‘Partial’ list of SAGE membership WILL be published

A ‘partial’ membership list for the key science group advising the government will be released imminently after criticism over secrecy.

There has been a backlash over the lack of transparency about the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) – fueled when it emerged No10 chief Dominic Cummings has attended some of the meetings.

Chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance revealed this morning that a list will be issued ‘shortly’.

However, he insisted only the experts who are ‘happy to have their names published’ will be included.

Calls for transparency over SAGE’s membership peaked when it emerged that Mr Cummings, Boris Johnson’s most senior aide, had been present during key discussions.

Sir Patrick told a briefing for science journalists this morning that the identities of the experts are usually revealed after an emergency is over.

However, he added: ‘But I believe that we should be more prepared to publish names sooner, and intend to do so shortly.

‘So we will be publishing names of those that are happy to have their names published.’

He added that the group would also be releasing a list of the documents, and eventually the documents themselves, that have fed into Sage meetings.

Downing Street said: ‘It’s right that only the names of those who wish to disclose their participation will be published.

‘This is to safeguard the personal security for the individuals and to protect them from lobbying which may hinder their ability to give impartial advice.’ 

Senior Tory MPs joined Labour in calling for more openness on the committee’s membership after the revelation of the presence of Mr Cummings and Ben Warner, a data scientist who worked with him during the Brexit campaign.

Sir Patrick, who chairs Sage, has previously argued that the decision not to disclose its membership was based on advice from the Centre for Protection of National Infrastructure, which warned of lobbying.

After three weeks off sick with Covid-19, Boris Johnson pledged to be ‘transparent’ in a speech in Downing Street today.

The PM said he was not yet in a position to say when or how the measures would be relaxed when he gave his first speech after three weeks off with coronavirus.

But he said the Government would be sharing more on this ‘in the coming days’ as the nation enters its sixth week of lockdown.

Amid fears over how long the public can continue with the struggle to adhere to the measures, Mr Johnson warned that the fight against Covid-19 is now at the point of ‘maximum risk’.

But he said the UK is ‘coming now to the end of the first phase of this conflict’ as he prepares to refine the ‘economic and social restrictions’ while ensuring the disease does not rapidly spread.

‘We simply cannot spell out now how fast or slow or even when those changes will be made, though clearly the Government will be saying much more about this in the coming days,’ he said.

‘And I want to serve notice now that these decisions will be taken with the maximum possible transparency.

‘And I want to share all our working and our thinking, my thinking, with you, the British people.’

He promised to build ‘the biggest possible consensus’ by ‘bringing in opposition parties as far as we possibly can’.

Mr Johnson acknowledged that the ‘R’ value – the transmission rate of coronavirus – should be kept below one, meaning that on average anyone infected passes it on to fewer than one other person.

But he must decide how restrictions can be eased while maintaining this – perhaps by allowing certain sectors to resume their roles and allowing limited social interactions while ensuring effective testing.

So far, more than 20,000 people have died with the disease in hospitals, but the true death toll is likely to be far higher when care homes and other settings are accounted for.

Transparency over Mr Johnson’s decision will allow the public to understand and abide by the changing rules, and give dormant businesses the ability to plan for a return to action.