Covid-19 Inquiry ~ Cabinet Office ~ Inquiries Act 2005

A previous post outlined the issue between the Chair of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry and the Cabinet Office - Law and Lawyers: Covid-19 Inquiry and Government ~ Battle lines drawn (obiterj.blogspot.com). 

The Inquiry Chair (Baroness Hallett) had issued a notice, under the Inquiries Act 2005 section 21, for the government to produce certain material which, in her view, related to matters to be investigated (in Module 2) by the inquiry. The government brought judicial review to challenge the notice. The High Court held that the notice was valid.

The court recorded that the Cabinet Office may respond to the notice by making an application pursuant to section 21(4), that it is unreasonable to produce material which does not relate to a matter in question at the inquiry. It will be for the Chair of the Inquiry to rule on that application. 

Therefore, the court's ruling does not mean that everything produced to the Inquiry will necessarily be published in full. Material supplied to the inquiry that is ruled not to relate to a matter in question at the inquiry is to be returned.

The 16 page judgment is at Cabinet Office -v- Chair of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry - Courts and Tribunals Judiciary. The government indicated that it would not appeal.

The judgment, perfectly properly, avoids making the perhaps obvious point that public confidence in any findings made by the inquiry would have been undermined had the government either been permitted to withhold material from the inquiry or to first redact material before it was handed to the inquiry. 

The government's application to the court gave an appearance of a government wishing to hide information. It is to be hoped that the inquiry can now get on with its work without similar problems arising. On any view, the Inquiry timescale is lengthy but the Chair has indicated that reports will be issued as the inquiry proceeds. 

Inquiry costs, by August 2022, reportedly had reached £85 million - UK COVID inquiry bill tops £85M before hearings begin – POLITICO.. The application for judicial review, involving the Government Legal Department as well as four King's Counsel and seven other barristers, will have added considerable costs to public finances.

The Inquiry is currently hearing oral evidence on Module 1 (Resilience and Preparedness for the pandemic). Module 2 will examine Core UK decision-making and political governance.