Meeting of the Parliament 31 January 2024
The Covid-19 pandemic touched every life in Scotland. Throughout it, the Scottish Government’s absolute priority was always to keep the people of this country safe.
The threat that was posed by a novel virus, whose long-term effects we are still working on trying to fully understand, wrought a fear around the world. Through constituents’ experiences or, indeed, our personal experiences—I know that many people in the chamber have been personally affected—we know about the pain of the loss of loved ones during the Covid-19 pandemic. I put on record my condolences to all those affected.
Loss was, of course, made harder in the early days of the pandemic by the necessity of distancing to help to reduce the spread of the virus. That sacrifice compounded the pain of grief, and I will never be fully able to express my gratitude to people for that sacrifice. Those simple acts of following the rules, despite the absolutely human desire for connection and solace, were, for me, the unspoken acts of heroism of the pandemic, as were, of course, the efforts of those who worked on the front line day in, day out to look after us and keep us safe.
Those in Government here and in London, Cardiff and Stormont and across the world were faced with a fast-moving threat that they had to respond to quickly. To do so, those tasked with taking decisions were, of course, supported by civil servants, scientific advisers and clinical advisers. I place on record my thanks to those staff across the whole of the UK, who did their very best in the most challenging of times.
The Scottish Government was clear throughout the pandemic that our response would not be perfect, that mistakes would be made, and that we hoped that lessons would be learned for the future. The necessity that lessons are learned in case we face a new disease in the future is why we commissioned a judge-led inquiry in Scotland—indeed, Scotland is the only part of the UK with a dedicated national inquiry. That necessity is also why we are participating fully with the UK Covid inquiry. We must learn from our shared experiences and improve together. That is exactly what we hope that the two independent, judge-led inquiries will enable us to do.