I strong recommend people look at the report. Unlike many official documents, it is extremely readable, and addresses many important issues. One area in particular in the first hundred or so numbered paragraphs is the nature of the SAGE group and records how its advice differed from the approaches being adopted in Asia and recommended by WHO. The government stressed a lot in the the early days, and is stressing again today, that they followed the scientific advice and this report concurs: there was little to separate the SAGE groups advice from the government's actions. However, as paragraphs 96-102 discuss, despite the difficulties, the government did have the responsibility to challenge the advice, particularly where it differed from the approaches adopted in Asia, which seemed to be successful in bring the disease under control. It notes in paragraph 112 that only one of the participants in SAGE was not from a UK institution.

As I say, worth reading.