Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Joint Biosecurity Centre will be subject to oversight by the Intelligence and Security Committee.

The Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC) is not subject to oversight by the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC). The Justice and Security Act 2013 states that the ISC has the remit to oversee ‘the work of the Agencies and of those parts of Departments whose work is directly concerned with intelligence and security matters’. The JBC’s purpose is to collate data science, assessment and public health expertise and provide analysis and insight on the status of the COVID-19 epidemic in the United Kingdom.