A GRASSROOTS public hearing is to be held into the Scottish Government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, days after it said an inquiry date was “imminent”.
The event, which is being held online, will hear from a range of speakers including trade union officials, Covid survivors, health workers and supporters of zero Covid – the point at which Covid-19 has been driven down as close as possible to zero by using strict control measures. Graham Checkley, one of the organisers of the Real Covid – Let the People Speak, said the public inquiry was taking too long, and “moving at glacial speed”.
Public health expert Professor Andrew Watterson said: “Already the Scottish Government has established an expert advisory group to look at post-pandemic planning.
"This is welcome and of course can be done far more quickly than an independent judge-led inquiry, but in many respects you need the results of a Covid inquiry to be made available before you can work out post-pandemic plans for future pandemics and epidemics. So, in a way part of the cart has already come before the horse.
"I would hope the concerns being voiced by a range of groups, MSPs, families of those in care homes who died, TUs [trade unions] and NGOs [non-governmental organisations] about the delays in establishing the Covid inquiry and the announcement of the zero Covid public hearings in early September will speed up a Scottish Government response.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We have been clear that we will set out the steps that we’re taking to establish a Covid inquiry as part of our 100 days commitments that will begin its work by the end of this year, and will set out further details shortly.
“Following the UK Government’s decision to follow us in committing to a public inquiry, we have been considering how the remit of a UK-wide inquiry might cover issues relevant to Scotland. When we have a greater sense of that remit, we will make a judgment on the extent to which [that] will cover Scottish-specific issues.”
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