PRESS RELEASE – 28 AUGUST 2023 – SCB PRESS STATEMENT FOLLOWING THE SCOTTISH COVID-19 PUBLIC INQUIRY PRELIMINARY HEARING

PRESS RELEASE – 28 AUGUST 2023

Statement on behalf of Scottish Covid Bereaved at Press Conference Following the Scottish Covid-19 Inquiry Preliminary Hearing at Murrayfield, Edinburgh

Statement on behalf of the Scottish Covid Bereaved by Lead Solicitor Aamer Anwar

“The public are rightly looking for answers and no more so than the loved ones of the nearly 16,450 people in Scotland who died during this pandemic.

Each of those deaths not only represents an individual tragedy, but has affected the friends and family, the loved ones, of each of those who died.

Our politicians stand accused of presiding over a carousel of chaos and those who lost loved ones refuse to be invisible in their misery, they believed this Inquiry would illuminate the truth.

Over the last year, this Inquiry has spent nearly £8 million, so the very least the families were entitled to expect was a gold plated, robust and fearless inquiry, no different to the UK Inquiry,

Sadly, so far, the experience of the bereaved has been a shambolic, third-rate inquiry, that looks incapable of delivering the truth and accountability.

The Inquiry claims it is human rights based, but fails to give the bereaved precise dates of hearings of when they will be called, where we also have dates that clash with critical Module 2 hearings at the UK Inquiry in 2023, that deal with decision making by the UK Government which of course impacts on Scotland.

It would appear that politicians, civil servants and public bodies are off the hook until 2025. 

If the Scottish inquiry continues in this manner, the bereaved have little confidence that it will hold any Government, public body, or civil servant to account for the death of thousands from Covid-19 in Scotland.

As of today, I understand that no Core Participants have received any disclosure of evidence. For comparison, we received disclosure from the UK Inquiry almost six months in advance of the hearings so we could be ready.

We were disclosed a total of 35,370 documents – totalling around 385,436 pages, however when it comes to the Scotland Inquiry, we have to date received one report totalling 127 pages.

It is unbelievable that the Inquiry hearing premises at Waverley Gate, will not be ready until Summer 2024, despite the Inquiry being established in December 2021.

It is unbelievable that this Inquiry still has no permanent solicitor to the Inquiry. The lack of continuity gives cause for legitimate concerns that the Inquiry is not ready for the task ahead.

So far, the Inquiry has failed to respond to our FOI seeking clarification on breakdown of costs of how to date nearly £8 million has been spent by this Inquiry.

At £13 million, the Tram Inquiry is regularly cited as costing more than the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq War, but this Scottish Covid Inquiry is on track for beating that record.

In conclusion, the Scottish Covid Bereaved whom we represent fought very hard to secure a robust and fearless “Scottish” Inquiry, but they refuse to give up.”