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9 Sep, 9 tweets, 4 min read
.@ScottishSun editorial today on the Scottish Government ditching Nicola Sturgeon's 2017 pledge for a state-owned energy company.

Nice for the private consultants paid hundreds of thousands of pounds — but zero help for Scots promised cheap energy bills by the First Minister
We've followed this story closely since Ms Sturgeon's 2018 conference speech, after which spin doctors were unable to give any guidance on setup costs, but made bold claims about undercutting major suppliers and dragging down energy prices across the board thescottishsun.co.uk/news/1682956/n…
Scot Gov batted away Qs re its state-owned energy firm in Oct 2017 by saying more detail would come in their upcoming "energy strategy". When the strategy landed in December 2017, it contained 137 words on the energy firm... and called it an "ambition" thescottishsun.co.uk/news/scottish-…
In April 2018, a £315,000 consultants report commissioned by ministers landed, iting £3.5m setup costs, running costs of up to £9m p/a, and tiny margins in a “highly complex and competitive” energy industry. thescottishsun.co.uk/news/2479395/n…
In Nov 2018, 13 months on from Nicola Sturgeon's announcement, we revealed how the timetable was slipping with work on a “strategic outline business case” only just under way thescottishsun.co.uk/news/politics/…
Then in April 2019, we told how the state-owned energy firm plan was six months behind schedule and ministers now wanted it be run by councils using a model that piggy-backs on an existing energy firm - not a new business run by Scot Gov thescottishsun.co.uk/news/politics/…
In 2020, the pandemic hit. Whatever work was ongoing (unclear what was), stopped. This week,
Terry Murden from @1DailyBusiness revealed the plan had been scrapped. Scot Gov line was will it instead "focus government efforts" on an energy efficiency agency dailybusinessgroup.co.uk/2021/09/holyro…
The bill for consultants alone for the abandoned Scottish Government plan for a state-owned energy firm was £518,000.

Scot Gov statement:
A reminder of the energy company pledge

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More from @ChrisMusson

Chris Musson Profile picture
2 Jun
Today, Health Sec @HumzaYousaf said 10 children age 0-9 were in hospital last week "because of Covid". A serious claim. We asked Scot Gov for
- The basis of the figures
- If any are seriously ill
- If Mr Yousaf was definitely correct

They came back with this, 7 hours later:
The Health Sec also claimed if parents from a Level 2 area took kids to a soft play in a Level 1 area (where soft plays can open) it "could lead to hospitalisation of children".

Here's what Scot Gov said when asked about the lawfulness of such a scenario. (In short, it's legal)
The Scot Gov statement about 10 child Covid patients does *not* say Humza Yousaf was incorrect in any way when he said on @BBCRadioScot that "hospital figures for last week" showed "there was 10 young children - 0-9 years old - who were hospitalised because of Covid"
Read 13 tweets
Chris Musson Profile picture
2 Jun
Age breakdowns for Covid hospitalisations not published, but totals are. We don't know what day @HumzaYousaf was referring to here but avg of 92 people in hospital last week (Sun-Sat) with recently confirmed Covid-19.

So, his comments suggest approx 10% were in 0-9 age bracket
Mr Yousaf's comments that children 0-9 in hospital "because of Covid" also suggest the children in are hospital *because* of Covid - not just after testing positive for Covid while in hospital primarily for something else. Have asked Scot Gov for clarification
Numbers of patients currently in hospital (broken down by age) are not published. Since start of pandemic, Public Health Scotland data shows 238 admissions in 0-4 age group, 139 in 5-14. Will include cases of children with Covid but being treated for primarily other illnesses).
Read 4 tweets
Chris Musson Profile picture
1 Mar
We report today on a senior Scot Gov public health official using an arguably misleading & inaccurate deaths stat in Friday's Scot Gov televised Covid briefing, in order for the gov to back up its controversial argument it nearly eliminated Covid in summer thescottishsun.co.uk/news/scottish-…
In short, national clinical director Prof Jason Leitch suggested there were no Covid-related deaths between July 17 & Aug 18. There were in fact 24

Even if you examine his claim with a caveat he gave in response to one of two Qs on the issue, there was 1.

More detail follows
Prof Jason Leitch was responding to Edinburgh Uni epidemiologist Prof Mark Woolhouse's claims on Thurs that Scotland did not get close to elimination. Woolhouse's comments were widely reported, eg: thescottishsun.co.uk/news/6737272/c…
Read 15 tweets
Chris Musson Profile picture
26 Feb
Scotland's national clinical director @jasonleitch said at Covid briefing today that he disagreed with Edinburgh University epidemiologist Professor Mark Woolhouse, who cast doubt yesterday on Scot Gov claims that Scotland nearly eliminated the virus last summer
.@jasonleitch: “I disagree with Mark - you may not be surprised to hear that - but that’s healthy. That’s a good thing in the scientific advisory community. Some of the other members of our advisory group also disagree with Mark, again - healthy, that’s good."
Prof Leitch: “We rarely play those scientific debates out live at parliamentary committees and live on TV and that’s the nature of the pandemic.”
Read 8 tweets
Chris Musson Profile picture
26 Feb
Scot Gov Health Secretary Jeane Freeman confirms she will follow JCVI recommendation for phase two of the vaccine programme - eg, downwards by age, and no priority for key workers like teachers/police
Health Sec Jeane Freeman says target to finish groups 1-9 (down to over 50s) is April 15.

Age 40-49 will follow after that, as per JCVI recommendations
Freeman: "I understand why some of our professions and sectoral groups may be disappointed with the JCVI advice but they are crystal clear about where the greatest risk factor lies, and it doesn't lie on the basis of where you work, but on age..(and) underlying health conditions"
Read 6 tweets
Chris Musson Profile picture
25 Feb
Edinburgh Uni's Prof Mark Woolhouse (Scot Gov adviser) tells Holyrood's Covid committee: “Scotland was not close to elimination at any stage during this epidemic.”

Other experts (eg Prof Devi Sridhar) and Nicola Sturgeon have said that Scotland was close to elimination in summer
Prof Woolhouse, chair of infectious disease epidemiology at Edinburgh University, says there were low numbers of "reported" cases during the summer in Scotland, but modelling using a method that has been “very well validated since” show elimination was not close
Prof Woolhouse casts doubt on whether an elimination strategy in Scotland (seemingly favoured by Scot Gov) could work. He says there is "no route" for Scotland to get to where New Zealand (which has adopted a successful elimination strategy) is now
Read 11 tweets

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