They further welcome the offer of the current Chief Constable David Jones to meet with the families. The families of the Hillsborough Inquiry will be asking him to clarify whether he has invited HMIC to conduct a root and branch investigation into  the values of South Yorkshire Police – including its conduct at Orgreave -  as this is a necessary precursor to any remedial action.

The families also welcome the invitation from the Home Secretary to meet with them. They will be asking her what steps will be taken to ensure that public bodies in future act with integrity and honesty in Inquests  and Inquiries and that public money is not wasted on frustrating the legal process.

They will also be arguing for the establishment of a scrutiny group with powers to oversee the investigations of Operation Resolve and the IPCC. This would be the first time such a group has been established.

Elkan Abrahamson, solicitor for the families, said:

‘We are currently negotiating with the Home Office the terms of what is called the Hillsborough Article 2 Reference Group, a group to be set up to oversee the criminal and disciplinary investigations.

This is unprecedented and we are anxious to ensure that the group has sufficient access to documents and people to be able to scrutinise and comment on the investigations without interfering with them.  Our concerns are and have always been that the investigations are conducted professionally.’