Councillor Fothergill reflects on the COVID-19 Inquiry and the role of the LGA to ensure local government is heard.
Without doubt, COVID-19 has had a profound impact on our communities. As of 20 September 2022, over 609 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, including around six and a half million deaths, have been reported to the World Health Organisation. Some estimates of death put the figure for estimated deaths from COVID-19 at 17.5 million.
The UK COVID-19 Inquiry has been set up to examine the UK’s response to and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and learn lessons for the future.
The LGA and the Welsh LGA have been granted core participant status in the Inquiry, this may involve co-ordinating evidence and responses on a range of issues. As public bodies it is likely that the sector will be looked at in some detail and we will want to ensure local government and the councils that make up our membership are heard.
The inquiry held a one-day hearing on its first "module" - pandemic preparedness.
Other modules will cover:
- political decision-making at the start
- the health system vaccines
- test-and-trace
- and health inequalities.
In her opening statement, the Inquiry Chair, Former Court of Appeal, Judge Baroness Hallett recognised the hardship and suffering experienced by so many during the pandemic.
Before starting proceedings with a minute’s silence, Hallett said:
“There is one word that sums up the pandemic for so many and that is the word loss …
Millions of people suffered loss, including the loss of friends and family members, the loss of good health both mental and physical, economic loss, the loss of educational opportunities and the loss of social interaction. Those who were bereaved lost the most.”
Baroness Hallett said she would do "everything in her power" to explore what happened and what lessons needed to be learned, saying the Inquiry would be "thorough and fair".
"Those who have suffered will be at the heart of the inquiry," she added.
The Inquiry team now begins the monumental task of progressing, what could be the biggest statutory inquiry this country has ever seen. The Inquiry team is considering information and evidence they will require from Local Authorities and the issuing of Rule 9 Inquiries Regulation 2005 requests.
Rule 9 provides that the inquiry panel must send a written request for a written statement to any person from whom the inquiry proposes to take evidence.
Your officers should also have been notified by Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities about the requirement to preserve documents relevant to the issues being considered by the Inquiry.
The LGA will be providing evidence and relevant supporting documentation in relation to the issues being considered by the Inquiry and will support councils to the extent that we can in doing so. We will also support the timely implementation of recommendations.
Councillor David Fothergill
Chair, LGA Community Wellbeing Board