At Holyrood inquiry into Scot Gov's Alex Salmond probe, Judith MacKinnon - the HR boss whose involvement led to the the probe being declared unlawful due to her prior contact with complainers - says: “I did not have any doubts about taking on the role of investigating officer”
Judith MacKinnon is deliberately avoiding naming a Scottish Government employment lawyer she spoke to regularly during the unlawful inquiry. She suggests she is reluctant as he is not a senior civil servant. Labour MSP Jackie Baillie says the committee will find out eventually
Some shade from Labour's Jackie Baillie during Qs to Scot Gov official Judith MacKinnon re what was known/when re Salmond probe "I appreciate it's a long time ago and you are not alone in having a failing memory". Could she be referring to this?! thescottishsun.co.uk/news/scottish-…
Background: HR boss Judith MacKinnon - whose involvement in the Salmond harassment probe led to it being declared unlawful - joined Scot Gov in 2017, just before the inquiry began. We told in 2019 how she came from a public body dogged by controversies thescottishsun.co.uk/news/3772983/c…
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EXCL: MP Margaret Ferrier claims SNP chiefs wrote her script apologising for flouting Covid rules then “hung me out to dry" by removing whip - after they saw public reaction. She says SNP bosses wrote that she'd referred herself to police before she had thescottishsun.co.uk/news/scottish-…
Ferrier: "Someone told me to phone the police and said the statement would say I had already done so."
Ferrier said at 6.52pm - 1hr after her statement - she was told whip was being removed "but I would get back in because I was cooperating"
“Why suddenly have we got to the point where they have to take the whip from me? It was because the statement went out and it escalated."
EXCL: Scotland's Test and Protect system at 'breaking point' in parts of country after failing performance coinciding with spike in cases thescottishsun.co.uk/news/scottish-…
Figures from weekly official reports show proportion of infected people interviewed within 24hrs of Test and Protect being notified has fallen by 11 percentage points over past 6 weeks, to 77.6 per cent.
% of cases taking over 3 days to complete has risen 8pts to 18.3%
Here's the data - taken from weekly Public Health Scotland reports - suggesting a decline in performance in Test and Protect in recent weeks. As well as this, multiple sources have told us the system is struggling in *parts* of Scotland - eg, Glasgow, Edinburgh
BREAKING: Scottish Police Federation say senior Police Scotland health and safety personnel have described the "Protect Scotland" Covid proximity app as “haphazard”, “unreliable” and “inaccurate”
According to the Scottish Police Federation, Police Scotland have recommended that all officers be instructed NOT to use the app. The Fed disagrees and criticises the force's "casual disregard for the health and safety of its officers"
Scottish Police Fed saying a recommendation has been tabled by Police Scotland for an outright ban on officers using Protect Scotland, citing accuracy issues. But Fed say they think this is to do with manpower and the force not wanting to deal with officers being taken off duty
Crikey. Under questions from journalist about definitions of cafes and restaurants, and who can stay open, Nicola Sturgeon says that "if cafes are finding this difficult then the only alternative we will have is to say anybody with a licence should close"
Nicola Sturgeon:“If a premise is in doubt,they should close until an environmental health officer tells them they think they fall within the definition. Now, if cafes are finding this difficult, then the only alternative we will have is to say anybody with a licence should close"
Sturgeon: “If there is a lack of clarity, it has come from us trying to be more flexible. And that's, I think, the right thing to do. But that doesn't mean we can give a blanket go-ahead to all classes of restaurants to stay open. "
EXCL: Scotland's care homes record 600 extra "excess" deaths during pandemic beyond 1,749 fatalities logged as Covid-related. The deaths are thought to be combination of unidentified Covid cases, and indirect mortality effects
We used publicly available National Records of Scotland data to calculate to the figures.
On chart below:
* Blue - expected level of deaths (five-year average)
* Red - excess deaths recorded as Covid-related
* Yellow - excess deaths not recorded as Covid
Chart shows how Covid (red) and non Covid (yellow) deaths leapt between weeks of 23/3 & 30/3. Covid: 5 to 49. Non-Covid: -1 (one less than expected from 5-year-avg) to 142. So initially, non-Covid excess deaths outnumbered Covid. Could many of these have been Covid deaths?
BREAKING: Scot Gov admits 921 hospital patients were sent to care homes in March alone, pre mandatory testing. Yet on April 15, Health Sec Jeane Freeman said most of 900 delayed discharge patients discharged since pandemic start went to own homes, not care homes. Huge discrepancy
15/4: Q to Freeman on num of discharges to care homes in pandemic."Up to date there have been just over 900 people who would otherwise be classified as a delayed discharge, discharged from hospital, primarily, as the First Minister said, to their own home"
Scot Gov press office later tell us by email the percentage of the "just over 900" that went to care homes is 31-32%. So, around 300. We ran with this figure repeatedly in days and weeks that followed.