Covid-19 inquiry first preliminary hearing to begin
The first preliminary hearing of the UK Covid public inquiry will start today following a delay after the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
The London hearing will look at the UK’s pandemic preparedness before 2020 and will be largely procedural, with lawyers and an announcement about who will give evidence.
Whilst the public hearings with witnesses called will not start until the spring.
The inquiry formally started in the summer, but today’s first preliminary hearing is still being seen as an important milestone for the families who lost a loved one during the pandemic.
What do I need to know?
The inquiry will be chaired by Baroness Hallet and will be wide-ranging. It has been split into separate sections.
The content of the first three has been announced:
- planning and preparedness
- political decision-making
- health care
The topic of further modules will be announced in 2023 – but the likely topics will be:
- vaccines
- the care sector
- government procurement
- test-and-trace
- business and finance
- devolution
- education
- health inequalities
Module two – political decision-making at the start of the pandemic between January and March 2020, including the timing of the first lockdown.
The preliminary hearing for module two is expected to take place in November.
Public hearings for module one are expected to start in the spring and then for module two later in 2023.
What can the inquiry do?
It can make witnesses give evidence and release documents but cannot prosecute or issue fines to anyone.
The UK’s response to the pandemic has already come under scrutiny. A report by MPs on the Health and Social Care Committee and the Science and Technology Committee said the UK’s failure to stop Covid spreading early in the pandemic was one of the country’s worst public health failures.
Another report found ministers had not been properly prepared for a pandemic like Covid-19 and lacked detailed plans on shielding, job-support schemes and school disruptions.