Plans existed to address a major pandemic in Scotland but the duration of the Covid-19 outbreak was not anticipated, an inquiry has heard.
Calum Campbell, a former member of the Scottish Resilience Partnership and ex-NHS Scotland chief executive, appeared as a witness at the Scottish Covid-19 Inquiry on Tuesday.
He said emergency and resiliency planning in Scotland “broadly anticipated” a potential pandemic of the size and scale of coronavirus, but the duration of it – just over three years – was a “variation”.
He told the inquiry: “That’s the bit that we hadn’t added in there.”
The inquiry in Edinburgh is currently examining the implementation of Scottish Government policies and guidance relating to the pandemic.
The plans existed, but I certainly never anticipated the duration. So prior to it, I didn't raise concerns to say our plans are not adequate to last just over three years
Mr Campbell gave evidence alongside two other representatives from resilience partnerships.
The inquiry heard resilience partnerships were urged to prepare for a national pandemic years before Covid emerged.
A document from October 2017 stated pandemic influenza was the “highest rated risk” in a UK national risk assessment.
Through resilience partnerships, organisations – such as Police Scotland, local authorities and NHS boards – were told to prepare for increased demand for services, high levels of staff absence across all sectors, the potential need to manage a number of excess deaths, and school closures.
Mr Campbell said: “We certainly had pandemic plans, and they had been extensively discussed between boards and local resilience partnerships.
“We also had high consequence infectious disease plans. The reality is that Covid sat between the two of those – that’s where the challenge came.
“The plans existed, but I certainly never anticipated the duration. So prior to it, I didn’t raise concerns to say our plans are not adequate to last just over three years.
“In hindsight looking back, there were mistakes, but that’s with the benefit of hindsight. Coming up to it, I didn’t see that.”
Day one of the Inquiry's implementation hearings begins today at 10am.
We will hear evidence from a panel of representatives from Resilience Partnerships.
More information and streams are available on our website: https://t.co/tQ2P6bikd6
— Scottish COVID-19 Inquiry (@covidinquirysco) October 6, 2026
Faryma Bahrami, junior counsel to the inquiry, said many of the emergency preparations were “still in the pipeline” in 2020 when Covid emerged and had “not been completed”.
She asked the panel to share their thoughts on why preparedness work was not completed and if that was brought to the attention of the Scottish Government.
Police Scotland Assistant Chief Constable Mark Williams, who also appeared on the panel in relation to his time as the former chairman of the West of Scotland Regional Resilience Partnership and as a former member of the Lothian and Borders and City of Edinburgh Local Resilience Partnerships, said plans had been progressing.
“There was no shortage of desire or enthusiasm to continue that work, but nevertheless it was a priority, and it was a priority being progressed,” he said.
He said plans may not have reached the desired final stage in all areas that organisations would have liked, but he emphasised that there was a framework.
He also stated that from a police perspective, pandemic preparedness is “not the only thing we are dealing with”.
Amid business-as-usual pressures, Mr Williams said Police Scotland are “also attempting to plan for dozens of risks we face”.
Throughout the period leading up to the pandemic, he said Police Scotland and other agencies were also preparing for the consequences and variables associated with Brexit.
“That didn’t stand in the way, but it was a reality of balancing a lot of priorities at the same time and protecting the public in so many other ways,” he told the inquiry.
Angela Scott – the chief executive of Aberdeen City Council who is also vice chairwoman of the Scottish Resilience Partnership and chairwoman of the North Regional Resilience Partnership – said Scotland’s PPE planning was not as “clear and as robust” as it needed to be in the lead-up to the pandemic.
“I don’t think there was a consideration of PPE to the volume required and then the distribution,” she said.
“That capability had to be exercised at absolute pace in order to do that then, which included the third sector as part of that.
“But I don’t think PPE from an emergency planning perspective was as clear and as robust as it needed to be. I think there’s certainly a lesson to learn from there.”
Ms Bahrami presented a document to the inquiry which assessed Scotland’s readiness for an outbreak in March 2018.
The report and exercise highlighted a “need to resolve the PPE issue” and recognised an “unease at the lack of clarity on PPE availability, training and testing” among frontline staff.
Ms Bahrami said the document highlighted a “clear gap” in Scotland’s preparedness for an outbreak, and noted that the issue “hadn’t been sufficiently progressed” before the Covid pandemic emerged in 2020.
Mr Campbell said it was his understanding as the former NHS Scotland chief that there was a stockpile of PPE maintained by National Services Scotland (NSS).
He said the size of that stockpile against what would be required would be a question for that organisation.
The implementation hearings, before inquiry chairman Lord Brailsford, continue.