Scottish Government intervention delayed publication of Covid deaths by care home until after Holyrood election

The publication of Covid-19 deaths by individual care homes was kept secret until after the 2021 Holyrood election after a minister intervened in the process.

A last gasp Scottish Government intervention involving an SNP minister led to a delay in the publication of the number of Covid-19 deaths in individual care homes of more than three and a half months and until after the Holyrood election in May, it can be revealed.

Fiona Hyslop, then cabinet secretary for the economy, is shown in correspondence between Scottish Government officials and the National Records of Scotland to have been involved in discussions less than a week before care home mortality data was set to be released to the public in February.

Her intervention alongside that of government officials to involve external stakeholders in an attempt to “minimise impact” of the figures on the care sector led to a major delay in the data’s publication as the NRS u-turned on its decision to publish at the last second.

The NRS had initially refused to release the mortality data in care homes when it responded to an initial freedom of information request in September 2020, citing data protection rules.

The intervention from the Scottish Government in February came ahead of a deadline for the NRS to respond to an appeal lodged with the Scottish Information Commissioner (SIC) by news organisations including The Scotsman against that decision.

The SIC later ruled in May that the NRS had acted unlawfully in blocking the release of the data.

Responding at the time, the First Minister said the agency “operates in these kind of decisions independently of ministers”.

Opposition parties said the intervention raises questions around the “culture of secrecy” within the Scottish Government with Scottish Labour labelling the scale of the ministerial intervention “unacceptable”.

The Scottish Conservatives said the revelations “raise serious doubts” about the independence of the NRS from ministers.

The NRS denied any wrongdoing and said it was appropriate to involve external stakeholders in discussions around the appeal.

The Scottish Government said the matter had been for the NRS and that it was “keen” to ensure the agency had “considered arrangements for communication” with the care sector.

The revelations come after The Scotsman alongside STV, The Herald, and DC Thomson, revealed the government agency had unlawfully kept the care home mortality data secret for eight months amid criticism of a “lack of transparency” in May.

In his ruling, the SIC criticised the NRS for engaging in arguments that were “speculative in nature” as it tried to block the publication of the data after the agency refused to release the data in response to a freedom of information request.

However, emails obtained exclusively by The Scotsman reveal Scottish Government officials intervened as the figures were set to be published in February, with discussions involving Ms Hyslop and her officials directly leading to the delay.

In one email a week before an agreed publication date of February 10, NRS officials asked the Scottish Government whether ministers would “take a public interest stand and tell NRS not to release” the figures.

This was despite NRS officials stating it was “highly unlikely” they would succeed in blocking the release of the data by fighting the appeal and that they had “given in”, having decided they would make the care home death data public in early February.

Following the intervention, the care home data was made public on May 26, more than three months after its initial planned publication date of February 3 after the SIC ruled it must be published.

The political sensitivities of the impending release of the data around Covid-19 deaths in individual care homes was highlighted by the NRS in January when Peter Whitehouse, the agency’s director of statistical services, told an anonymous Scottish Government official the data’s publication would “perhaps be a story either way”.

The NRS had planned to release the data the next day but delayed publication until February 10 after Scottish Government officials intervened, stating stakeholders should be involved in discussions in a bid to “minimise impact”.