Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve surveillance and reporting systems for future viruses.

We are working to strengthen global surveillance through a range of initiatives. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is conducting a discovery phase for the National Biosurveillance Network to understand the capabilities across Government, where the gaps are, and how we fill them to improve existing biosurveillance.

UKHSA continues to deploy genomic sequencing capability around the world through our New Variant Assessment Platform, alongside participating in global initiatives such as the International Pathogen Surveillance Network. UKHSA also continues to scope and explore the development of wastewater surveillance.