In a statement to the Scottish Parliament on 14 December 2021, John Swinney MSP, Deputy First Minister (link here) announced the appointment of a Scottish Judge, Lady Poole, as the chair of a Scotland-only COVID-19 public inquiry and the publication of terms of reference for this inquiry (link here). This inquiry is being established under the Inquiries Act 2005.
Though noting that “the emergence of the Omicron variant is a stark reminder to us all that this pandemic continues to evolve and challenge us”, Mr Swinney did not consider that the emergence of Omicron should “delay our efforts to learn from the past” but should rather be considered as underlining “the importance and urgency of learning lessons from what has gone before.”
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