Frequently Asked Questions relating to the Covid Inquiry 'Listening Exercise'
Q. I am keen to give evidence. How will individuals be selected to give evidence given there are thousands of families wanting to potentially do the same?
A. We can make proposals, but ultimately it is up to the chair who to call as a witness. The Chair will call people based on their experiences to give an accurate representation of the issues covered in the Terms of Reference.
Q. What will the listening exercise involve?
A. We have proposed to the Chair that your evidence and experiences should be heard within the Inquiry in three distinct ways:
- pen portraits where you can set out the details of the lives of your loved ones,
- your evidence as to the circumstances of their death, and
- evidence of the effects of their death on you, the bereaved.
Regrettably, our proposals were rejected, and the Listening Exercise is the alternative being put forward, together with some form of very limited commemoration.
The Chair has reiterated that the Inquiry will not consider in detail the individual’s case of harm or death and will only look at the overarching themes and issues informed by your experiences.
So far, we know that the Listening Exercise is a parallel process to the Inquiry but separate from it. Individual experiences will be analysed and summarised by a research company which will then provide written reports to the Inquiry. Any accounts that are referenced in the report will be anonymised. We are concerned at this proposal. We have not been told who the research company is, whether they have any relevant experience or training, how the material will be analysed, or how it will be presented to the Inquiry. In short, having a parallel process means that the Chair will not take part in it at all, but only receive some kind of analysis of the material. We do not think this is good enough and we expressed our concerns on this at the preliminary hearing. The voices of the bereaved are too important to be heard in another parallel process.
We can assure you that we are doing our best to make the relevant submissions and challenge the decisions that have been made regarding the listening exercise. We will keep you updated on this.
Q: Can I send in evidence for the listening exercise like documents such as personal accounts/notes/photographs/pen portraits.
A: Some people like to send us these so that its out the way with and you don’t have to keep reliving these memories. We can put these on your file for safekeeping. We are not certain on when or in what context they will be used at this time but are making submissions and will keep you updated on this. We don’t accept medical records as the inquiry won't look at individual cases and medical records can be very big documents.