Select committee: Scottish Affairs Committee
Recommendation 1
Second Report - Coronavirus and Scotland
Published 22 Oct 2020
Paragraph 16
Addressed to Scotland Office
Scottish Affairs Committee Coronavirus and Scotland All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
We agree with Professor Nicola McEwen that trust is an essential ingredient for intergovernmental relations, and it is clear that trust needs to develop between the UK and Scottish Governments. This takes effort from both sides. Holding regular, formal, structured, minuted meetings is an essential part of co-ordinating the response to a pandemic that does not respect borders. All four Governments of the UK need a reliable forum for communicating with other key decision makers to ensure that a co-ordinated, evidence-based response is achieved. The current rising case numbers make the need for such an approach even more vital. Regular meetings can help build on the existing relationships and grow trust between the two Governments. We build on our previous recommendation in the interim report (paragraph 60) and recommend that a timetable of regular intergovernmental meetings should be set up, both during the rest of this pandemic, especially if there is a second wave, but also for after the pandemic. We need a resilient format to be put in place immediately so that we know there will be regular, formal, planned meetings of key decision makers.
From: Scottish Affairs Committee, Second Report - Coronavirus and Scotland (HC 895), paragraph 16, 22 October 2020
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 1 February 2021 (deadline 22 December 2020).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government responds to the Committee's recommendations on intergovernmental working, economic support, immigration and exports, setting out existing arrangements and some commitments, while deferring several decisions.
- On the public inquiry, the government says it "notes" the Committee's recommendation on terms of reference, that responding to the detail now "would be premature", and that it will respond further "in due course".
- On reviewing economic support, HM Treasury and HMRC have "committed to undertaking a detailed evaluation" of the job retention and self-employment schemes. The job retention findings will be published "by the end of 2021"; full self-employment evaluation data will not be available until 2022.
- On Shortage Occupation List recommendations, the government is "absolutely not rejecting" them but is "not immediately accepting" them. It will consider whether to implement "some or all" in immigration rules changes in 2021.
- On the Seasonal Workers Pilot, the government "notes" the Committee's findings and is "carefully considering" the pilot findings, hoping "to say more on this in due course".