1. Opening Remarks by Lady Heather Hallett

Lady Hallett: Good morning. The UK Covid-19 Public Inquiry was established to examine, consider and report on the UK’s preparations for and the response to the Covid-19 pandemic. This is our first public hearing.

There is one word that sums up the pandemic for so many and that is the word LOSS. Although there were positive aspects of the pandemic, for example, the way in which communities banded together to help each other and the vulnerable, millions of people suffered loss, including the loss of friends and family members, the loss of good health, both mental and physical, economic loss, the loss of educational opportunities and the loss of social interaction.

Those who were bereaved lost the most. They lost loved ones and the ability to mourn properly. It is therefore right that we begin this first hearing with a minute’s silence for those who died. So would those of you who are able to do so, please stand for a minute’s silence.

The Inquiry will analyse our state of readiness for the pandemic and the response to it, as I’ve said, and to determine whether that level of loss about which we have just been reflecting was inevitable or whether things could have been done better. My principal aim is to produce reports and recommendations before another disaster strikes the four nations of the United Kingdom and if it is possible to reduce the number of deaths, the suffering, and the hardship.

To that end, I’ve set an ambitious timetable and the Inquiry team are working extraordinarily hard to meet it. I will need the full co-operation of the Core Participants, witnesses, holders of documents and information and experts. I have a duty to the public to conduct a thorough, fair and independent inquiry for the whole of the United Kingdom and I intend to do so. I am acutely conscious that different parts of the United Kingdom, different communities and different groups of people suffered in different ways, and the Inquiry team and I will ensure that we listen to them and learn from them. Throughout the Inquiry, we shall have the impacted on them at the forefront of our minds.

I am also determined that this Inquiry will not drag on for decades, producing reports when it is too late for them to do any good.

But my terms of reference cover a huge breadth of issues, and I shall not be able to produce reports and recommendations in a timely manner, if I grant every application for core participant status, if we cover every issue that people want covered, if we call for every document, examine every witness or cover every issue in as much detail as some may wish.

There is a balance to be struck between making timely recommendations and the extent to which we explore every issue, a balance recognised by many of the bereaved to whom I spoke during the public consultation on the Inquiry’s terms of reference.

I assure them and the rest of the public that I will do everything in my power to ensure we achieve a sensible and fair balance and that the Inquiry is as thorough as possible. I will consider submissions on the various issues and that balance should be drawn before I reach any conclusion. No decision will be taken lightly.

One of my earliest decisions was to break the issues into several modules and to assign members of the legal team and the secretariat to each module. Each module involves a gathering of evidence, (a process that has already begun) followed by the public hearings. We cannot hold hearings into each module at the same time and they will therefore be heard in sequence.

But I wish to emphasise that the order of the modules does not indicate that I consider the issues in later modules to be of any lesser importance, and the teams assigned to them will be working on them whilst the other modules are heard. Furthermore, the order and broad scope of the later modules are not yet set in stone.

For the avoidance of doubt and to allay concerns expressed in the media over the weekend, I should point out that the standard of care given to those suffering from Covid, including the triage system and the use of DNR notices, is very much an issue that I intend to explore and about which I shall receive evidence in a later module.

I have also had to decide on the designation of Core Participants for this, the first module. For those who have not been designated a Core Participant for Module 1, I hope they understand that my decision does not mean I have concluded their concerns are not legitimate or that they will not be addressed. If they are reasonable, my independent legal team will investigate them robustly and pursue them either in Module 1 or in what we consider to be a more appropriate module or modules. They may wish to apply for CP status in that later module or modules.

Even if they do not apply again or have not yet applied for CP status, they can still contribute to the Inquiry. There will be many ways in which individuals and organisations can do this, for example, by providing information or evidence to the Inquiry or suggesting lines of enquiry to the legal teams.

Alongside the preparation and hearings of the modules, I intend to conduct a listening exercise. Again there has been some reporting over the weekend about the design of and intent behind the proposed Listening Exercise. So let me explain a little more.

Our intention in conducting the Listening Exercise is to ensure that everyone across the UK who wishes to contribute to the Inquiry can do so in a less formal setting. People will not have to wait for the module in which they have an interest to be heard, and they will not have to give evidence at the public hearings, but their contributions will inform the Inquiry. It will provide valuable evidence to the Inquiry about the impact of the pandemic. I wish to emphasise that the fact that someone contributes to the Listening Exercise will not prevent them from giving evidence at the public hearings of the Inquiry if they have relevant evidence to give. I have taken no decisions as yet on the witnesses to be called, so no-one has been barred from giving evidence.

We shall also find an appropriate way or ways to commemorate those whom we have lost. In planning and designing the Listening Exercise, and commemoration, we shall ensure that those most affected, in particular the bereaved, are properly consulted. I promised the bereaved during the consultation process on the terms of reference that those who have suffered will be at the heart of the Inquiry and I intend to keep that promise. As I’m sure they will understand, that does not mean that I can or should consult them and the other Core Participants at every single stage of our preparation. If I did that, the Inquiry would go on forever.

But today I do invite further submissions on the Listening Exercise and other issues and, thereafter, we shall of course be listening to the most affected as we design the Listening Exercise and the commemoration or commemorations.

This is a preliminary hearing for Module 1 preparedness and resilience. Several of the Core Participants have provided extremely helpful and constructive submissions and within a tight time-frame. I am very grateful to them. Some of the issues raised may be more relevant to later modules. I simply ask everyone to keep their oral submissions today as succinct as possible and to focus on the issues that I have to consider today.

Mr Hugo Keith, King’s Counsel, Counsel to the Inquiry will now set those issues out. Mr Keith.