Scotland’s Chief Medical Officer to give evidence to MPs on Covid-19

14.30, Thursday 21 May 2020, via Zoom. Live on Parliament TV.

The Scottish Affairs Committee continues its Coronavirus and Scotland Inquiry on Thursday when it will hear from Scotland’s interim Chief Medical Officer Dr Gregor Smith among a panel of public health experts.

With the nations of the UK now embarking on their own easing of restrictions or laying out strategies to do so, differences in policy and working relationships between governments has been brought into sharper focus. The Committee is likely to;

·       Enquire about the intergovernmental relationship and that between their scientific advisors, and how advice is presented;

·       Study the degree of influence public health advisors have in the creation of strategies to exit lockdown;

·       Ask the extent of the four nation approach and how this will work as and if the nations of the UK diverge as lockdown eases.

Witnesses, at 14:30:

Dr Gregor Smith, interim Chief Medical Officer for Scotland;

Prof. Andrew Morris, Independent Chair of the Scottish Government’s Covid-19 Advisory Group;

Prof. Sheila Rowan, Chief Scientific Adviser for Scotland, and Director of the Institute for Gravitational Research, University of Glasgow.