Cabinet Office written statement – made at on 28 November 2024.
Pat McFadden
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Minister for Intergovernmental Relations
The Covid-19 pandemic impacted each and every person in the UK. The work of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry is crucial in examining the UK’s response to and impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. There are evidently lessons to be learnt from the pandemic and the government is committed to closely considering the Covid-19 Inquiry’s findings and recommendations, which will play a key role in informing the government’s planning and preparations for the future.
The Government recognises the unprecedented and wholly exceptional circumstances of the pandemic, and the importance of examining as rigorously as possible the actions the state took in response, in order to learn lessons for the future. The Inquiry is therefore unprecedented in its scope, complexity and profile, looking at recent events that have profoundly impacted everyone’s lives.
The independent UK COVID-19 Inquiry publishes its own running costs quarterly. Following the publication of the Inquiry’s Financial Report for Quarter 2 2024-25 on 24 October 2024, I would like to update colleagues on the costs to the UK Government associated with responding to the UK COVID-19 Inquiry.
Figures provided are based upon a selection of the most relevant departments and are not based on a complete set of departmental figures and are not precise for accounting purposes. Ensuring a comprehensive and timely response to the Inquiry requires significant input from a number of key government departments, including, but not limited to, the Cabinet Office, the Department for Health and Social Care, the UK Health Security Agency, the Home Office and HM Treasury, many of which are supported by the Government Legal Department. While every effort has been made to ensure a robust methodology, complexities remain in trying to quantify the time and costs dedicated to the Inquiry alone.
It should be noted that alongside full time resource within departments, Inquiry response teams draw on expertise from across their organisations. The staff costs associated with appearing as witnesses, preparing witnesses and associated policy development work on the UK Covid Inquiry are not included in the costs below.
Breakdown of Staff & Costs
The government’s response to the UK COVID-19 Inquiry is led by Inquiry Response Units across departments.
Quarter 1 | Quarter 2 | Cumulative Total | |
Cost of UK COVID-19 Inquiry Response Unit staff (including contingent labour costs) | £5,049,000 | £5,303,000 | £10,352,000 |
Number of UK COVID-19 Inquiry Response Unit staff (Full Time Equivalents) | 280 | 284 | N/A |
Total Inquiry Response Unit Legal Costs
Inquiry Response Units across government departments are supported by the Government Legal Department, co-partnering firms of solicitors, and legal counsel. These associated legal costs (excluding internal departmental advisory legal costs) for Q2 are below.
Quarter 1 | Quarter 2 | Cumulative Total | |
Total legal costs | £4,236,000 | £5,818,000 | £10,054,000 |
The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.
The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.
