Whose Science Did Government Follow? The Organisation of Scientific Advice to the UK Government in the First Wave of the COVID-19 Response

The UK Government’s claim to be following the science in its response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been disputed. However, the UK has a highly structured approach to the provision of scientific advice in an emergency, though during the first phase of the response to COVID-19 this faced severe challenges. The Government’s normative model of organising scientific advice is analysed and an emergency scientific advisory system is presented. This provides an empirically derived and theoretically informed framework to understand the provision of advice to decision-makers during the first stages of the pandemic in 2020. Two case studies about the diversity of actors who provide advice and the evolution of the rules on social distance show the complex organisation of advice-giving work. Three theoretical lenses provide insight into the role of advice in influencing the response—complex adaptive system, dramaturgical and neo-institutional theories. Finally, lessons for the future organisation of scientific advice are presented.