Covid public inquiry promises to cover key Welsh issues
- Published
The Welsh government had huge powers over people's lives in Wales during the pandemic
The UK Covid public inquiry will do all it can to ensure all issues the people of Wales want covered are investigated, its chair has said.
Baroness Hallett made the pledge as it was revealed the inquiry will hold public hearings in Wales next autumn.
She said she understood the "strength of feelings" on calls for a separate Wales inquiry but that she was "completely neutral on the question".
Baroness Hallett was speaking at a preliminary hearing in London.
Opening the session, to discuss the section of the inquiry that will consider how to investigate Welsh decision-making during the pandemic, she said: "I know there have been calls for a separate Welsh inquiry, and I understand the strength of feeling that there is around both Wales and Northern Ireland asking for separate inquiries.
"It's not a decision for me, and I'm completely neutral on the question, but what I will promise you is that if a Wales inquiry is set up I will work with them and co-operate to the best of my ability to ensure that between us we cover all of the issues that the people of Wales would wish to see covered.
"If there isn't a separate inquiry established then I will do my very best to ensure that we again cover all the issues the people in Wales wish to see covered."
Baroness Hallett previously presided over the inquests into the terror attacks in London on 7 July 2005
Baroness Hallett said that, from a consultation exercise visit to Cardiff she had made, "I know the strength of feeling there are on a number of different issues because I heard them directly from members of bereaved families".
Counsel for the inquiry Tom Poole KC added that the "people of Wales are entitled to have the Welsh government's key decision-making in response to the pandemic fully scrutinised, and their experiences and their voices properly heard and represented".
"Only in this way," he said, "can proper and effective recommendations be drawn up to better protect Wales in the future, from pandemics and other comparable civil emergencies."
Speaking on behalf of the Welsh government, Christian J Howells promised the inquiry "the fullest possible co-operation in investigating the response to the unprecedented challenges faced by the people of Wales, their communities, their businesses and their public services as a result of the pandemic".
First Minister Mark Drakeford led Wales' response to the pandemic
Mr Howells said the inquiry was "the best means by which the interconnected decision-making between the UK government and devolved governments can be properly explored".
"In particular, this inquiry can look at how distinct decisions were made by each of the four nations for their respective countries either on a four nations basis or separately.
"We have been consistent in our determination that our actions and those of our public sector partners in Wales are fully and properly scrutinised as part of this inquiry.
"The people of Wales deserve no less, particularly those who have lost loved ones but also everyone else whose lives were affected by this devastating pandemic."
The Covid Bereaved Families for Justice Cymru group, which has campaigned for a separate inquiry into the Welsh government's handling of the pandemic, has been recognised as a "core-participant" in the UK investigation, alongside the Welsh government and other key agencies involved in key pandemic decisions and their consequences.