The latest evidence sessions of the public inquiry into Scotland’s response to the pandemic will take place in the coming weeks.

The Scottish Covid Inquiry began its hearings last year and has already considered the impact of the pandemic on people using health and social care services.

The inquiry will now turn its attention to how educational provision at all levels in Scotland has been affected by the Covid crisis.

The inquiry will first look at the impact of the pandemic across all areas, then look at how decisions were made to respond to the public health emergency and then how Covid policies were implemented.

The aim of Scotland’s public inquiry into Covid is to establish the facts about what happened during the country’s response to the pandemic and find out what lessons can be learned for the future.

The inquiry was initiated by Scottish ministers but is being carried out independently, chaired by Lord Brailsford.

A total of 12 elements of Scotland’s fight against the epidemic will be examined and these will be grouped under three themes:

• Health and social care
• Education and young people
• Finance, business and prosperity

Pandemic planning, personal protective equipment supply, school closures and isolation rules for businesses are just some of the issues examined.

No one was found guilty or innocent at the end of the investigation, but recommendations have been made by the Scottish government and are expected to be implemented.

The UK Covid-19 Inquiry began in 2022 and heard from a number of key people involved in Scotland’s response to the pandemic, including former first minister Nicola Sturgeon.

Not only did it start earlier than Scotland’s inquiry, but its scope is much broader, covering the impact of the pandemic and the decisions taken by the UK government for the whole of the UK.

The Scottish inquiry only investigates policy areas under the control of the Scottish government.

For example, the UK inquiry will investigate decisions made about what Covid vaccine supply strategy to follow for the whole of the UK.

The Scottish inquiry does not cover which vaccines were purchased but will look at the design and implementation of the vaccine strategy, as it falls to Scottish ministers to implement those decisions made at the UK level.

While the UK inquiry is already investigating some political decision-making related to the pandemic, the Scottish inquiry is leaving this until later in its programme.

The approach in Scotland is to prioritize evidence from those most affected by the outbreak, such as bereaved relatives and healthcare workers, before passing it on to key decision-makers.

This means that conclusions and recommendations will come at the end of the process, which is likely to be at least two years away.

By contrast, the UK investigation is continuing it and in July its chair, Baroness Hallett, published its initial findings, which both the UK and Scottish governments said were the case. They “failed their citizens” by not doing enough to properly plan for the crisis.

The UK Covid Inquiry is currently based in London and is hearing from people involved in healthcare delivery.

Evidence from people in the health and social care sector of those most affected by the pandemic was heard between October last year and June this year.

Many of these were personal and often harrowing stories from relatives of some of the thousands of people who have died from Covid during the pandemic.

This information was collected both in written statements and from individuals who attended the Inquiry’s hearings in Edinburgh.

In November last year Gillian Grant told the inquiry “Resuscitation” plan implemented for grandmother In the nursing home where he lives against his family’s wishes.

The inquest also heard Caroleanne Stewart’s story about paramedics arriving at the home of her brother, who was struggling with Covid symptoms but refused to leave the ambulance.

The inquiry into protective equipment heard that shortages of PPE in the early stages of the outbreak meant: some GPs wore used garbage bags as aprons.

Another hearing heard a group of relatives compared care home residents to each other “on display in a reptile house” due to pandemic restrictions limiting visitation.

In addition to public hearings, the Scottish inquiry has been Let’s Be Heard project Trying to maximize the number of people across the country who can have a say about the impact of Covid on themselves or their loved ones.

More than 10,000 people participated in the project interim report explains how lockdown measures affect people.

The focus of inquiry hearings over the coming weeks will be the impact of the pandemic on education, from early years to colleges and universities.

A wide range of issues will be addressed, with experts and frontline workers giving evidence.

The hearings will consider whether the digital divide affects home education, investigate disruptions to exams and qualifications, and examine how social isolation affects young people’s mental health.

At the end of the early years, the impact of lockdown on children’s social and emotional development and behavior will be considered.

The reopening of colleges and universities, as well as the financial and educational impact of quarantine restrictions on students, will also be examined.

The inquest decided that the teenagers would not be allowed to testify in person.

instead conducting surveys to gather experience from teachers, child care professionals, and children ages eight and up.

Training sessions in the coming weeks will be followed by sessions on the impact on business and wellbeing, and this part of the investigation will be completed on 20 December.

The latest series of impact hearings, to be held between February and June next year, will explore the impacts of the pandemic not yet addressed across three main themes.