Chief Executive's Update – July 2024
The Inquiry is now shifting its focus to investigating the impacts of the pandemic for education and certification, followed by business and welfare. We will start our next set of hearings on 4 November 2024 and continue until 20 December 2024. For those core participants wishing to request leave to appear at our education and certification impact hearings, applications are now open and can be found on our website.
Let's Be Heard
Let’s Be Heard, the Inquiry’s participation project, continues to gather personal experiences from individuals and families impacted by the pandemic in Scotland. The Inquiry wants to hear from a diverse range of people, from all parts of Scotland, including rural areas. Therefore, the Let’s Be Heard team is now focusing its outreach and engagement on those communities which have been hard to reach, have faced unequal impacts, or remain underrepresented in the responses we have received so far. This includes business owners, minority ethnic and religious groups, children and young people, and those living in rural and island communities.
Hearings and investigations
The Inquiry recently moved into its permanent home at Waverley Gate. As well as providing office space for our staff, the Inquiry now has its own dedicated hearings suite. This new hearing suite has been designed in a trauma-informed way, providing core participants and witnesses with the space and comfort they need to be able to contribute to the Inquiry’s work with dignity.
When we are not in hearings, the Inquiry’s investigative work continues. This includes collecting evidence from public bodies and analysing academic research which has been commissioned by the Inquiry. We will continue to publish that research on our website.
Next few months
Over the next few months, the Inquiry will continue to develop plans for its future work. In 2025, we will investigate the impact of the public sector response to the pandemic in Scotland, including in the justice and policing sectors. The Inquiry will then move on from examining the impacts of the pandemic in Scotland, to assessing the implementation of policies and the strategic decision-making that underpinned them.
Our thanks to all those who have contributed, and continue to contribute, to the Inquiry’s work.