Is the UK’s Biological Security Strategy fit for purpose?
On 3 February, The Select Committee on Risk Assessment and Risk Planning will hear from experts on The UK’s Biological Security Strategy, which identifies four main biological risks to the UK: a major health crisis (such as pandemic influenza); antimicrobial resistance; a deliberate biological attack by state or nonstate actors (including terrorists); and animal and plant diseases, which themselves can pose risks to human health.
Meeting details
At 10:30am: Oral evidence
Inquiry
Risk Assessment and Risk Planning
Acting Co-Lead at Biosecurity Team University of Oxford
Senior Research Associate at Biosecurity Research Initiative at St Catharine's (BioRISC), University of Cambridge
Associate Professor at St Mary's University
Possible questions include:
- Is the UK’s Biological Security Strategy, published in 2018, still fit for purpose?
- How does the UK avoid ‘fighting the last war’ in understanding and implementing lessons learned from the current pandemic?
- How effective is the UK’s monitoring and management of dual-use biotechnologies?
- Does the UK’s biosecurity strategy adequately account for the risk from animal to human disease transfer?
- How effective is the UK’s current domestic legislative and regulatory framework in mitigating against biosecurity risks?