Equalities and Human Rights Committee COVID-19 Inquiry: Response

The Consortium has responded to the Scottish Parliament’s Equalities and Human Rights Committee’s Inquiry into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on human rights.

We welcome the inquiry and support its goal of scrutinising government decision-making at this unprecedented time. Our response highlights the significant negative impact on human rights, including:

• The poor and inconsistent use of equalities and human rights assessments, particularly where decisions have been made to withdraw health and social care services.
• The limited availability of information in accessible formats and multiple languages.
• The impact of lengthening deadlines for Freedom of Information requests, which has led to reduced scrutiny of government decisions.

The full text of our response is available here.