Inquiry opens applications to attend August preliminary hearing

The Scottish COVID-19 Inquiry is inviting requests to attend its preliminary hearing on 28 and 29 August in the Thistle Suite at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh.  

The preliminary hearing is an opportunity for the Inquiry to explain how it will go about its work, and will lead to the first set of substantive hearings, set to begin in late October 2023. These hearings, starting later in the year, will focus on the impacts of the COVID-19 response, and of the pandemic itself, on the people of Scotland.  

The Inquiry has divided its investigation into three themes: health and social care; education and young people; and business, finance and welfare.  

The preliminary hearing and substantive hearings in October will focus on the health and social care impacts of COVID-19, with the impact hearings for the other themes to follow in later months.  

The preliminary hearing is designed to share with core participants, and the wider public, how Lord Brailsford, Chair to the Scottish COVID-19 Inquiry, intends to run future substantive hearings.  

If you are interested in attending the preliminary hearing, which will start at 10am on both 28 and 29  August, please email contact@covid19inquiry.scot by 5pm on Monday 14 August with the following information:  

• which date, or dates, you would like to attend; 
• your first name and last name;
• whether you are a member of a core participant group; and
• any accessibility requirements.  

On 16 August, the Inquiry will advise all those who have requested a place at the preliminary hearing of the outcome of their requests.  

Please note, the preliminary hearing will be livestreamed on YouTube and on the Inquiry’s website on both days, with a transcription available after the event. 

Let’s Be Heard, the Inquiry’s public participation project, is inviting people who were impacted by decisions made in Scotland between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2022 to share their experiences of the pandemic, and any lessons they believe should be learned. This is the main channel in which the public will be able to engage with the Inquiry and help inform its reports.