PRESS RELEASE – UK COVID19 PUBLIC INQUIRY MODULE 2 – Preliminary Hearing-Monday October 31st 2022- Covid19 UK Public Inquiry
Statement by Aamer Anwar Solicitor on behalf of the ‘Scottish Covid Bereaved’ Group.
Our legal team appeared today on behalf of the Scottish Covid Bereaved (formerly Scottish Covid19 Bereaved Families for Justice) at the second preliminary hearing of the UK Covid19 Public Inquiry in London.
Preliminary hearings for the Inquiry’s second investigation today will take place over three days. It will be split into parts, to focus on each of the devolved nations separately.
Today’s preliminary hearing for Module 2 will examine the UK’s core political and administrative decision-making in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic. This will be followed by hearings for Module 2A (looking at decision-making in Scotland) and Module 2B (decision-making in Wales) on Tuesday 1 November. The hearing for Module 2C (Northern Ireland) will take place on Wednesday 2 November.
We appeared alongside 39 designated core participants including the Scottish Ministers, the devolved bereaved family groups, the TUC, Disabled People’s Representatives Organisations: Disability Rights UK, Disability Action Northern Ireland, Inclusion Scotland, Disability Wales, National Police Chiefs’ Council, Office of the Chief Medical Officer, Welsh Government, the Executive Office of Northern Ireland, The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Cabinet Office), Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, HM Treasury, Secretary of State for Health & Social Care, NHS England, British Medical Association, Federation of Ethnic Minority Healthcare Organisations (FEHMO), UK Health Security Agency.
Today we welcomed the wide-ranging submissions made by the UK Inquiry senior counsel Hugo Keith KC. Module 2 will be concerned with how central Government responded to the pandemic and made the key decisions that it did, concerning matters of central importance such as the decisions to impose lockdowns, how and why it made those core decisions and how well the system worked.
This module will look at and make recommendations upon the UK’s core political and administrative decision-making in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic between early January 2020 until February 2022, when the remaining Covid restrictions were lifted.
It will pay scrutiny to the decisions taken by the Prime Minister and the Cabinet, as advised by the Civil Service, senior political, scientific and medical advisers, and relevant Cabinet sub-committees, between early January and late March 2020, when the first national lockdown was imposed.
Importantly for Scotland, Module 2 will examine, the central government structures and bodies concerned with the UK response to the pandemic and their relationships and communications with the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland and regional and local authorities.
The initial understanding of, and response to, the nature and spread of Covid-19 in light of information received from the World Health Organization and other relevant international and national bodies, advice from scientific, medical and other advisers and the response of other countries
There will be access to and use in decision-making of medical and scientific expertise, data collection and modelling relating to the spread of the virus, including the measuring and understanding of transmission, infection, mutation, re-infection and death rates and dissemination of data between government departments and between the government, the NHS and the care sector.
Module 2 will also examine Public Health communications in relation to steps being taken to control the spread of the virus; transparency of government messaging; the use of behavioural management and the maintenance of public confidence in the UK government, including the impact of alleged breaches of rules and standards by Ministers, officials and advisers.
The inquiry will identify wrongful decision making, significant errors of judgment, the bereaved and those who suffered deserved nothing less. Those we represent recognise more than any other group that the hardship and suffering imposed by the pandemic was not equally spread.
The families we represent in Scotland confronted on a daily basis the risk of infection or worse, in hospitals, care homes and on the frontline of the public sector, for many it meant the loss of employment and the impact on their lives was devastating.
A key consideration in this module will be to look at the impact of the pandemic on the disabled, vulnerable, elderly, children, ethnic minorities and women who experienced domestic violence as well as other potentially disadvantaged groups.
It is hoped with the recent amendment of the terms of reference in the Scottish Covid19 Public Inquiry and the welcome appointment of Lord Brailsford as Chair, that a similar approach will be adopted in looking at the disadvantage suffered by minority groups in Scotland, human rights must be at the heart of its Inquiry as it clearly is proposed at the UK Inquiry.
We welcome the scope proposed by the UK Inquiry, which despite being hugely ambitious is necessary, if lessons are to be truly learned. Of note was Baroness Hallett’s comments following our submissions by Claire Mitchell KC, that what had been happening with the Scottish Inquiry meant it was not possible to give the clarity that the UK Inquiry would like to have given at this stage to the Scottish Covid bereaved.
In relation to the appointment of Lord Brailsford, we welcome his appointment as any further delay caused concerns on the potential impact on the UK inquiry as well as that of Scotland.
It is important to state that Lord Brailsford is a widely respected judge, who is known for his compassion and empathy. The families had wanted a judge who would be sufficiently experienced and robust but would put the bereaved families at the heart of the Scottish Inquiry, which they have not felt for some time.
The families are relieved and grateful to the Lord President and the Deputy First Minister John Swinney for the rapid appointment of Lord Brailsford and look forward to meeting with him very soon.
We appreciate that both sets of Inquiries will be the most complex and onerous in the history of this country, whilst at times the inquiries may falter, they cannot be allowed to fail.
It was ironic and deeply worrying that we have been representing the Scottish bereaved families in London the UK Covid Inquiry, whilst Scotland’s inquiry appeared to have stalled-however the appointment of Lord Brailsford gave hope that the Scottish Inquiry can finally get back on track and deliver the families truth, accountability and a legacy for their loved ones who lost their lives to Covid19.
The single most important question that the UK Inquiry must answer is whether it is possible to say what the likely effects of earlier or different decisions to intervene would have been, on whether lives would have been saved, if the lockdowns had been imposed earlier or differently. This will be critical and controversial questions for both the UK and Scottish Government to answer.
Further submissions for the Scottish Covid bereaved will be made in the hearing for module 2A tomorrow, Tuesday 1st November 10.00am when it looks at decision-making in Scotland.
