About Let's Be Heard

Jump to:

1. What is Let’s Be Heard?
2. What has Let’s Be Heard done so far?
3. What is Let’s Be Heard doing now?
4. Why are shared experiences important to the Inquiry?
5. Who took part?
6. What information did Let's Be Heard want to receive?
7. Areas covered by the Inquiry
8. Our approach
9. The Let’s Be Heard timeline
10. Updates

What is Let’s Be Heard? 

Let’s Be Heard is the Scottish COVID-19 Inquiry’s public participation project. It gave everyone affected by the devolved strategic response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2022 the chance to share their experiences with the Scottish COVID-19 Inquiry.

Let’s Be Heard finished gathering experiences on 29 November 2024 to focus on analysing the information people have shared.

What has Let’s Be Heard done so far? 

Let’s Be Heard has been gathering people’s experiences of the pandemic in Scotland. The public participation project’s National Engagement Period ran between May and December 2023. In 2024, the team launched its Focused Engagement Period to hear more from certain groups on specific themes.

During these engagement periods, people across Scotland were invited to share their experiences of the pandemic, how these impacted them and any lessons they believe should be learned. People could do this as individuals, as part of a group, online, through digital uploads, on paper or by sharing existing reports from their group or organisation.

Over the course of the National Engagement Period, Let’s Be Heard received experiences from more than 5,000 people, with submissions from every local authority in Scotland. The team attended 120 events, conferences, information stands and group discussions, both online and in person all around the country.

The team is very grateful to those who shared their experiences, as these experiences have been crucial in supporting the Inquiry’s work and informing its investigations.

The map below shows Let’s Be Heard submissions by local authority across Scotland. You can zoom in to see more detail and download the supporting data sheet.

In November 2023, Let’s Be Heard published its first report into early findings from its National Engagement Period. You can find the full report, executive summary, and an Easy-Read on the Inquiry’s website.

More information about the National Engagement Period is available in the National Engagement Overview and easy-read Let's Be Heard's work in 2023.

To build on the broad base of information gathered through National Engagement, Let’s Be Heard began working with organisations and groups to hear more about pandemic experiences in Scotland around specific themes. This formed the basis of the team’s Focused Engagement Period. Activities included workshops, focus groups and surveys tailored to groups and communities that Let’s Be Heard sought to hear more from.

By the end of Focused Engagement, on 29 November 2024, Let’s Be Heard had received more than 11,000 experiences, attended more than 200 events and travelled to every local authority across the country.

What is Let’s Be Heard doing now? 

Let’s Be Heard finished its engagement activities on 29 November 2024.

The team is now analysing all of the information people have shared and continues to support the Inquiry’s investigations and reports.

Why are shared experiences important to the Inquiry?

Let’s Be Heard is a vital and integral part of the Scottish COVID-19 Inquiry.

All contributions and submissions to Let’s Be Heard are important. They are: 

• shaping the Inquiry’s investigations and recommendations; 
• helping the Inquiry understand the impact of the pandemic for different people; and 
• ensuring that lessons can be learned for the future.

The Inquiry is investigating how the response to the pandemic impacted people in Scotland, including whether there were any unequal impacts for different groups and individuals.

To do this, the Inquiry aims to hear from as many different people as possible.

Who took part? 

Anyone living in Scotland or affected by decisions made in Scotland between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2022 could share their experiences of the pandemic with Let's Be Heard.

Let’s Be Heard is grateful to have heard from many individuals, as well groups and organisations working with different communities across Scotland.

What information did Let's Be Heard want to receive? 

The team wanted to hear about what was important to the people impacted by COVID-19 in Scotland.

Let’s Be Heard asked three general questions about the pandemic, covering: 

• individuals’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic;  
• the impacts of these experiences; and  
• any lessons you think should be learned from your experiences.

The participation project aimed to hear about experiences that connected with the Inquiry’s key areas of investigation and related to the handling of the pandemic in Scotland.

The areas the Scottish COVID-19 Inquiry is investigating are set out in its Terms of Reference. Broadly, they relate to the devolved areas of health, education, welfare assistance and financial support.

The illustration below provides a broad overview of what the Inquiry is investigating:

Areas covered by the Inquiry include:

• Preparation for the pandemic
  
• Lockdown and other restrictions
• COVID testing and the delivery of vaccination programmes
• Managing outbreaks
• Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
• Shielding
• Care homes and nursing homes
• Health and social care services
• Unpaid carers
• End-of-life care including Do Not Attempt to Resuscitate Orders (DNACPR)
• Welfare assistance programmes
• Education
• Support for businesses and the self-employed

Our approach

To create Let’s Be Heard we:

• applied the principles of a Human Rights-Based Approach;
• considered equality and non-discrimination;
• considered accessibility; and
• undertook a trauma-informed approach.

These approaches all work together to ensure everyone in Scotland could share their experiences with the Inquiry.

You can find out more on our Human Rights and Other Approaches page.

The Let’s Be Heard timeline

To ensure that both National and Focused Engagement Periods were inclusive and accessible, Let’s Be Heard carried out two pilots before its public launch in May 2023:

• November-December 2022: with representative organisations
• February-March 2023: with members of the public, through organisations

The team is grateful for the valuable input, time, and support during these two pilots from people who have been bereaved, or had/have relatives in care, as well as those involved in third sector, civil society and community groups.

Following the pilots, Let’s Be Heard launched its National Engagement Period on 23 May 2023, which ran for seven months to 20 December 2023.

After publishing an interim report with early findings in November 2023, Let’s Be Heard reached out to groups and communities it wished to hear more from through its Focused Engagement Period. This ran until 29 November 2024.

Updates

Let’s Be Heard will provide regular updates throughout the course of the Inquiry. If you would like to receive these updates, you can:

• sign up online
• Email us at LetsBeHeard@covid19inquiry.scot or
• Write to us at Freepost SCOTTISH COVID-19 INQUIRY.

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