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 ensure the UK is prepared for future pandemics.

The 2011 ‘UK Influenza Preparedness Strategy’ contains objectives for coordinating a national response to an influenza pandemic, which has been assessed as and remains the greatest natural hazard risk on the National Risk Register of Civil Emergencies. We continually review these plans will be incorporating lessons learned from COVID-19 to ensure our preparedness plans remain robust. The Government also established the UK Health Security Agency in April 2021 to protect the country from future health threats.