Hearing structure and sequence
The Scottish COVID-19 Inquiry has adopted a thematic approach to its investigations and hearings, giving priority to evidence from people most impacted by the pandemic in Scotland, including bereaved relatives, children and young people, healthcare workers and business owners.
This approach seeks to bring the experiences of people in Scotland to the forefront of our investigations, ensuring the human impact of the pandemic is captured.
The three themes are:
- health and social care;
- education and young people; and
- finance, business and welfare.
The Inquiry will first look at the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic across all of these themes, before moving to examining the implementation of measures, and finally, key-decision making.
More information about which Terms of Reference will be covered in each theme will be made available as investigations progress and engagement with core participants and other interested parties continue.
Since the themes the Inquiry is investigating are interdependent, there will be areas of overlap. The Inquiry will adopt a flexible approach to ensure that evidence which straddles more than one theme will be considered across all relevant themes.
The evidence gathered at public hearings will inform the Inquiry’s ongoing work across its themes, the issues examined at future hearings, and its reports.
The first tranche of impact hearings focus on health and social care and began on 24 October 2023. These hearings paused in January 2024 while the UK Covid-19 Inquiry conducted its Module 2(A) Scotland hearings.
The Scottish COVID-19 Inquiry will recommence its hearings in March 2024.