Our work on the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated that there are important lessons to be learnt to improve government’s ability to respond to future emergencies and its business-as-usual service delivery. In 2021, as part of our Initial lessons from the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic inquiry, we highlighted the importance of being clear about risk appetite and risk tolerance, particularly as government was having to make decisions quickly at the s...

Our work on the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated that there are important lessons to be learnt to improve government’s ability to respond to future emergencies and its business-as-usual service delivery. In 2021, as part of our Initial lessons from the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic inquiry, we highlighted the importance of being clear about risk appetite and risk tolerance, particularly as government was having to make decisions quickly at the start of the pandemic.77 Similarly, in our 2020 report COVID-19: Bounce Back Loan Scheme we found that the Treasury, the Bank and the Department prioritis Type: conclusion | Number: 26 | Response status: not_addressed Government response: 7.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Summer 2022 7.2 The government is committed to building on the experience of the COVID-19 loan schemes, which were designed and delivered in the response to extraordinary e