THE Scottish Government has not had enough time to scrutinise Westminster proposals on workplace safety after the coronavirus lockdown, the Economy Secretary has said.
In a letter to the UK’s Business Secretary, Alok Sharma, Fiona Hyslop said the Scottish Government had not had a chance to discuss the Safer Workplace Guidance with partners, and pushed for a “four-nations” approach to the advice. The guidance, which is currently at the draft stage, will help businesses ensure the safety of staff and the general public.
Hyslop outlined seven different areas of concern in her letter, based on “limited discussions” with Scottish Government partners and testing of the guidance against the Scottish administration’s strategy for easing lockdown.
She said: “I would reiterate my view that there has been insufficient time for the Scottish Government to discuss these papers with our partners in Scotland in a meaningful way.”
Issues raised include the fairness of the guidance, measures to be put in place to ensure compliance, the financial security of workers and how the rules will work alongside differing legislation in devolved administrations.
Nicola Sturgeon has repeatedly said she would deviate from UK-wide decisions on the lockdown measures if it were deemed necessary to fight the spread of the virus.
Hyslop wrote: “While it is important that we use this time to prepare guidance and plan for the restart, this needs to be planned carefully so that it does not undermine our critical public health messaging.
“Given that there may be different levels of community transmission across the devolved administrations in the future, and we may have to make decisions at different times, we believe that flexibility is vital regarding when and how we seek to use the guidance and would ask that this is reflected within any communications.”
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