A proposal has been made from Baroness Hallett, Chair of the Covid-19 Inquiry, that bereaved families will participate in a ‘Listening Exercise’ running as a parallel process to the Inquiry. This process would involve the bereaved sharing their stories and lived experiences from the pandemic with a third party, who would in turn collate them and share them with Baroness Hallett. Understandably, the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice Group fear that this could leave their experiences and testimonies open to bias or misrepresentation.
This proposal comes at a time where concerns are growing over conflicts of interest emerging within the Inquiry, following the story published by The Guardian that out of the 12 ‘pre-approved’ PR firms that had been shortlisted for the £1 million contract to assist with the listening exercise, eight had previously held major Government contracts during the pandemic.
Baroness Hallett also announced today that bereaved families will be unable to access legal support through the Listening Exercise should they want it.
Matt Fowler, co-founder of the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice campaign said: ““I am sceptical about Baroness Hallett’s claims that we are not being “marginalised”. Her proposals for the Listening Exercise do exactly that. It’s been alarming to learn that our experiences will be collated by a third party, and worse that those third parties may include PR companies that were part of the Government’s pandemic response. This clearly risks a conflict of interest, and it’s hard to see how we can have confidence that our experiences will be listened to accurately and fairly.
“It’s also disappointing that the Inquiry has apparently put around a million pounds on the table for these PR companies, but can’t find the money to offer legal support to families when they’re sharing their experiences, which can be hugely distressing ... As Baroness Hallett herself has acknowledged, for that to happen the experiences of the bereaved must be learnt from, so why is she leaving us out in the cold instead of working with us?”
In May of this year, the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice Group proposed to the Inquiry that they use ‘pen portraits’ as a way to share the testimonies of the bereaved. This exercise would allow individuals to share, as evidence, the lives of those who died and the circumstances surrounding their death, as well as the impact their passing has had. This method has been used in several inquiries previously, including the Manchester Arena Inquiry and Grenfell Inquiry, but was rejected by the Covid Inquiry with no explanation.
The Group have also expressed their frustration with the lack of communication they have received from Baroness Hallett and her team since meeting with her in April 2022. After being approached in May to participate in a ‘pilot’ for the Listening Exercise, the Group were faced with silence from the Covid Inquiry’s legal team when requesting further information on how the exercise was expected to work. In a meeting on 15 September 2022, representatives from the Group met with lawyers from the Covid Inquiry, where they were again refused information about the exercise. The Guardian then released an article on the matter five days later.
Elkan Abrahamson, Head of Major Inquests and Inquiries at Broudie Jackson Canter, who represents the Covid 19 Bereaved Families for Justice Group, said: “‘We take some comfort from the Chair’s insistence that the families will not be marginalised but we remain concerned that the Inquiry will not give due space to the experiences of the bereaved. It is difficult to see how the bereaved will be at the heart of the Inquiry when their accounts will be taken in a parallel process that will mean most of their voices are not heard in public by the Inquiry itself. I would urge the Inquiry to reconsider their position on the Listening Exercise as having pen portraits from the bereaved is a crucial part of any major Inquiry such as this. They have suffered the most and deserve to have their voices heard.”
Margaret Aspinall, Chairman of the Hillsborough Family Support Group said: “How can the Covid Inquiry hope to find out the truth about what happened to the 200,000 people that died if they won’t listen to the victims' families? It’s so disappointing that thirty years on from the Hillsborough disaster, we’re still seeing victims' families being ignored and having to fight to get their side of the story heard, despite everything they’ve been through. Has nothing been learnt?”
The team at Broudie Jackson Canter are continuing to work with the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice Group to ensure maximum participation in the Inquiry from those who deserve to be heard most. If you’ve lost a loved one to Covid, it isn’t too late to join the group and be part of this Inquiry, without any cost to you.
Visit our Covid Inquiry FAQ page for answers to some of our commonly asked questions surrounding the Inquiry, next steps and more.