What UK Health Security Agency does
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is the United Kingdom’s executive health-protection and health-security agency, sponsored by the UK Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). UKHSA’s core mission is to prepare for and respond to infectious diseases and environmental hazards, providing scientific and operational leadership to protect people’s health and build national health-security capability. It operates nationally and in partnership with local authorities, the NHS, and other governmental and international partners, reflecting that much of health protection is delivered through a networked, multi-organisational system.
UKHSA is led by a Chief Executive and a governance structure that includes an Advisory Board chaired by Ian Peters and an Executive Committee. The agency integrates “clinical/public health” expertise (including a professional health leadership function) with laboratory, surveillance, data, and operational response capabilities. It also publishes and updates health-security risk and threat assessments, including a Health Security Risk Assessment (HSRA) designed to provide a structured comparison of health security risks over a multi-year horizon.
Strategically, UKHSA is also managing a substantial “campus” and facilities programme that includes planned consolidation/redevelopment of high-containment and other key scientific and corporate functions. UKHSA’s public reporting and communications show an emphasis on modern surveillance approaches (including data-driven and laboratory-linked methods) and on translating risk assessment into practical preparedness and response planning.
As of late September 2026, UKHSA continues to operate across live public-health incident work (for example, outbreak investigations and routine health alerts), while also progressing longer-horizon preparedness outputs such as the Health Security Risk Assessment and related risk and resilience planning.