Statement given by the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at the media briefing in St Andrew’s House, this afternoon (Friday 3rd July):
Good afternoon, and welcome to today’s briefing. I want to start by providing my usual update on the most recent Covid-19 statistics for Scotland.
More than a third (36%) of people say that they have been forced to pay sky-high prices to get hold of essential hygiene and medical products during the coronavirus pandemic as opportunistic sellers have sought to exploit the crisis by price gouging, new Which? research reveals.
Analysis of almost 1,500 reports sent to the consumer champion’s price-gouging reporting tool over the last two months shows that more than 696 (47%) of the overall tool reports were for essential hygiene or medical products that people vitally need during this pandemic.
There have been price gouging issues both online and in-store, according to the consumers that reported to the tool. Most reports related to alleged profiteering by sellers online, with tech giants Amazon and eBay accounting for the majority of listings.
Three-quarters (75%) of items with inflated prices reported to Which? were seen online, either on marketplaces or through online shops, while 25 per cent were spotted in-store.
Among the cases logged by the tool – shared by Which? with the CMA’s Covid-19 taskforce – are Dettol handwash being sold via Amazon, unknown to the brand, for £14.99 rather than £1.49 and a packet of paracetamol on sale in a local store for more than seven times the usual price.
These significant price hikes on items have affected vulnerable people with underlying health conditions as well as key workers who had no choice but to go out and work.
One person who bought a case of hand sanitiser off Chemist-4-u.com told Which?: “I am furious that after buying hand sanitiser for £64.99 in late March, more recently the price has magically fallen by £40. I am a non-medical frontline worker and as a self-employed lawyer I am reliant on hand sanitiser to keep myself and others safe.”
Among the examples reported to Which? by consumers were medical-grade face masks that might be required by key workers, including an N95 face mask for £28.99 – nearly 20 times the usual price according to the tool user – via medical supply website UK Meds. Another person reported seeing the same mask on sale on the website for £14.99 – 10 times the usual price, they reported.
An FFP3 mask from eBay in May was on sale for £19.99 instead of £4 – five times the price. While a silverline branded moulded face mask, which usually costs around 80p, was being sold for £6.99 in a pharmacy before lockdown began – more than eight times the price. The person that saw the latter example told Which? that they felt that the price was exploitative.*
Which? found that the average percentage price difference for hygiene products such as hand sanitiser and disinfectant was 414 per cent – five times the price on average.
Four in 10 (40%) of the essential hygiene products which were reported as having inflated prices were hand sanitiser and soap. Recently the competition regulator (CMA) announced it is investigating four pharmacies and convenience stores for the suspected charging of excessive and unfair prices for hand sanitiser.
Across all product categories, 30 per cent of people had bought an item at an inflated price while four in 10 (40%) reported that they simply had to go without because of the excessive price of the product.
Hundreds of people, both those that had bought an item at the inflated price and those that had gone without, told Which? that they felt the price was unfair and exploitative.
For the 133 reports of price gouging on PPE, such as face masks and gloves, the average markup was 478 per cent.
Forty one per cent of the inflated prices reported were seen in the several weeks prior to the reporting tool launching, 11-30 April.
While the number of reports has decreased in recent weeks, people continued to report items at extortionate costs throughout May and June suggesting that there are outstanding problems with suspected price gouging due to seemingly unjustifiable price hikes.
These prices could be high because of increased costs of materials or supply chain issues. However Which? is calling for the regulator to have more effective powers to investigate and ensure that prices are not due to businesses exploiting the crisis.
Consumers are encouraged to report any examples of price gouging with the CMA’s Covid-19 taskforce complaints service, and some online marketplaces also enable people to report listings directly to them.
Which? believes that no-one should be able to exploit a national emergency and leave people with little choice but to buy essential items at unfair prices in order to stay safe and survive in a crisis. There is a risk that problems could flare up again with lockdown easing and an increase in demand for products such as hand sanitiser from consumers, as well as from businesses that are reopening.
Which? is calling for emergency legislation to give regulators the tools to swiftly crack down on price gouging of essential products such as hand sanitiser and cleaning products, during this crisis and any future ones. This would assist the CMA in its current investigation to tackle suspected price gouging on hand sanitiser products by certain businesses.
Sue Davies, Head of Consumer Protection at Which?, said: “Our tool reports show that price hikes on essential items have too often been excessive and people consider them to be unfair and exploitative.
“International experience shows that price gouging is frequently a problem during national emergencies and the UK should ensure it is better able to crack down on profiteering.
“It’s good the CMA is now attempting to take action to investigate some instances of price gouging using competition law. However, the government should be helping the regulator by giving it more targeted powers to take swifter action to stamp out price gouging, and ensure the price of essential items stays at reasonable levels during a crisis when people need them most.”
One person who bought a case of hand sanitiser off Chemist-4-u.com told Which?: “I am furious that after buying hand sanitiser for £64.99 in late March, more recently the price has magically fallen by £40.
“I am a non-medical frontline worker and as a self-employed lawyer I am reliant on hand sanitiser to keep myself and others safe on public transport travelling to and from court, in the courts themselves and for interactions with prisoners and the police.”
Another person, a mutual aid volunteer in London, raised concerns about a local pharmacy: “We have a local pharmacy that seems to be gouging to an extent far worse than other pharmacies and is causing lots of stress amongst the people we support.
“To the extent it is making those who are already anxious even more so as they can’t afford the uplift of 100 per cent plus on their pain relief and they are considering going without.
“We are covering the increase in cost to ensure they don’t continue in pain, but having mentioned my concern to the pharmacy in person they laughed, so I wanted to formally report their behaviour. They are charging double what other local pharmacies in the area even during these times, so it’s clearly not simply the cost of supply has gone up.”
Stuart Randall, 57, told Which?: “I was born with immune system problems which mean I am reliant on disposable gloves for lots of everyday tasks. However, as soon as the pandemic started, prices for this product started to rocket.
“The free delivery and bulk offers on online marketplaces, such as Amazon Marketplace, have disappeared and the cheapest are over 50 per cent more expensive. It seems unfair that chancers are slapping silly prices on goods to fleece the unwary.”**
*The UK government and medical experts agree that medical-grade respirator masks of these types aren’t appropriate for everyday use by the general public and should be reserved for frontline health workers. The WHO advises that those over 60 consider wearing basic surgical-style medical masks, not respirator style masks, in areas where social distancing isn’t possible.
**To note, while some extremely vulnerable people may need disposable gloves for particular health reasons, they are not recommended by experts for the general public for activities like shopping.
The CMA’s COVID-19 Taskforce continues to ask consumers and businesses to report any businesses that behave unfairly by, for example, unjustly raising prices, via its online form: https://www.coronavirus-business-complaint.service.gov.uk.
Since Which? began reporting on price gouging in March, it has received thousands of reports of inflated prices across its channels including social and Which? conversation.
The majority of these have come through Which?’s price gouging reporting tool. From its launch on 29 April until 14 June, it received 1,468 reports of inflated prices from shoppers.
Which? price gouging advice and tool link: which.co.uk/pricegouging
Amazon said: “There is no place for price gouging on Amazon. When a bad actor attempts to artificially raise prices on basic need products during a global health crisis, it’s bad for customers and the hundreds of thousands of honest businesses selling in our store.
“ In line with our long-standing policy, we have recently blocked or removed hundreds of thousands of offers and pursued legal action against hundreds of bad actors across a number of countries.”
Chemist-4-u.com responded: “At the early stages of the Covid 19 pandemic, the availability of hand gel was in short supply with UK manufacturing output insufficient to meet consumer demand and as a result our cost price from our supplier Brodie & Stone increased circa 4 fold.
“Our pricing has been queried by the Competition and Markets Authority who instructed an audit on our pricing strategy during this period. We have fully co-operated with this enquiry and supplied all cost of goods information.
“As manufacturing output has increased over the period of the pandemic we have seen significant cost reductions in the price we are being charged by our suppliers. This reduction has been passed on to our customers as evidenced by the reduced pricing on our website.”
eBay said: “The single listing that Which? was able to share with us was reviewed and removed for reasons unrelated to price gouging.”
UK Meds: Which? sent details of the face mask reports it had received from consumers to UK Meds, but at the time of writing the company has not responded.
Ahead of what is being dubbed ‘Super Saturday’ – when bars, pubs and restaurants reopen in England – The Royal College of Emergency Medicine is urging the public to act sensibly to not risk overwhelming A&Es.
Scots, of course, must wait a wee while longer for the hospitality industry to fully open but there are widespread concerns that tomorrow could see irresponsible behaviour put the UK’s gradual recovery from the coronavirus crisis in jeopardy.
President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, Dr Katherine Henderson said: “To many Saturday will come as a welcome release from an unprecedented nationwide lockdown and it is understandable that people want to let off steam.
“But we urge the public to be careful and use common sense. The NHS has coped admirably during this period, but staff are exhausted, and the system is very fragile. After seeing all of the goodwill, all of the clapping for the NHS, it would be heartbreaking to see A&Es overwhelmed on the first post-lockdown evening by people who have gotten too drunk or been in a fight.
“If you go to A&E because you’re plastered, you end up stretching the health service further and potentially put others at risk. Not only do you risk accidentally infecting someone with coronavirus because you don’t know you have it, but you are taking up the time of doctors who could be treating patients whose lives are in danger.
“It has never been more important that our Emergency Departments are for absolute emergencies only, and it has never been more important that people drink responsibly.
“While social distancing measures may have been relaxed, the threat of coronavirus has not gone away; it is still very real, it is still very dangerous.
“We need the public to help; act responsibly, drink responsibly and do maintain social distancing. It is also really important that people choose the care service that is most appropriate for their needs. If it is not an emergency, call 111, see a pharmacist, book a GP appointment. If you are seriously injured or sick, go to your A&E – you will be treated.
“We cannot go back to a pre-covid world where everyone turns up at a crowded A&E for treatment. We need patients to choose wisely and we need proper provision of alternative care services. Without both, A&Es risk becoming hubs of infection and we will end up back at square one.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson will make an appeal to the public to stick to guidelines at a press conference later today. Whether the public will listen or not we’ll find out tomorrow.
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Almost half of UK office workers feel unsupported by their employers during the pandemic lock down period, a new survey has revealed.
The poll by Utility Bidder also discovered that more than half of workers now feared for their job security as the pandemic continues.
Researchers spoke to 1000 office workers who were continuing their roles while working from home. Respondents were aged 18-54 and featured all levels of office staff from graduate trainees to managing directors.
The study found that 45% of office workers said they had either none or not enough support from their bosses while working from home.
More than half of those surveyed (57%) said they now feared for the future of their job and were anxious about employment security.
Almost one fifth of those surveyed (18%) said they had little or no communication from their employers about the impact of the pandemic on the company’s business and so were concerned about their jobs.
Just over one in ten (12%) of the 1,000 people surveyed by Utility Bidder said they do not have, cannot get or do not plan to have access to all the relevant technological equipment they need to work remotely.
One respondent to Utility Bidder’s survey said they are working from home “without even having half the equipment needed” whilst another wrote that their company “provided laptops but they’re not able to cope with the number of people using systems”.
Of the 45% who said they do not feel supported by their employer 32% said that a very small amount of support was provided, whilst 13% responded that they had received no support whatsoever.
James Longley, managing director at Utility Bidder, said the lockdown period had created anxiety and uncertainty for many workers, particularly those feeling unsupported by bosses.
He said: “Our mission is to support businesses and help them save money. One of the most important ways in which businesses can currently do this is by helping their staff remain productive so they can continue servicing their customers and clients.
“Thousands of working hours could be lost without the proper technology and equipment, so it’s essential that businesses are supplying this where possible.”
Mr. Longley also explained how employees could claim back money on certain essential equipment they might need to work from home.
“Employees required to continue working from home can claim for tax relief on any necessary purchases if they are not already being provided by their employer. This includes technology, printer ink, even desks and office chairs for your home-working space.”
Minister for Mental Health, Clare Haughey MSP (who in addition has responsibility for autism and learning disability) joined an online group of autistic adults and carers yesterday to hear about their experiences of lock down.
The disruption of daily life and routine resulting from the pandemic and the lockdown has been very challenging for autistic people, 70% of whom are struggling with mental health difficulties and often intense anxiety.
Research from National Autistic Society Scotland has also shown that two thirds of autistic people in Scotland feel socially isolated and this was before social distancing was introduced in light of the Coronavirus pandemic.
The Scottish Government has recognised the fact that many autistic adults and families with autistic children are extremely vulnerable at this time and awarded the charity funds to provide specialist and moderated online social groups to reach as many autistic people carers and families as possible.
The online social groups allow staff to share information on staying safe and healthy as well as helping those with mental health needs and anxieties.
In addition, they also offer a safe and secure place where autistic people can connect and talk about whatever is important to them. There are specific groups focused on film & TV, gaming, craft, LEGO, politics, quizzes as well as for groups for young people, older people, carers, women as well as people from the LGBT+ community.
They’re a great way for people to build confidence, make friends and help with communication skills.
The Minister for Mental Health, Clare Haughey said: “We know that autistic people find the huge changes in their daily lives more difficult to deal with than many other people. That’s why we provided funding to the National Autistic Society Scotland to provide these vital online services for as many people as possible.
“Taking part in one of the Society’s online social groups today was a great opportunity to hear directly from autistic people and their families on how the lockdown restrictions have affected them. Through our national strategy, we will continue our work to improve the lives of people with autism and ensure everyone gets the care and support they need.
Nick Ward, Director, National Autistic Society Scotland said: “We were delighted that the Minister could join one of our online groups to hear directly from autistic people and as to the challenges they face at this difficult time.
“Many autistic people are feeling the effects of the dramatic changes in their lives from pandemic and in many cases struggle with mental health difficulties or are very isolated within their communities.
“Our online Social Groups, offer a safe a secure space where people can meet and talk about the things that are important to them, form meaningful relationships and feel more connected. Our staff will also be on hand to offer support and tips around managing mental health and well-being and importantly staying safe.”
Blair Spence who is autistic and from Glasgow said: “I’ve been going to the Social Groups for about 9 months, they’ve really helped my confidence and conversation skills as well as make new friends.
“The new online groups have been really fun. There are about 10 of us in the group and it works really well. It’s good to stay in touch with other people and we’ve done some exciting things with the group leaders like a virtual tour of an Aquarium and around San Francisco including going across the Golden Gate Bridge!
“I really look forward to the weekly online groups and I would recommend to other autistic people to give them a go.”
Police are continuing enquiries and appealing for information following several bogus caller incidents in North West Edinburgh in the last few days:
1. Around 3.45 pm on Tuesday, 30 June, two men called at an elderly woman’s home in Easter Drylaw Drive. The woman paid a three figure sum for landscaping work to be carried out however the men left in a car and did not return. .
2. Around 11.30 am on Wednesday, 1 July, two men called at a house in Cramond Park stating they were there to carry out work. It was established it wasn’t prearranged work and they were asked to leave. They were driving a white van.
3. Around 1.15 pm on Thursday, 2 July, a man called at an address in Craigs Avenue offering to carry out gardening and landscaping work. The man wanted to carry out the work immediately for cash and left when the occupier refused.
Detective Sergeant Dougal Begg at Corstorphine CID said: “This type of crime is despicable and is often targeted at the elderly and vulnerable in our communities. At this time we are trying to establish whether any of these incidents are linked.
“I urge members of the public to be on guard if someone turns up unexpectedly at their home offering to carry out work, especially work that they don’t believe is required.
“Ask for identification and/or a business card so that you can make the necessary checks for verification, don’t be afraid to say no and don’t be embarrassed as genuine callers expect you to be careful.
“If you’re not sure, don’t answer the door and report the incident to police.”
Anyone who has any information relating to the above incidents or anyone who has concerns or feels that they have been a victim of a bogus crime or scam caller should contact police via telephone number 101.
Police Scotland continues to work with partners to severely disrupt the activities of serious and organised criminals operating in Scotland – following the seizure of controlled drugs with a street value of over £25 million in recent weeks.
Cocaine, heroin, cannabis, herbal cannabis and thousands of Etizolam tablets have been recovered and officers have arrested 59 people. Over £7 million of laundered cash and a number of firearms, ammunition, explosives and industrial pill presses have also been seized. Six stolen cars and a stolen motorcycle have also been recovered.
Activity has taken place across the country as part of Operation Venetic – the most significant ever UK operation into serious and organised crime involving Police Scotland, the National Crime Agency (NCA) and police forces across the UK.
The operation has culminated in the takedown of Encrochat, an encrypted global communication service used exclusively by criminals, which offered a secure mobile phone instant messaging service. The company’s encryption has now been cracked by an international law enforcement team.
In Scotland, more than 50 warrants have been executed by hundreds of officers at addresses throughout the country.
Police Scotland Assistant Chief Constable Angela McLaren said: “Police Scotland’s is absolutely committed to disrupting those involved in serious and organised crime in Scotland.
“These intelligence-led proactive operations, which have been undertaken in partnership with the NCA, UK police forces and Border Force, have resulted in some of the largest seizures made by the service.
“Keeping people safe and continuing to make the country a hostile environment for those who seek to bring misery to our communities through their organised criminality remains a priority for Police Scotland.
“This underlines our commitment to the country’s Serious and Organised Crime Strategy through the SOC Taskforce and our collective determination to target those involved and strike at the very centre of their illicit operations. Criminals do not recognise borders and we have been working closely with our UK and European law enforcement partners throughout this intense period of activity.
“We recognise the impact that serious and organised crime has on individuals and communities. I would urge anyone who has information that can assist us in tackling criminality, or anyone that needs our help or support, to get in touch with Police Scotland or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.”
Jennifer Harrower, Procurator Fiscal for Specialist Casework, said: “These recent operations by law enforcement in Scotland exemplify our determination and capability to pursue those involved in serious and organised crime and halt the damage they do to our local communities.
“These seizures and arrests are the result of months of extensive work, but it doesn’t stop there. COPFS will use all the available resources to bring to justice those who seek to profit from serious and organised crime. This includes staff and prosecutors who are experts in preparing and prosecuting these kind of cases, and a raft of legislation created in Scotland specifically to target serious and organised criminals.
“Beyond this, we will seek Serious Crime Prevention Orders to provide security for communities when those prosecuted are released from prison, and pursue them for their proceeds of crime to be restored to the communities where they belong.”
Gerry Mclean, the NCA’s Regional Head of Investigations for Scotland, said: “This piece of activity in Scotland and across the UK was unprecedented in scale. It is without doubt the broadest and deepest ever operation into serious organised crime, with the people targeted at the top end of the criminal tree.
“The NCA has worked with international partners and every single police force across the UK, but the extraordinary results we have had here is testimony to the partnership we have with Police Scotland, the support from COPFs and the strategy set by Scotland’s Organised Crime Task Force.
“By working together we have had tremendous success in penetrating organised criminal networks, seizing huge amounts of criminal cash, stopping firearms and drugs reaching our streets and protecting the people of Scotland.”
