Scottish Covid inquiry to hear from ministers as hearings schedule slips to 2027

The chairman of the Scottish Covid-19 Inquiry has said ministers from during the pandemic and their aides will be called to give evidence, while the timeline for hearings is likely to slip into 2027.

Lord Brailsford on Tuesday issued an update on the next steps for the inquiry, which is investigating the response of the Scottish Government to the Covid-19 pandemic.

During the online hearing, he did not specify which ministers would be called to give evidence.

He noted there had been “deeply personal and distressing” oral evidence in earlier hearings.

Lord Brailsford, who took over as chairman in October 2022, said he would hear from organisations responsible for implementing decisions around the pandemic during inquiry sessions planned for October 2026.

The inquiry will then turn to “the decision-makers themselves”, he said.

Lord Brailsford said: “Structuring the inquiry in this way means that the inquiry can ensure that it has at its full disposal all available evidence, before hearing from the senior Government officials and elected ministers who were responsible for taking the decisions on how best to respond to the pandemic.”

He said the inquiry is also likely to hear from senior advisers to Scottish ministers.

Lord Brailsford said: “I indicated in June 2025, at the end of the impact hearings, that the inquiry would start and conclude its remaining hearings in 2026.

“I regret to advise that that will not be possible.

“I will provide an update on the decision-making hearings at the conclusion of the hearings in October this year.”

Nicola Sturgeon, who was first minister during the pandemic, gave evidence to the UK Covid Inquiry in January 2024.

The Scottish Covid Bereaved (SCB) group issued a statement through their solicitor Aamer Anwar, criticising the new timeline for the hearings.

They said: “The chair advised that evidence hearings of the key decision makers in the Scottish Government, NHS and care homes sector will now be delayed until 2027, over seven years after the pandemic began.

“We appear to be in a parallel universe, where in our criminal courts we are told delays, problems with witness memories, people moving on and the loss of records can all effect the quality of the evidence, yet this inquiry seems to be moving at a glacial pace to deliver accountability.

“Scotland is a small jurisdiction and this inquiry should have been finished by now. It has been disrespectful to and traumatising for the bereaved to watch as this inquiry on so many occasions teetered on the edge of a cliff with shambolic starts and delays.”

One of the group’s members, Margaret Wateton, said: “We have waited for months to understand what Lord Brailsford and SCI (the inquiry) intended by way of hearing schedules and the focus of the hearings.

“All members of SCB fully expected that Lord Brailsford and SCI would have called the elected members of the Scottish Government during the Covid-19 pandemic to give an evidential account of their decision making, that is unlikely to happen if at all until 2027.”