MPs and Peers call for duty of candour law to combat ‘defensiveness’ in public inquiries

Grenfell United, the bereaved families and survivors’ group, said: “Hundreds of vital recommendations are made following inquiries and millions of pounds are spent, but what is the point if there is no system in place to make sure changes are made?”

This latest parliamentary report said the state has an obligation under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to conduct “effective investigations” into incidents where life-threatening injuries have been sustained or lives have been lost in suspicious circumstances, particularly where the state “appears to bear some responsibility”.

Yet public authorities involved in such incidents “too frequently act defensively”, it said, appearing to focus on “protecting their reputation or avoiding liability” rather than on “openly and honestly addressing their failings” and correcting flaws in their systems. In too many cases, families continue to struggle to participate effectively, it added.

The report quoted Pete Weatherby KC, who told the committee that in inquiries including the Grenfell “there were the clearest examples of institutional, corporate and personal denial and obfuscation of the true facts”.

The report also cited the suffering of the families of the 97 people who died in the Hillsborough disaster, which was “compounded by a protracted failure” to uncover and acknowledge the truth of what had happened.

Joanna Cherry MP, chair of the joint committee on human rights, said: “Even so many years later, lessons still have to be learnt to ensure that these failures are not repeated.

“We are calling on the government to make sure there are cast-iron measures in place that give families as much clout at investigations as the public bodies whose reputations are at risk. We also want to see more widespread measures to establish a culture of openness, to ensure the truth is not hidden from the public and those involved.”

A review into Hillsborough in 2017 resulted in plans for a ‘Hillsborough Law’, to change the way official inquiries into major incidents are conducted.

Their proposals were: the creation of a statutory duty of candour for all public authorities; guaranteed funding for legal representation at inquests and inquiries for bereaved families; and the creation of an independent public advocate, with a remit to step in immediately after a disaster and to support, and give voice to, those affected.

“The adoption of these three elements of a ‘Hillsborough Law’ would help ensure that the state’s investigative obligations under Article 2 and 3 [of the] ECHR are being met,” the report said.

A broad statutory duty of candour would require “transparency and openness that could help the search for the truth and tackle institutional defensiveness”.

Elkan Abrahamson, a solicitor at Broudie Jackson Canter and a director of the Hillsborough Law Now campaign, said: “It feels like we’re at a tipping point.

“Just this week, we have seen Sir Brian Langstaff [chair of the] Infected Blood Inquiry demand a statutory duty of candour, and as each week has gone by at the Post Office inquiry, the widespread cover-up is being exposed.

“We have to reverse this culture where public officials lie at will. How hard is it to tell the truth?

“It has to stop now, before more lives are ruined. The next government must put the enactment of a duty of candour law at the top of their to-do list.”

Deborah Coles, executive director of Inquest, a charity providing expertise on state-related deaths and their investigation, and a director of Hillsborough Law Now, said: “A culture of delay, denial and defensiveness is the default response after state-related deaths. The search for answers becomes a battle as the shutters come down.

“Rather than seeing public scrutiny as an opportunity to learn from past mistakes, organisations are more concerned with reputation management and concealing the truth.

“A system where there is no accountability – effectively, impunity – is a system which repeats its failures and promotes wrongdoing.

“The next government cannot continue to resist the unequivocal need for a statutory duty of candour, equality of funding and to end this shocking injustice.”

The Cabinet Office pointed to minister John Glen’s remarks in Parliament during a debate on 21 May. Mr Glen said: "To move on this matter in that way in this short timeframe would not be the right step. However, it would be right for us to urgently engage with [MPs], the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee and others to ensure that the government come up with the right complete response."

The government will "reflect very carefully and respond in due course," he added.