Robert Cuffe
Head of statistics

Image source, Getty Images

As the UK Covid inquiry turns its attention to Scotland's Covid statistics, what do they tell us about how many people died in different countries?

Our best analysis of Covid deaths over the whole pandemic suggests that Scotland and England were very similar.

The two nations looked quite different in the first year - but the gap closed in the second year.

Between the start of 2020 and July 2022, death rates in England were 3.2% higher than in the years leading up to the pandemic.

Scotland was a little better off, with death rates 3% above expected levels.

Image source, bbc

These figures come from an analysis of figures from across Europe performed by the Office for National Statistics, which compared death rates during the pandemic with those in the five years before it.

While 3% might sound like a small number, it would translate to more than 150,000 deaths across the UK.

Read more from Robert here.

Mr Heald explains the Scottish government produced the headline national figures, while Public Health Scotland produced the dashboard that got to the granular local level.

Roger Halliday turns to SGoRR (the Scottish government resilence room) and the daily information it required.

There had to be a clear data set for the government to make decisions, says Mr Halliday.

The government's four harms strategy also gets a mention, so here's a quick reminder of what they are:

1. Direct Covid health harms
2. Broader health harms, primarily the impact on the NHS and social care services
3. Social harms to the wider society, like harms to the educational attainment
4. Economic harms

Two of the most senior public statistical experts during the pandemic are now jointly giving evidence.

Roger Halliday, the former chief statistician and joint head of Covid modelling and analysis with the Scottish government, is joined by Scott Heald, the director for data and digital innovation at Public Health Scotland.

Mr Halliday tells the inquiry the data around infections, hospitalisations and deaths was used to inform the public and changed during the pandemic.

The amount of data collated and published developed during the pandemic, he says.

Mr Heald agrees and reflects the data held and published changed over the course of the pandemic, for example about vaccinations and the Test and Protect system.

"We adapted what we published as the pandemic progressed," he adds.

Dr Elder-Woodward concludes by saying: "People felt the were not wanted during the pandemic."

The Inclusion Scotland co-convener says the "leave no-one behind" motto should also be true for society, as it is for the army.

Lady Hallett says she is sorry to hear some of what Dr Elder-Woodward had to say and she thanks him for giving his evidence.

The issue of face masks and being able to lip-read is highlighted next.

Dr Elder-Woodward also agrees that disabled people feared others were not following the rules during the pandemic.

He says engagement with the Scottish government reduced at the start of the pandemic and issues persist to this day.

There were also concerns about the resources required to support disabled people.

The Scottish government should have turned more quickly to Inclusion Scotland for advice and the charity gave it ample information, he adds.

The government missed the opportunity to engage fully with disabed people via Inclusion Scotland, he says.

Dr Jim Elder-Woodward's personal story was replicated across Scotland as people had their support withdrawn as a result of lockdown.

Many disabled people did not have access to electronic information and the reliance of the Scottish government on it compounded the isolation disabled people felt, the inquiry hears.

Access to healthcare and support was also an issue, adds Dr Elder-Woodward, who says the information "was not an easy read".

People with disabilities had to break shielding to access support that was no longer there during the lockdown, he agrees.

He concurs that parents with disabled children struggled with the additional strain of educating their children at home without support or respite.

"We need more peer support, as peer support is much more effective," says Dr Jim Elder-Woodward OBE.

The co-convenor of Inclusion Scotland explains to the inquiry his organisation is led by people who are disabled themselves and it supports disabled people's organisations, not individuals.

Inclusion Scotland actively sought to inform the Scottish government about things such as barriers and human rights, he says.

He points out disabled people lacked the support and resilience necessary to cope with the pandemic.

Dr Elder-Woodward says, pre-pandemic, disabled people were in the dire state of "not being supported, having their benefits reduced, having their social care reduced".

"People were imprisoned even before the pandemic," he says.

Dr Jim Elder-Woodward OBE tells the inquiry he had a 24-hour package of support during the pandemic and he had five part-time assistants.

When lockdown came, two assistants could not carry on supporting him and he didn't know where the money for the support would come from.

He agrees he had to seek assistance elsewhere to keep him safe and as healthy as he could be.

This caused "extreme stress", he says, and he suffered both mentally and physically.

"I found it very difficult during Covid."

He says, even with all his professional experience, he could not get the support he needed.

The next witness will be Dr Jim Elder-Woodward OBE, the convenor of Inclusion Scotland.

Born with cerebral palsy, James Elder-Woodward has had life-long experience of disability, not only as a health and social service user, but also as a service provider, planner and researcher.

Dr Jim Elder-Woodward OBE and his assistant are sworn in.

If you're just joining us, here's a quick recap of the evidence heard so far:

• Covid Bereaved Scotland (CBS) say there were concerns early in the pandemic about the ability of care homes to cope with discharged hospital patients
• Families "pleaded" with hospital bosses not to release their loved ones to free up NHS beds
• Political and medical decision makers are urged by CBS not to have "selective amnesia" when giving evidence
• The Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) says proper testing and workplace safety guidance were not in place early enough
• The "disproportionate impact" of Covid on people and workers from BAME and disabled communities is highlighted

The "disproportionate impact" of Covid on people from BAME and disabled communities is highlighted by the STUC's Roz Foyer.

She says those workers tended to be more often in roles that would place them at greater exposure to the virus - for example low-paid roles within health and social care.

Ms Foyer insists, going forward, Covid should be treated as an industrial injury in the same manner as asbestos-related conditions.

There was a "perfect storm in the care sector" as you had people on very low pay who were exposed to the virus, says Roz Foyer.

They did not have access to appropriate levels of sick pay, she says, but the Scottish government addressed this.

However it should have been spread out to all workers, she adds.

Roz Foyer tells the inquiry there definitely could be improvement in the Scottish government's decision making and the austerity left a lack of resilience.

"PPE reserves must be taken into account in the future," she says.

Ms Foyer says Covid death statistics show that some workers were in more danger of catching the disease as they were "in the eye of the storm" and did not get PPE.

She says unions were very aware of the fear of some key workers who were under pressure to cut corners in some workplaces.

"Workers are not expendable," she adds.

The STUC were cautious about the return to working in offices and other settings and called for proper testing and safety guidance to be in place, explains the general secretary of the union.

"There were some areas where we had concerns things were moving too quickly," Ms Foyer says.

She adds there was mixed signalling due to the UK government saying one thing and the Scottish government saying another, then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson calling for workers to return.

There were many occasions where serious concerns were raised with the Scottish government in a robust fashion, agrees Ms Foyer.

She says the STUC did not want any PPE to be taken away from frontline services and key workers.

The union also had concerns guidance was not being followed in some workplaces.

Roz Foyer, the general secretary of the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC), is the next witness and is sworn in.

She explains the STUC met twice weekly with the Scottish government at the start of the pandemic, which became once a month as time passed.

Ms Foyer says in general terms the engagement with the Scottish government was "intense and constructive".

She says the STUC were not shy about letting the Scottish government know if they were unhappy.

Ms Foyer tells the inquiry the STUC ethos is "there should be nothing about us without us".

Lady Hallett thanks Ms Morrison for her "very constructive" evidence.

The baroness goes on to reassure everyone present that the cough she has is not Covid, saying she has done plenty of testing to be certain of this.

Jane Morrison gives her own final statement, in which she urges decision makers not to have "selective amnesia" when they give evidence to the inquiry.

"We need truth," she says. "If you made a mistake, be big enough to admit you made a mistake."

Ms Morrison points out then-health secretary Humza Yousaf wrote to HSA (UK health security agency) to ask if the officially-approved Covid symptoms could be extended, but they declined.

She explains older patients did not present with the Covid symptoms as they stood at the time, and she says more information about other symptoms should have been provided.

The three Covid symptoms were:

1. continuous cough
2. fever
3. loss of sense of taste or smell

Jamie Dawson KC asks should Scotland have adopted an autonomous approach at the start of the pandemic.

Ms Morrison says yes, and points out Scotland was limited in what it could do due to financial constraints.

She explains this remains an issue for her and 25% of the group who had lost someone due to nosocomial infection.

A nosocomial infection is one that is acquired in hospital.

One of the group's members was allowed to wander around Hairmyres Hospital in East Kilbride after testing positive for Covid, Ms Morrison says.

She says: "This makes a mockery of infection control, it's like pulling down a portcullis to stop a swarm of bees."

A meeting between Nicola Sturgeon and Scottish Covid Bereaved becomes the focus of Jamie Dawson's questioning.

Ms Morrison explains there were concerns about care homes and a lack of testing capacity and she says they were seeking answers in 2021.

She says she does not know who decided so-called bed-blocking patients should be discharged to care homes when it was thought at the time that Covid tests would not recognise asymptomatic patients.

Ms Morrison tells the inquiry of some members of Scottish Covid Bereaved who pleaded for their loved one not to be discharged.

There were concerns about the ability of care homes to cope with discharged patients, she says.