Covid Inquiry was accused of ‘marginalizing’ the bereaved on opening day, after the chair doubled down on a decision to bar families from giving individual testimonies about the level of care their loved ones have received during the pandemic.
Instead of the usual “pen pictures” heard in an inquiry, families will present their evidence to a private research firm as part of a parallel listening project that will analyze responses and share findings with chair of the inquiry, Baroness Heather Hallett.
However, Pete Weatherby KC, who represents Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, cautioned that practicing listening risks not hearing the voices of families who have lost loved ones in the pandemic.
He added that the families had experienced “great frustration” amid delays in officially starting the investigation, and there were now concerns about how the investigation team would deal with them.
“The proposed listening exercise does not listen and consider carefully the experiences of bereaved families and others who have experienced hardship or loss as a result of the pandemic,” Weatherby told the inquiry committee in his presentation during the first preliminary hearing in London.
He added that “the listening process uses external sources to study the experiences and evidence of the bereaved and their loss, and puts them in a parallel framework and marginalizes the bereaved with respect and their voices.”
However, Baroness Hallett rejected the suggestion that the experiments would be “marginalised,” warning Weatherby that she did not want to hear the expression in the investigation again.
She added, “There is absolutely no doubt that the deceased will be marginalized.
“The practice of listening, far from marginalizing the bereaved, increases the number of people who have suffered and the number who have suffered to several thousand, more than we can do in the usual traditional way of a formal hearing.”
Baroness Hallett said that some persons would be granted the status of a principal participant, giving them the right to issue documents, the right to represent and make legal representations, to propose questions, and to receive advance notice of the inquiry report.
Baroness Hallett said: “The fact that someone contributes to a hearing exercise will not prevent him from giving evidence at the public hearings of the investigation if he has relevant evidence to present.”
“I haven’t made any decisions yet about calling witnesses, so no one has been prevented from testifying.”
The chair of the Covid-19 inquiry, Baroness Heather Hallett, insisted that the listening exercise would not marginalize the voices.
(AP average)
Weatherby has also raised concerns about the research firm being chosen to oversee the wiretapping exercise amid reports that the company will be selected from a government-approved list that could also be involved in the government’s Covid messaging during the pandemic.
The survey was informed that 28 individuals and organizations were granted the status of a major participant in the first unit of the survey.
These include the bereaved groups in the UK, the NHS, the UK Health Security Agency, the Treasury, the Secretary of State for Health and Welfare, the Home Office, the Department for Business, Energy, Industrial Strategy and the Department of Home Affairs. Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Local Government Association and the National Council of Chiefs of Police.
The investigation is expected to last at least a year, with the first evidence hearings beginning in the spring of 2023.
Tuesday’s session is largely procedural, although the bereaved families are expected to make a statement later.
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