UK Covid-19 Inquiry: Module 1

On 25 April 2023, the Covid-19 Inquiry held its third preliminary hearing for Module 1 of the Inquiry, which will examine the UK’s resilience and preparedness for the Covid-19 pandemic. Our updates about the previous two preliminary hearings for this module, held in October 2022 and February 2023, can be accessed here - October 2022 and February 2023.

The hearing addressed a number of issues including Rule 9 requests, disclosure to Core Participants, expert witnesses and the Rule 10 procedure.

In relation to Rule 9 requests, Counsel to the Inquiry, Hugo Keith KC (“CTI”) addressed whether the process by which Rule 9 statements and documents have been disclosed to the Core Participants will enable them to participate meaningfully and properly in the Module 1 public hearing. CTI set out some figures concerning the disclosure process: “Shortly, the core participants will have Rule 9s from 145 providers. That is a very considerable amount of documentation. On the exhibits front… some 5,200 documents have been disclosed to the core participants. Several hundred more will be going out….” CTI also provided an update on the remaining document figures: “Some 3,300 documents are already with the material providers, or about to go… 6,700 documents are in the review process, either at first or second level review, awaiting a determination on relevance.”

CTI noted that the disclosure figures may appear alarming, but explained that the review process continues to speed up. It was noted that the Inquiry is already aware of which witnesses are scheduled to be heard first and know what documents are therefore likely to relate to those witnesses, which will need to be provided to Core Participants in good time.

This disclosure issue was raised by each of the Core Participants attending the hearing, explaining the challenges and concerns with the rate of disclosure and provision of witness statements, in light of the timescale to commence the substantive hearings in June. While noting the concerns, the Chair however made clear that she was determined to start the Inquiry’s hearings on 13 June “because it is absolutely essential if I am to make timely recommendations, and by that I mean recommendations if not this year, certainly next year, that we get on with hearing evidence.”

A number of other issues were addressed during the hearing. One of these issues concerned the difficulties which the Inquiry has encountered in receiving documents and information from material providers. CTI explained how the Inquiry has sought to resolve concerns with corporate statements and material which were “insufficiently rigorous in identifying ways in which those bodies or departments failed to anticipate, plan for the pandemic, or were insufficiently rigorous in identifying for our benefit further lines of inquiry.”

CTI also addressed the general issue of the nature or level of disclosure from the devolved administrations. CTI noted that a very significant number of Rule 9s have been issued towards the devolved administrations, but many of those Rule 9s happened to be issued somewhat later in the process of seeking disclosure. CTI said that “the core participants are about to receive very significant disclosure imminently from the devolved administrations.” Following questions raised by Core Participants, CTI also confirmed that the issue of preparedness of Northern Ireland has been extensively addressed in the Rule 9s the Inquiry has sent out and that a number of Welsh politicians had also received Rule 9 requests.

Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice Cymru also sought clarification on the extent to which the Inquiry’s expert evidence covers the devolved administrations, but in particular Wales. In a similar vein, Public Health Scotland asked about the extent of expert evidence covering public health in Scotland. CTI noted that, while the expert evidence does properly cover all the devolved administrations in a general sense, not all expert evidence can cover the devolved administrations to the same degree and much depends on the issue and the subject matter of a particular expert’s report.

Another issue that was addressed during the hearing was the Inquiry’s Rule 10 process, and in particular the introduction of an additional process whereby Core Participants may be permitted to meet CTI after they have submitted their proposals on the evidence and Rule 10 questions, so that they have an opportunity to better explain to the Inquiry team the rationale underpinning their observations. Concerns about this process - described as the “pre-witness evidence proposals” - had been raised by Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK and Northern Ireland Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice. CTI explained that the pre-witness evidence proposal was intended to afford an additional route by which Core Participants could “metaphorically bend Counsel to the Inquiry's collective ear”. CTI confirmed that the process is optional and was offered simply so that Core Participants could better inform the Inquiry of their views. CTI also confirmed that if further relevant information comes to light after a witness has given evidence, the Inquiry would recall the witness. CTI noted the Chair’s power to recall witnesses, and very wide discretion to call any witness at any time on any topic.

Finally, CTI also reflected on ‘Every Story Matters’, noting that there is still no single place, whether a document or an online note, where the bereaved families can find out who will be involved, how it is intended to operate, what the timescales are, how the trauma-informed approach will be ensured and how the process will be accessed. CTI explained that Baroness Hallett has directed that all the information relating to Every Story Matters be brought together into a single document, and this will be published later this week. CTI also explained how targeted research for Every Story Matters will work, with the introduction of community events or community listening events.

Baroness Hallett closed the hearing by noting that this may be the last hearing which the Inquiry will conduct remotely, certainly in respect of Module 1.

Module 1 evidential hearings are still scheduled to commence on 13 June.

Download PDF

Further reading

Our Inquiries & Investigations team has written extensively about the Covid-19 Inquiry. Read the previous articles in the series on our dedicated Covid Inquiry Hub.