Report of the Independent Commission on UK Public Health Emergency Powers

The Independent Commission on UK Public Health Emergency Powers was established in October 2022 and is chaired by the Rt. Hon. Sir Jack Beatson FBA, formerly a member of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, who has worked alongside 12 Commissioners with backgrounds in law, public health and other areas of parliamentary governance and public policy. The Commission was supported by a research team from the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law which served as its secretariat. It considered both written and oral evidence, and comments on its preliminary findings, from 82 individuals and organisations across the UK and in 10 other jurisdictions

The report makes 44 recommendations to enable the four nations in the UK to better protect the rule of law and good governance in future public health emergencies, while acting quickly to secure timely and effective public health outcomes. The recommendations focus on the design of primary and secondary legislation (including the protection of human rights), the enhancement of parliamentary procedures, improvement of legal certainty, and the appropriateness of enforcement action. Findings have been shared with both the UK and Scottish public inquiries into Covid-19, and with senior health officials in each of the four nations.