Scotland's pandemic plans missed the prolonged three-year Covid timeline, inquiry reveals

During the inquiry, officials acknowledged that Scotland’s emergency planning had broadly anticipated a pandemic of coronavirus’s magnitude, but the outbreak’s three-year span was an unexpected variation. Mr Campbell testified that while pandemic and high-consequence infectious disease strategies existed, they did not contemplate a crisis lasting more than three years, and he had not raised concerns beforehand. Faryma Bahrami highlighted that many preparedness measures were still in progress in 2020 and had not been completed.

Police Scotland Assistant Chief Constable Mark Williams described ongoing efforts to balance pandemic readiness with other pressures, including Brexit preparations. The panel, chaired by Lord Brailsford, heard that resilience partnerships had been urged to ready for national pandemics years before Covid-19 emerged, yet full implementation remained uneven across agencies.