1. Opening Remarks by the Chair

Lady Hallett: Good morning, and welcome to the first day of the main hearings of the Covid-19 UK Public Inquiry.

I shall start by hearing opening submissions from Counsel to the Inquiry and from the core participants, and then evidence in Module 1 covering resilience and preparedness for the pandemic.

As people arrived at the hearing centre today, they found a dignified vigil of bereaved family members holding photographs of their loved ones. Their grief was obvious to all. It is on their behalf and on behalf of the millions who suffered and continue to suffer in different ways as a result of the pandemic that I intend to answer the following three questions:

Was the UK properly prepared for a pandemic?

Was the response to it appropriate?

Can we learn lessons for the future?

To conduct the kind of thorough investigation the people of the United Kingdom deserve takes time and a great deal of preparation. An extraordinary amount of work has been done to get us to this point. I wish to commend all those involved: the Inquiry team, both secretariat and legal, the core participants, the witnesses and the material providers. It has been and it will remain a huge task, and I am acutely conscious of the burden I have placed on everyone by the ambitious timetable I have set. But if I am to achieve my aim of making timely recommendations that may save lives and reduce suffering in the future, I had no choice.

My plan, as people now know, is to publish reports as we go along, so that when the hearings for this module finish, work will begin on preparing the report for this module. When that report is ready, it will be published.

In the meantime, the other module teams and I will be working on the next modules.

I have promised many times that those who suffered hardship and loss are and will always be at the heart of the Inquiry, and I have done my very best within the constraints upon me of time, resources and my terms of reference, to fulfil that promise.

I know that there are those who feel that the Inquiry has not sufficiently recognised their loss or listened to them in the way that they feel appropriate. But I hope that they will better understand, as the Inquiry progresses, the very difficult balance I have had to strike.

I hope they will understand when they see the results of the work we are doing that I am listening to them. Their loss will be recognised. They will be able to contribute to the Inquiry by describing their experiences at community events or sharing their story online or on the phone. Some will contribute by giving evidence at the hearings, and representatives of each of the four bereaved family groups will be called in this module. Some will contribute by helping us design further panels of the tapestry, four panels of which are here today.

We’re not the first to decide that the pandemic should be commemorated and I’m happy to acknowledge the excellent work done by others, for example the Covid Chronicles. So many people died and so many people suffered, it is only right that we find various ways to commemorate them and their experience.

The other way in which the bereaved and those who suffered can contribute to the Inquiry is by agreeing to talk about their experience on our impact films.

In a moment, we’re going to watch the first of them, in which people from across the four nations of the United Kingdom talk about the devastating impact the pandemic has had on them and on their loved ones. Bereavement is a major theme of this first film, but future films will cover a wider range of experiences.

The film is extraordinarily moving. It involves people talking in very explicit terms about their suffering and their loss, in a way that will bring back very difficult memories for many people.

I want to thank everyone who agreed to be filmed as part of this, including those not featured in this first film. I can only imagine how difficult it must have been for them to relive those experiences in front of a camera. But please believe it was worthwhile. You have recorded your experience for posterity, and alerted me to issues that I need to explore.

If you do not want to view the film right now, there will be an opportunity to leave the room. The ushers will show you to the refreshments area. The three screens there will not be showing the film, and someone will call you back in once it has finished.

If you’re watching the live stream, you may wish to turn off YouTube. The duration is approximately 17 minutes.

Emotional support is available to anyone here at the hearing centre. For those watching online, there is a list of numbers to call on the Inquiry website.

Once the film begins to play, a warning will be displayed for 30 seconds before the first images appear. Once the video has been played, we will reassemble and I will ask Mr Hugo Keith King’s Counsel, Counsel to the Inquiry, to make his opening statement.

So would those who would like to leave the hearing room now do so.

(Pause)

Lady Hallett: Could we play the film, please.

(Video played)

Lady Hallett: I hope that those who had to leave the room will be able to recover. As soon as we’re able to reassemble, we shall do so. Could we send them a message to them, please, ask them if they wish to come back in.

(Pause)

Lady Hallett: I’m sorry to all of those who found that film particularly distressing. I think it was distressing for everybody, but I’m sure especially so for you. So I’m sorry about that.

Mr Keith.