Select committee: Scottish Affairs Committee
Recommendation 4
Second Report - Coronavirus and Scotland
Published 22 Oct 2020
Paragraph 31
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 recommend that the lessons learned from Exercise Cygnus in relation to intergovernmental working, specifically inviting devolved administrations to smaller meetings, are revisited. This should feed into the public inquiry of Covid-19, as committed to by the Prime Minister. A section of this public inquiry should relate to the pandemic in Scotland. This should focus on areas of reserved competence, concentrating on intergovernmental relations and working together in the health sector. It is crucial following the publication of this review that lessons learned are implemented and are assessed annually to ensure that Scotland is prepared for any future pandemics.
From: Scottish Affairs Committee, Second Report - Coronavirus and Scotland (HC 895), paragraph 31, 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".