Coronavirus: Cobra and Sage committees sidelined, says Matt Hancock
The government’s crisis committees Cobra and Sage are no longer leading the UK’s coronavirus response, according to health secretary Matt Hancock.
Hancock told a parliamentary committee today that new coronavirus committees have been set up across government, with the new Joint Biosecurity Centre taking charge on major decisions.
Sage (the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies) is made up of dozens of top UK scientists and was used as the government’s most important source of independent information and advice for the first few months of the crisis.
However, it appears it has now been benched in favour of two new committees and the Joint Biosecurity Centre.
It is not clear who runs the new centre or if they are providing independent advice.
Speaking to Westminster’s Science and Technology Committee, Hancock said: “The decision-making for coronavirus that’s in place is that there’s a Covid-O, which takes the operational decisions and meets two or three times a week, and then that reports into Covid-S, which takes the strategic decisions and is chaired by the Prime Minister, and that works effectively.
“Sage, remember, is the Scientific Advisory Group on Emergencies – it’s not a body that is just there for coronavirus or, indeed, for communicable diseases and epidemics and pandemics.
“As we build our capability to deal with epidemics on a grand scale we are building the capability together in one place under the [Joint Biosecurity Centre].”
Cobra is Downing Street’s committee that is called for national crises and met regularly at the start of the pandemic.
However, the health secretary today could not even name the last time a Cobra meeting took place when asked.
Hancock’s revelations come just a week after Boris Johnson said there would be an independent inquiry into the UK’s response to the coronavirus.
This was the first time the government had conceded a probe would take place.
Just a day later, chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance – who has helped lead the UK’s battle against the virus – said the outcome of the government’s response had not been good.
Hancock said today that “hindsight was a wonderful thing”.
“We took the best decisions we could, with the information we had at the time,” he said.