Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies

The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) is a British Government body that advises central government in emergencies. It is usually chaired by the United Kingdom's Chief Scientific Adviser. Specialists from academia and industry, along with experts from within government, make up the participation, which will vary depending on the emergency. SAGE gained public prominence for its role in the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. History In the aftermath of the United Kingdom BSE outbreak, "the then Government Chief Scientific Adviser (Lord May) published Guidelines on the Use of Scientific Advice in Policy-Making; these have subsequently been revised, most recently in June 2010... The Government [later] developed the Principles of Scientific Advice to Government, which 'set out the rules of engagement between Government and those who provide independent scientific and engineering advice.' The Principles apply to 'Ministers and Government departments, all members of Scientific Advisory Committees and Councils [...] and other independent scientific and engineering advice to Government.' They detail principles related to roles and responsibilities, independence and transparency and openness." The May advice was updated in May 2011 in a document entitled Code of Practice for Scientific Advisory Committees (CoPSAC 2011). "In an emergency where scientific or technical advice is required to aid the emergency response, the Government may decide that a" SAGE "is required; this decision can either be made by the Lead Government Department (LGD) or the Cabinet Office in consultation with the Government Office for Science. SAGE is usually chaired by the Government Chief Scientific Adviser... Each SAGE is emergency-specific. The swine flu pandemic was the first emergency where the SAGE mechanism was used; volcanic ash was the second." SAGE has advised the government on a number of events, including: the 2009 flu pandemic the 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident the 2013–14 United Kingdom winter floods (3 meetings) the 2014 Ebola outbreak (3 meetings) the 2015 Nepal earthquake (1 meeting) the 2015–16 Zika virus epidemic (5 meetings) the 2018-9 Ebola outbreak (3 meetings) the potential catastrophic breach of Toddbrook Reservoir in 2019 (1 meeting) the COVID-19 pandemic (at least 105 meetings)