Publish minutes, including attendance, for SAGE meetings · petition

What the petition asks

The highest standard of openness and accountability should apply to the most important committee during the Covid19 crisis: the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE). We call for minutes of meetings, including a list of attendees, to be published to explain the basis for government policy

The Government Office for Science Code of Practice for Scientific Advisory Committees says that ‘all committees are expected to publish, as a minimum, programmes of work, meeting agendas, minutes, final advice’ and we believe SAGE should adhere to this.
The scientific method requires transparency and openness to challenge. When policy relies heavily on science it is essential in a democracy that citizens can know what the scientific advice was and where political considerations took precedence.

Why it was rejected

The UK Government or Parliament was already taking the action it asked for.

The Government Office for Science has published the minutes from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) meetings up until the beginning of May: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-publishes-sage-minutes

We have published the following petition, which you also might like to sign:

Release unredacted minutes of SAGE group meetings: Release unredacted minutes of SAGE group meetings

You can find out more about coronavirus and how you can protect yourself and others here:

www.gov.uk/coronavirus
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

The Government has also created an online service to help you find out what you can do if you’re struggling because of coronavirus: https://www.gov.uk/find-coronavirus-support

You can read NHS tips to help if you are worried about coronavirus here: https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/coronavirus-covid-19-anxiety-tips

You can read impartial analysis of the Government response to coronavirus and policy developments here: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/coronavirus/

You may also be interested to know that because of the large number of petitions that have been started in relation to coronavirus, the Petitions Committee has been questioning the Government about its response to the coronavirus outbreak.

Find out more: https://committees.parliament.uk/work/192/the-governments-response-to-coronavirus/

Timeline

25 Apr 2020	Petition opened for signatures
5 Jun 2020	Rejected by the Petitions Committee