The UK-wide Covid Inquiry will have its first hearing on Tuesday 4 October.
This was previously being delayed due to the week of official mourning following the death of Queen Elizabeth II. The preliminary hearing will be open to the public and held in London. The Chair has indicated that there will be public hearings held across the UK during the lifespan of the Inquiry, as has been the case with other UK-wide inquiries, such as the Infected Blood Inquiry and the Post Office Inquiry.
This hearing is likely to focus on procedural aspects and will offer an insight into the conduct of next steps. There will also be an update on the Core Participant applications, which will be an important development for parties involved.
A key feature of this Inquiry is accessibility, particularly given the almost universal impact of the pandemic, so the hearing will be broadcast live via the YouTube channel. The Inquiry will also publish a transcript of the hearing, and a recording will be made available later. Public streaming of hearings has become a common feature of public inquiries over recent years, however, the UK Covid Inquiry seems to be particularly alive to the importance of open access and is implementing appropriate measures to facilitate this.
This hearing is in relation to Module 1, which will examine the UK’s resilience and preparedness for the coronavirus pandemic. Evidence on Module 1 is likely to be heard publicly in Spring 2023. In the meantime, the work of the Inquiry will continue to pick up pace, with active investigations into evidence.
The Chair was appointed in December 2021, and she indicated her ambitions for the inquiry to move rapidly. While it may not seem quick progress for the public, given the scale of the operations involved in this Inquiry, the Chair has been effective in progressing the Inquiry to a public preliminary hearing in less than a year since appointment. We can expect further updates to come quite quickly.
The Inquiry will look at both UK-wide and devolved national issues. The Scottish Covid Inquiry has its own specific mandate, and the UK Inquiry cannot look at issues which will be examined there. However, given the wide subject matter, the actions and decisions of the Scottish Government and other key decision-makers in Scotland will be subject to scrutiny in this forum too.
Our team can help you take steps at the earliest stage to prepare for the covid inquiries, both nationally and UK-wide. Burness Paull has one of the strongest, dedicated teams of lawyers who focus purely on matters relating to government, the public sector and their relationship to business and society, working regularly across high-profile and highly sensitive issues within public inquiries and judicial reviews.
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