Report Summary
Issued 29 July 2026, this FOI response relates to the Operation Talla Information Collation, Assurance and Liaison (OpTICAL) Group. Partial disclosure - some information not held.
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Request
Your request for information dated 3 July 2026 is copied below.
Question: Please list all members of the Operation Talla Information Collation, Assurance and Liaison (OpTICAL) Group and provide me with minutes of all OpTICAL group meetings including who was in attendance at each meeting?
In the transcript of Susan McVie’s oral evidence given to the UK COVID-19 INQUIRY she describes the OpTICAL group as “it was essentially a group that was providing us with data, information or any intelligence that we needed in terms of our work.”
https://ukcovid19inquiry.dracos.co.uk/module-2A/2024-01-24/#professor-susan-mcvie
Question: What intelligence did the OpTICAL group provide to the Independence Advisory Group (IAG)?
In FOI Ref 2026/27-013 in a letter dated 6 May 2022 sent from IAG to Martyn Evans (on p120) it says referring to the OpTICAL group “It served to support Divisional Commanders in their operational approach by providing analysis and strategic oversight of information, intelligence and data.”
Question: Please explain how the OpTIMAL group provided analysis and strategic oversight of intelligence to support Divisional Commanders?
