Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant the Answer of 4 May 2020 to Question 41129, whether actions, implementation and follow-up plans were developed after Exercise Cygnus; and whether those plans were directly provided to the care sector.

The lessons learned from Exercise Cygnus continue to be considered by the Government and a range of stakeholders, including expert advisory groups and local emergency planners in reviewing response plans.

Taking the recommendations from Exercise Cygnus, the Department commissioned further work on pandemic influenza preparedness from the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services. This was completed in the spring of 2018 and included advice and guidance on planning for a pandemic, which was circulated to Directors of Adult Social Services.