Today saw the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Coronavirus meet for an evidence session. The APPG’s aim is to ensure that lessons are learned from the UK’s handling of the Covid-19 outbreak, so that the UK’s response and preparedness may be improved in future.
Elkan Abrahamson, who was on a panel interviewed for this evidence session expressed his concerns over the delayed start of the statutory public inquiry.
We have an inquiry chair but as yet, because the PM has not set up the inquiry, we don’t actually have a formal inquiry yet, which is certainly unusual to happen three months on into the process.
That’s the first problem and, until the inquiry is formally set up, there’s no duty to preserve documents, there’s no duty to cooperate, because there’s no formal inquiry to cooperate with.
That, to me as a lawyer, is an enormous concern, because I’m sure information and documentation is already going missing."
He continues,
The big issue I would return to is openness, and again that has been mentioned before. But can I give a few examples of this: the chair has made several promises to the bereaved families during the consultation process, ironically those promises have not been put on the website yet, which perhaps gives us an indication as to the openness.
We have been given and we shared a draft of the terms of reference which has been discussed. What we’ve not been given is the original proposed terms of reference and the comments that came back from the PM. Further, we are not going to be given the amended terms of reference which go to the PM for his final decision.
So, we’re already not part of the process of fixing the terms of reference except, if you like, as supplicants. We’re saying what we want to be included, but we won’t know what the chair is proposing and what the PM is rejecting, and without knowing that we can’t argue as to why certain points should remain in, and we can’t understand why they’ve been excluded. Already the openness that we’d hoped for from the inquiry seems to be ebbing away.”
If you’ve lost a loved one to Covid, it isn’t too late to join the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group and be part of this Inquiry. We are fighting for core participation status and striving to ensure that the bereaved families will be at the heart of this Inquiry, where they belong.
Find out more about the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group.