At a preliminary hearing yesterday, inquiry chairman Lord Brailsford said it “will not be possible” for the inquiry to start and conclude its remaining hearings in 2026.

The inquiry last year concluded hearing evidence from those directly affected by the pandemic, and will this October hear evidence from organisations responsible for implementing government decisions.

The final set of hearings will hear from Scottish government ministers and their senior advisers.

“Structuring our investigations in this way means that the inquiry can ensure that it has at its full disposal all available evidence before hearing from the senior government officials and elected ministers who were responsible for detecting the decisions on how best to respond to the pandemic,” Lord Brailsford said.

The judge said he will “provide an update on the decision-making hearings at the conclusion of the hearings in October of this year”.

In a statement following the hearing, Aamer Anwar, lead solicitor for the Scottish Covid Bereaved (SCB), criticised the new timetable as well as the length and cost of the inquiry so far.

“The chair advised that evidence hearings of the key decision-makers in the Scottish government, NHS and care homes sector will now be delayed until 2027, over seven years after the pandemic began,” he said.

“We appear to be in a parallel universe, where in our criminal courts we are told delays, problems with witness memories, people moving on and the loss of records can all effect the quality of the evidence, yet this inquiry seems to be moving at a glacial pace to deliver accountability.

“Scotland is a small jurisdiction, and this inquiry should have been finished by now. It has been disrespectful to and traumatising for the bereaved to watch as this inquiry on so many occasions teetered on the edge of a cliff with shambolic starts and delays.

“Flawed and unconvincing, this Scottish inquiry has failed to meet the ‘gold standard’ set by the UK inquiry, whilst at times displaying a cavalier approach to important evidence.

“The bereaved have been denied the right to effectively participate, to directly question witnesses, denied opening statements, denied full disclosure, denied the opportunity to hold to account Scottish politicians and health professionals.

“The Covid bereaved are the experts, the ones with the lived experience of the pandemic in a way that the rest of us do not. They were the ones affected in the most dramatic and tragic way.

“Six years since the pandemic began, surely the Covid bereaved, and the people of Scotland deserve better.”

A further preliminary hearing is expected to take place in August prior to the second phase of hearings in October.