Escalating pressure on Scottish ministers for swift, urgent Covid inquiry

Ministers must urgently detail concrete plans for a Scotland-specific public inquiry into the official response to the pandemic or any lessons will be lost, a former head of the Scotland Office warned yesterday.

Ministers, who last week met with families who lost relatives in Scotland’s care homes, are expected to make an announcement within days but Alun Evans, who was secretary to the foot and mouth inquiry in 2001, said any public inquiry must begin soon and be limited to 12 months.

He said: “A full, fair and frank inquiry that gets to the truth, as fast as possible, is essential. We owe it to those who have died and to the friends and families of those who have been bereaved.”

Nicola Sturgeon has promised a Scots inquiry but insists she must know the remit of a UK inquiry announced by Boris Johnson in March before finalising plans. She has come under increasing pressure, however, as critics claim she is hiding behind the Prime Minister to delay scrutiny of her government’s response to the threat of the pandemic and its handling of the crisis.

There is also concern a wide-ranging four-nation inquiry will take years to report, undermining the ability to learn lessons before any future public health emergency. The calls for an urgent and swift inquiry come after ministers faced questions on a range of concerns specific to Scotland, including the failure to protect care homes.

Today, we reveal how some councils have ignored advice to supply air monitors for classrooms despite being given special funding as experts urge pupils and teachers be given every possible protection.

Speaking ahead of an expected announcement, Evans said: “Deciding to hold a public inquiry into the Covid epidemic in Scotland is the easy bit. The inquiry announcement must contain an indicative timetable, including an early opportunity for the bereaved relatives to give evidence and have their say.

“I have always argued that the target timescale to report should be a year from the inquiry starting.

“Some people say that’s not possible, but the Foot & Mouth Disease Lessons Learned Inquiry reported within a year of being announced. So, it can be done, but it will need political will, excellent planning, sufficient inquiry resources and the full cooperation from all parts of the Scottish Government and society.

“The inquiry will only be of value if it can analyse the key events, identify what went wrong and why, and then produce practical recommendations with clear lessons for the future.”

What just happened?

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said: “It is vital that we learn the lessons of the last year and understand what went so catastrophically wrong so that we can do everything possible to stop another tragedy of this scale unfolding again. The SNP’s reluctance to act has been staggering. They have already wasted months hiding behind Boris Johnson and waiting for a UK-wide inquiry – we cannot have any further delay.

“The government must set out a clear timetable for this inquiry so everyone, particularly those who have lost a loved one to Covid, knows when they will get the answers they deserve. If the SNP fail to do this next week it will be a shameful dereliction of duty.”

The calls for a timetable was backed by members of campaign group Covid-19 Bereaved Families For Justice who met Deputy First Minister John Swinney and Health Secretary Humza Yousaf last week.

The group’s lawyer, Aamer Anwar, said an announcement on whether an inquiry will go ahead is imminent. The Scottish Parliament voted for an inquiry last November but ministers have been dragging their feet despite a commitment in the SNP manifesto to take steps to set up a probe within 100 days of forming a new government after the May election.

Alan Wightman, of Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, whose mother, Helen, died of Covid in a Fife care home, said: “This has gone on long enough. Once the announcement is made the pressure comes back on them to set a timetable. That’s what we’ll be pushing for next – give us a timeline.

“We’ve been kept in the dark since March when we met the first minister but we feel like they are listening to us now and they have got us involved, which is good.”

More than 10,000 people have lost their lives to Covid in Scotland and Nicola Sturgeon has previously admitted she made mistakes in her handling of the pandemic, including the transfer to care homes of hundreds of hospital patients, some who had tested positive. Sturgeon said after she was re-elected in May she wanted to wait until details about a UK inquiry were known before announcing a Scottish inquiry but she has since clarified her position to confirm a Scottish inquiry will begin by the end of the year.

Wightman said Swinney confirmed to the group that an announcement will be made on Wednesday, at the latest.

He said: “We can’t prejudge it because we might be disappointed, but they did have a civil servant in the meeting and he introduced himself as the person tasked with gathering information for the terms of reference for the inquiry.

“He was put in there to meet us so that is a good sign. We all came out of the meeting feeling very buoyed but we want to know who they have in mind for the judge position and for the panel of advisors. We want to have confidence that the people they appoint are independent of the government.”

Naomi McAuliffe, Scotland programme director for Amnesty International, organised an open letter to the first minister – signed by 22 civil society organisations – calling on her to set up a separate Scottish inquiry.

She said: “We were pleased to see bereaved families invited to shape the terms of reference this week. Those who have been impacted the most by Covid must be at the centre of the inquiry’s design. The SNP made a very clear manifesto commitment to a Scottish statutory inquiry that takes a human rights-based and person-centred approach.

“We urge ministers to set out a clear timetable for fulfilling this pledge which is not tied to the commencement of a UK inquiry.

“Amnesty has called for an inquiry to be carried out in interim phases, beginning with areas in which decision making was fully devolved to expedite the publication of some findings.”

The Scottish Government said: “The deputy first minister and cabinet secretary for health and social care took part in a very constructive discussion with bereaved families on the issues they feel need to be addressed as part of the Covid inquiry.

“Engagements like this are a vital part of the careful preparations required to ensure that the views of people who have been bereaved by Covid-19 are taken into account so the issues they raise can be resolved.

“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.”

Meanwhile, Scotland has recorded three more coronavirus deaths in the past 24 hours, and the test positivity rate continues to climb.

Figures show the number of new cases recorded is 3,464, a small drop on the previous 24 hours but the third day in a row cases have totalled more than 3,000.

The daily test positivity rate is 10.9%, up from 10.6% the previous day.