “As I have found out only too well in the last few days, politics is definitely about the choices we choose to make.
“As a government, I am exceptionally proud of our choices.”
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What comes next for the SNP?
The debate and vote has come following the breakdown of the Bute House Agreement.
Within hours of the powersharing deal with the Scottish Greens coming to an end last week, Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross announced he would be bringing a motion of no confidence in the first minister.
Angry over the way the party was dumped from government, the Scottish Greens announced its MSPs would be backing the motion.
Scottish Labour then announced it was planning a motion of no confidence in the Scottish government.
Mr Yousaf reached out to his political opponents in an effort to stem the uprising but conceded that he had “underestimated the level of hurt and upset” his actions had caused Scottish Green colleagues.
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Speaking to Sky News earlier on Wednesday, Mr Yousaf said: “I will certainly be regretting the way it ended.”
The Scottish Tories dropped their motion following Mr Yousaf’s resignation, but Scottish Labour pressed on as the party believes the decision on the next first minister should be put to the public.
Mr Yousaf intends to remain in post until his successor is announced.
Read more:
Who could replace Humza Yousaf?
What happens now following his resignation
SNP stands at a crossroads – what direction will party take?
Former deputy first minister John Swinney and ex-finance secretary Kate Forbes have emerged as potential frontrunners to throw their hat into the ring.
Kate Forbes speaking to journalists earlier this week. Pic: PA
Mr Sarwar pointed to reports that Ms Forbes could struggle to appoint ministers and described Mr Swinney as “the finance secretary that broke the public finances and the worst education secretary in the history of the Scottish parliament”.
Mr Ross, whose party threw its support behind the Scottish Labour motion, was forced to apologise to Mr Swinney after referring to him as “not so honest John” in the Holyrood chamber.
John Swinney at Holyrood on Tuesday. Pic: PA
Mr Ross was first reprimanded for referring to Mr Swinney as “honest John”, but when presiding officer Alison Johnstone reminded him not to use nicknames, he said: “Oh sorry, I thought it was on accuracy because it would be not so honest John with some of the things we’ve heard recently.”
Douglas Ross (pictured) was first reprimanded for referring to Mr Swinney as ‘honest John’. Pic: PA
Apologising, Mr Ross said: “I will apologise. I’m very sorry for any hurt caused.”
The Scottish Tory leader added: “Whether we have a bitter battle or a cosy coronation to elect the next leader of the SNP, they will continue campaigning for independence and the Scottish people will continue to be failed by them.”
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