Hillsborough Law update ‘coming imminently’ says minister ahead of anniversary
Alex Norris was also asked about calls for a national oversight mechanism to monitor whether inquiry recommendations are being implemented.
An update on the long-awaited “Hillsborough Law” is expected soon, a minister has said, following reports a meeting between the Prime Minister and campaigners was cancelled amid concerns it will be watered down.
Last year, Sir Keir Starmer pledged at the Labour party conference that such a law will be introduced in Parliament before the 36th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster, which will be marked on April 15 this year.
The law campaigners have long called for would introduce a legal duty of candour on public authorities and officials to tell the truth and proactively co-operate with official investigations and inquiries – with the potential for criminal sanctions for officials or organisations which mislead or obstruct investigations.
Last week it was reported that a meeting between Sir Keir and campaigners had been cancelled, with claims officials were attempting to have the contents of a bill watered down.
It is understood concerns relate to who the duty of candour would apply to.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice said the Government is “fully committed to bringing in a Hillsborough Law which will include a legal duty of candour for public servants and criminal sanctions for those who refuse to comply”.
Building safety minister Alex Norris said there will be an update “coming imminently”.
He told MPs at the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee on Tuesday: “I know that there is a lot of interest in the Hillsborough Law and the implications for the duty of candour. In preparation for this session, it probably won’t surprise you, I was asking colleagues about the status of that, I believe that’s coming imminently.
“I can’t speak to where that then finishes for the piece of work on the oversight mechanism, because that is a Cabinet Office-led one.
“But those calls have been understood, and it will be addressed in the future in terms of what model the Government’s choosing going forwards.”
Campaigners on a range of scandals including the Grenfell fire and infected blood victims have also previously called for a national oversight mechanism – an independent public body – to be put in place, responsible for collating, analysing and following up on recommendations from public inquiries.
They have argued that, without such a body in place, governments can delay the implementation of, or even ignore entirely, recommendations from public inquiries.
At the committee session, which covered a range of topics including the Government’s response to the final report of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, Mr Norris said he recognised the call for an oversight mechanism, from campaigners who have been victim of “scandal and failure of the British state”.
But he added that the Grenfell inquiry report had stopped short of recommending such a mechanism.
He told MPs: “For my part in it, the recommendation in the inquiry stopped at a publicly accessible database. We are delivering that.
“We’ve promised quarterly reporting on gov.uk and an annual session in parliament for colleagues to scrutinise us.”
Asked directly by Conservative MP Lewis Cocking whether the Government is going to introduce a national oversight mechanism, Mr Norris said he “can’t make that commitment”.
He added: “That’s a Cabinet Office-run process. I’ve made the commitment I’ve made in line with what we published in the inquiry on the publicly available information. The work is ongoing across Government on the national oversight mechanism more generally.”
The Cabinet Office has been contacted for comment.
Elsewhere in the session, Mr Norris confirmed Dame Judith Hackitt, who previously led an independent review into building regulations in the wake of the Grenfell fire, will chair a new panel looking at building control.
He said: “One of the very important recommendations in the inquiry was the establishment of a panel to assess and to bring forward ideas on building control. So that we’re setting up very, very soon indeed.”
The Grenfell final report had recommended the government should appoint an “independent panel to consider whether it is in the public interest for building control functions to be performed by those who have a commercial interest in the process”.
Mr Norris said Dame Judith’s appointment was expected to be announced officially in the coming days.
