Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they took, following the conclusion of Exercise Cygnus, to review the work needed to develop a method for (1) mapping capacity of, and (2) providing strategic national direction to, voluntary resources during a pandemic.

Working across Government and with stakeholders, the lessons from Exercise Cygnus have informed our preparedness, such as development of draft legislation support to the response to a future influenza pandemic, and strengthening health, care and voluntary sector plans to surge and flex beyond normal operations. Learning the lessons from preparedness exercises, as well as other sources of expertise has ensured that the United Kingdom remains well prepared for infectious disease outbreaks.