The UK Covid Inquiry begins its three-week stint at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre, where it will investigate the Scottish Government’s decision-making during the pandemic.
The Scottish Covid Inquiry kicked off as senior civil servants are grilled on topics ranging from Scottish decision-making practices to issues surrounding care homes and the “deleting” of WhatsApp messages.
This follows ongoing modules examining the UK-wide preparedness and decision-making in Westminster.
Day 1
The Inquiry began on Tuesday, 16 January, with a short film featuring those impacted by the pandemic in Scotland. In his opening statement, the Lead Council to the Inquiry, Jamie Dawson KC, reflected on the film, saying:
“[T]he themes which emerge, the tragedy, the heartache, the loss and destruction of life, the Inquiry must do what it can to see that in future all that can be done will be done to avoid this happening again.”
The Scottish Government’s opening statement acknowledged the “legitimate questions” around strategic decisions.
Day 2
The Inquiry heard from Jane Morrison, the lead member of Scottish Covid Bereaved, who lost her wife to Covid-19 in 2020.
She criticised the implementation of shielding in hospitals and the decision to discharge patients into care homes without testing at the start of the pandemic.
The Scottish Trades Union Congress’ General Secretary, Rozanne Foyer, described “intense and constructive” engagement with the Government, Inclusion Scotland’s Co-convener Dr Jim Elder-Woodward said that disabled people felt isolated and left behind.
Day 3
Professor Paul Cairney, who specialises in UK and Scottish Government policy processes at the University of Stirling, said that Scottish Government documents “talk much more about learning than they demonstrate learning feeding into action.”
Cairney also suggested that “blurry” boundaries between the UK and Scottish Governments’ responsibilities – particularly in matters reserved to Westminster – complicated decision-making.
For instance, he explained that Holyrood’s lack of borrowing powers meant “it didn’t feel able financially to fund its own furlough.”
Read More: As the Covid class of 2024 are nearing graduation, what does this mean for their futures?: UK COVID Inquiry: Key moments from Week 1Donald Macaskill, the Chief Executive of Scottish Care, spoke to the Inquiry about the challenges faced by the social care sector.
He criticised Public Health Scotland for a lack of engagement and described the pressure felt by care homes to accept patients discharged from hospital without a test:
“The emphasis on “Protect the NHS” everywhere you saw made social care staff feel and certainly providers of care home and home care feel as if “Here we go again, we’re of less significance and of less value.”
Day 4
On Friday, the Inquiry was shown a table provided by the Government summarising the messages and documents retained by senior ministers.
It suggested that Former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s WhatsApp messages were “deleted in routine tidying up of inboxes or [changes] of phones.”
The Government’s Director General Corporate, Lesley Fraser, explained that civil servants, not ministers, transfer information to the records system.
She said Sturgeon would have ensured “her views and instructions were clearly understood.”
Kenneth Thomson, the former Director-General Constitution and External Affairs, also gave evidence.
The Inquiry was shown a WhatsApp exchange from August 2020 in which Thomson reminded the participants that “this is discoverable under FOI” and said: “Plausible deniability are my middle names. Now clear it again!”
He replied that a personal disclosure had likely been made and that he was “bantering back” to another colleague.
Jamie Dawson KC replied that a personal discussion “wouldn’t be recoverable by FOI, would it?”
Thomson also said that a lack of trust between Sturgeon and Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson played a role in England and Scotland’s diverging approaches to the pandemic.
He used the decision to follow England’s three-tier restriction system as an example.
Read More: Covid-19: Will we ever see the end?: UK COVID Inquiry: Key moments from Week 1What’s Next:
The Inquiry will be in the Scottish capital until 1 February. Ministerial Evidence will begin on Thursday, 25 January, when Alister Jack, the Secretary of State for Scotland, and First Minister Humza Yousef will give evidence.
Nicola Sturgeon is expected to give evidence during the final week but has already released a statement on X regarding her retention of messages. She said that:
“Although [the messages] had not been retained on my own device, I was able to obtain copies which I submitted to the Inquiry last year.
“Throughout the entire process, I acted in line with Scottish Government policy.”
“£5m more to support NHS winter plans” by Scottish Government is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.
“Taking action on disability” by Scottish Government is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.
“COVID-19 press conference – 17 December 2021” by Scottish Government is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
“COVID-19 press conference – 10 December 2021” by Scottish Government is licensed under CC BY 2.0.