Tag: Inquiry

UK Coronavirus response: “some big achievements with some big mistakes”

MPs publish Coronavirus: Lessons Learned To Date report

Covid vaccine programme “one of most effective initiatives in UK history” but delay to first lockdown a “serious error” that should have been challenged

The House of Commons and Science and Technology Committee and Health and Social Care Committee have published their Report, Coronavirus: lessons learned to date, examining the initial UK response to the covid pandemic.

The 150-page Report contains 38 recommendations to the Government and public bodies, and draws on evidence from over 50 witnesses—including Rt Hon Matt Hancock MP, Professor Chris Whitty, Sir Patrick Vallance, Sir Simon Stevens, Dame Kate Bingham, Baroness Harding of Winscombe and Dominic Cummings—as well as over 400 written submissions.

The Report was agreed unanimously by members of both Select Committees, which consist of 22 MPs from three political parties—Conservative, Labour and SNP.

The joint inquiry, which began in October 2020, examined six key areas of the response to covid-19: the country’s preparedness for a pandemic; the use of non-pharmaceutical interventions such as border controls, social distancing and lockdowns to control the pandemic; the use of test, trace and isolate strategies; the impact of the pandemic on social care; the impact of the pandemic on specific communities; and the procurement and roll-out of covid-19 vaccines.

The inquiry concluded that some initiatives were examples of global best practice but others represented mistakes. Both must be reflected on to ensure that lessons are applied to better inform future responses to emergencies.

In particular:

  • The forward-planning, agility and decisive organisation of the vaccine development and deployment effort will save millions of lives globally and should be a guide to future Government practice;
  • The delays in establishing an adequate test, trace and isolate system hampered efforts to understand and contain the outbreak and it failed in its stated purpose to avoid lockdowns;
  • The initial decision to delay a comprehensive lockdown—despite practice elsewhere in the world—reflected a fatalism about the spread of covid that should have been robustly challenged at the time;
  • Social care was not given sufficient priority in the early stages of the pandemic;
  • The experience of the covid pandemic underlines the need for an urgent and long term strategy to tackle health inequalities; and
  • The UK’s preparedness for a pandemic had been widely acclaimed in advance, but performed less well than many other countries in practice.

The 38 recommendations made, if implemented by the Government and by public bodies such as the NHS, would ensure that during the remaining period of the pandemic and in any new emergency, the UK could perform better by having distilled lessons—positive and negative—from the UK’s initial response to covid.

In a joint statement on the publication of the Coronavirus: lessons learned to date Report, Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP, Chair of the Health and Social Care Committee, and Rt Hon Greg Clark MP, Chair of the Science and Technology Committee, said:  “The UK response has combined some big achievements with some big mistakes. It is vital to learn from both to ensure that we perform as best as we possibly can during the remainder of the pandemic and in the future. 

“Our vaccine programme was boldly planned and effectively executed. Our test and trace programme took too long to become effective. The Government took seriously scientific advice but there should have been more challenge from all to the early UK consensus that delayed a more comprehensive lockdown when countries like South Korea showed a different approach was possible.

“In responding to an emergency, when much is unknown, it is impossible to get everything right. We record our gratitude to all those—NHS and care workers, scientists, officials in national and local government, workers in our public services and in private businesses and millions of volunteers—who responded to the challenge with dedication, compassion and hard work to help the whole nation at one of our darkest times.” 

The Report includes an Executive Summary with conclusions, recommendations and lessons learned at the end of each Chapter. 

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Racism in Edinburgh High Schools: ‘Lessons Learned’

A ‘robust set of actions’ setting out how Edinburgh schools should deal with racist incidents has been drawn up by the City of Edinburgh Council.

This follows an independently-overseen inquiry into the handling of racism complaints by Edinburgh’s high schools.

The four main areas highlighted for improvement are:

  • Improving processes to report racist incidents
  • Improving the culture in schools to clearly show zero tolerance of racist conduct
  • Managing racist incidents sensitively and ensuring ongoing support for anyone reporting racist conduct
  • Reviewing the curriculum to ensure it does not perpetuate racist or colonialist attitudes

The move comes after the completion of an investigation into claims made following last year’s Black Lives Matter campaign. The claims were made by former and current pupils who complained that a number of high schools were failing to deal with racist incidents properly and that a culture of racism existed.

The main focus of the investigation was on St Augustine’s and Holy Rood RC High Schools but also included Craigmount, Drummond and Firrhill.  

In total 73 complaints were received via social media and emails, and 30 complainants agreed to be interviewed.

As part of the detailed and wide-ranging inquiry, evidence was gathered through interviews with the complainants, school staff and by examining school records. The three-month long investigation was overseen by an independent equalities adviser.

Although schools demonstrated many effective examples of responding appropriately to alleged racist incidents, the overall conclusion of the investigation was that more could be done within schools to develop a firm anti-racist perspective. 

There was no evidence, however, to support complaints that schools enabled racism.  

Interviews were carried out by senior Council officers skilled at working with young people and trained in equalities and anti-racism.

Parents or supporters were invited to be present during interviews and support was available from the independent third sector agency, Edinburgh and Lothians Regional Equality Council. As well as detailing their concerns, complainants were also asked what outcomes they were looking for. 

Complainants have now been issued with a personal letter summarising their complaint and detailing the conclusions and next steps relating to their investigation. They have all been offered face to face meetings to fully discuss the findings and the actions the Council proposes to take.

The authority has committed to auditing its current plans to improve equalities in schools, to ensure that all actions identified from the report are included. 

These include supporting all schools to: appoint pupil and staff equalities co-ordinators, embed additional guidance for dealing with racist incidents and provide staff training to review the curriculum so it does not perpetuate racist or colonialist attitudes.

In addition, an annual equalities award (Saroj Lal award) will shortly be announced.  This has been created in honour of Saroj Lal (1937-2020), Edinburgh’s first Asian primary school teacher and a leading figure in the campaign for race equality and social justice in Scotland. 

It will be launched by summer 2021 and is designed to raise awareness of diversity and equality. The award aims to shine a light on the impact of prejudice and the potential to use art for positive change.  

Councillor Ian Perry, Convener for Education, Children and Families at the City of Edinburgh Council, said: “Firstly I want to apologise unreservedly to any of our young people who felt their concerns or reports about racism were not taken seriously or that their school has not dealt with any incidents properly.

“I want to thank everyone who has come forward and brought these allegations to light for sharing their personal accounts and recollections and to the staff who took part in the inquiry.

“This will have been very difficult for our young people but hearing their voices has allowed this investigation to take place and has shown clearly what is needed to drive forward positive change in our schools.

“This was a very thorough investigation and as a result we now have a clear and very robust action plan which can only strengthen our commitment to dealing with racism. Ultimately, we all want every young person who attends our schools to feel safe and supported as they go through their education.  I hope that the lessons learned from this investigation will mean that many more young people feel that this will improve as a result.”

Councillor Alison Dickie, Vice Convener for Education, Children and Families at the City of Edinburgh Council, said: “I’m so sorry that young people have felt their voices weren’t being heard and have had to resort to being part of this investigation to help bring about change.

“I want to praise them all for showing such strength in coming forward to raise these issues with us. They have all shown great patience and co-operation while their complaints were being investigated. While this will have been a difficult process, it is only by hearing their voices that we can fully understand the experiences that young people have and make improvements.

“Racism is an issue that needs both city and Council-wide action. This is about a change of culture and systems. Although there is positive work taking place across our schools, we fully realise that much more needs to be done. This involves listening to young people who have experienced racism and placing them in the driving seat of our work towards race equality.

“Already, as a direct result of that direct voice, we are working to increase staff training, develop an anti-racist and culturally inclusive curriculum and empower young people with lived experiences across our schools to lead on improving our procedures for the reporting of racist incidents. 

“Delivery is key, and we will do that together.”

Committees unite to scrutinise UK Government coranvirus response

Westminster’s Health and Social Care Committee and Science and Technology Committee  have today launched a joint inquiry into lessons to be learned from the response to the coronavirus pandemic so far.

Scope of the inquiry

The two Select Committees will jointly conduct evidence sessions examining the impact and effectiveness of action taken by government and the advice it has received. Each Committee will draw on specialist expertise and call witnesses to consider a range of issues including:

  • the deployment of non-pharmaceutical interventions like lockdown and social distancing rules to manage the pandemic;
  • the impact on the social care sector;
  • the impact on BAME communities;
  • testing and contact tracing;
  • modelling and the use of statistics;
  • Government communications and public health messaging;
  • the UK’s prior preparedness for a pandemic; and
  • the development of treatments and vaccines.

Joint Inquiry Chairs Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP and Rt Hon Greg Clark MP issued the following statement:

“Parliament has a crucial role in scrutinising the actions of government at a time when the country is in the grip of a crisis such as the current pandemic with its tragic impact on lives and livelihoods.

“Important lessons need to be learned that can help inform further decisions that will need to be taken in the months ahead. It is crucial to learn and apply them now since the Public Inquiry that the Prime Minister has promised is likely to be some time away.

“Our committees will jointly learn what went well, what didn’t, and what lessons must be learnt at this point in the pandemic.

“We will use the independence of our cross-party committees and weekly detailed questioning of witnesses to consider the decisions taken and the evidence they were based on and assess their effectiveness. We will develop clear recommendations so that the UK can benefit from the lessons learned for future stages of this pandemic and for future crises.”

“A matter of luck a child didn’t die”

PPP School buildings report published

An independent report into the closure of 17 Edinburgh schools has been published. The report into safety failures has highlighted a lack of proper scrutiny of the construction work and criticises both the council and the partnership which managed the building contracts, as well as the construction company. The city council said lessons would be learned from the report but Edinburgh’s Green councillors said the report is a “shocking wake up call.”

Continue reading “A matter of luck a child didn’t die”

Keir welcomes trams announcement

Colin Keir MSP for Edinburgh Western has welcomed the news that the Edinburgh Tram Inquiry has been converted from a non-statutory to a statutory Inquiry.

trams messThe Scottish Government has placed the enquiry on a statutory footing which will compel those involved in the Trams project to give evidence following a request from the inquiry chair Lord Hardie.

Mr Keir said: “This is great news that the Scottish Government has acted on the advice of Lord Hardie to convert the Edinburgh Tram Inquiry from a non-statutory to statutory status.

It is shocking that there has been a lack of co-operation by some of those who were involved in the project, this is clearly unacceptable. As the cost has risen to frightening levels over the years, surely the residents of Edinburgh – as well as taxpayers beyond the city boundaries – are entitled to know why this project became a financial liability and embarrassment to the city.”

The Edinburgh Tram Inquiry will convert from a non-statutory to a statutory inquiry following advice from the Chair Lord Hardie. On Friday, Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon instructed the conversion under the Inquiries Act 2005 after Lord Hardie advised that the Inquiry is not receiving the participation it requires.

Making the Inquiry statutory will allow Lord Hardie to compel the production of evidence, the participation of witnesses and enable a robust final report to be prepared. It is not anticipated that the change in status will affect the cost or timescale of the Inquiry.

Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “It was the view of the Scottish Government that a non-statutory inquiry with the co-operation of those with knowledge of the project was the simplest way to ensure the swift answers that people want.

“Lord Hardie has however now reported a lack of co-operation by some, which is clearly unjustifiable. I have therefore given the Inquiry the statutory powers he has requested to ensure that the necessary evidence is secured and a robust final report produced.

“Lord Hardie has assured me that converting the Inquiry to a statutory basis will not increase the costs and time required as he had intended to apply similar procedures. I continue to attach great importance to an inquiry that is quick, efficient and cost effective.”

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The Inquiry’s terms of reference are threefold:

  • To inquire into the delivery of the Edinburgh Trams project (‘the project’), from proposals for the project emerging to its completion, including the procurement and contract preparation, its governance, project management and delivery structures, and oversight of the relevant contracts, in order to establish why the project incurred delays, cost considerably more than originally budgeted for and delivered significantly less than was projected through reductions in scope.
  • To examine the consequences of the failure to deliver the project in the time, within the budget and to the extent projected.
  • To otherwise review the circumstances surrounding the project as necessary, in order to report to the Scottish Ministers making recommendations as to how major tram and light rail infrastructure projects of a similar nature might avoid such failures in future.