Sturgeon’s ‘gold command’ meetings ‘reduced transparency’, Covid inquiry finds

So-called “gold command” meetings held by Nicola Sturgeon and a small group of ministers and advisers “reduced transparency” during the pandemic, the UK Covid-19 Inquiry has found.

Then first minister Ms Sturgeon met separately during the pandemic with a smaller group outside Cabinet meetings, with the inquiry saying decisions were made which were later ratified by the rest of the ministerial cohort.

Minutes of such meetings were not taken, and the report found that meant it was “difficult to understand the nature and extent of the discussions in these meetings”.

The inquiry report said: “The use of the informal gold command meeting structure diminished the role of the Scottish Cabinet and reduced the transparency of the Scottish Government’s decision-making during the pandemic.

“It also deprived decision-makers of a wide range of views.

“The Scottish Cabinet frequently became a decision-ratifying body, not the ultimate decision-making body.

“The Scottish Cabinet should have been involved to a greater degree in decision making in Scotland.

“This would have ensured greater transparency and enhanced accountability for decisions taken by the gold command and, increasingly, Ms Sturgeon.”

The report also accused Ms Sturgeon of sidelining the Cabinet in the decision to close schools.

On March 17 2020, the Cabinet agreed the merits of closing schools should be looked at over the following days, but a meeting held between Ms Sturgeon and her deputy John Swinney – the two most senior leaders in the country – immediately afterwards led to the decision being taken.

In his evidence, Mr Swinney said they decided as a pair that Ms Sturgeon should announce schools would close at the end of that week.

The inquiry report said: “This important decision was therefore taken by Ms Sturgeon and Mr Swinney outside the Cabinet decision-making process and in circumstances in which the Cabinet had agreed to keep the proposed measure under consideration.

“Although the situation was rapidly deteriorating, the Cabinet should have been sufficiently agile and engaged to play its central role in decision-making and not be sidelined in this way.”

Speaking to journalists at the Scottish Parliament after the report was published, the former first minister rejected assertions that the Cabinet would “rubber stamp” decisions already made.

“Cabinet was fully involved in the decision-making,” she said.

“The process of reaching decisions in any government is obviously vital, but what matters most, and particularly in the context we were dealing with, is the substance of those decisions.”

Ms Sturgeon said her biggest regret about the gold command meetings was the name she gave them.

“It gives an impression that they were something that they weren’t,” she said.

“They were discursive forums, opportunities for me, with key ministers depending on the subject matter, and key officials to kick round the different options we were considering, then take decisions to Cabinet.

“I would respectfully say that any reading of Cabinet minutes from the time would suggest that Cabinet was not some kind of rubber stamp.”

Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes addressed MSPs on Thursday after the publication of the report, committing the Scottish Government to learn lessons from the pandemic.

“As this report publishes, my thoughts turn to the many families across Scotland who lost loved ones during the pandemic,” Ms Forbes said.

“In recognition of the hurt, loss and suffering felt by so many across Scotland, we are committed to learning from the past.”

The deputy First Minister added: “During the pandemic, the Scottish Government’s foremost priority was to protect the public from the novel Covid-19 virus.

“We had to learn and adapt rapidly, implementing unprecedented measures to limit transmission and safeguard our most vulnerable communities.

“With the benefit of hindsight, we acknowledge that some choices – made in good faith at the time and under immense pressures – may not have always been the right ones.”

She added it is “vital” the response to future pandemics is “informed and strengthened by the lessons” from Covid.

Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said the report showed the Government was not prepared for the virus.

“It’s clearer than ever that the Scottish Government was not prepared for a pandemic and failed to take action quickly enough,” she said.

“This report cements the central role John Swinney played in the SNP government’s pandemic response and it is disappointing that he failed to come to the Parliament to make a statement and take questions on the report himself.”

While Scottish Tory MSP Murdo Fraser said: “Nicola Sturgeon promised in 2021 that nothing would be off limits in providing evidence to a public inquiry – yet we know now that both she and John Swinney shamefully deleted their WhatsApp messages in an orchestrated effort to evade scrutiny.

“That’s on top of the fact that no minutes were kept of the Gold Command meetings between senior ministers and advisers where the key pandemic decisions were taken.

“Kate Forbes’s absurd boast about the SNP Government’s commitment to transparency is an insult to those who lost loved ones in the pandemic.

“Out of respect to them, and all Scots, she must now commit to a proper parliamentary debate on the inquiry.”

And Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said a “small clique” were making decisions during the pandemic and the lack of minutes means the public will be denied “an understanding of the rationale behind key decisions”.

“We owe it to everyone whose lives were ripped apart by the pandemic to prevent these political failings from ever happening again,” he added.