Second Special Report - Coronavirus and Scotland: Government Response to the Committee’s First and Second Reports

This is the government's response, published 1 February 2021.

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".

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error