Thread by @jadenozzz

Future public inquiry:

"Accountability cannot be ignored.. it is important to understand the events that have occurred, the decisions that were taken and the reasons for that. The impact.. must be understood. There must be honesty about mistakes made"

committees.parliament.uk/publications/2…

"Given the time that public inquiries typically take, our concern is that it is already too late to conduct a public inquiry.. ahead of any resurgence of the disease.. however, we are convinced of the value of scrutiny in improving policy. Departments have presumably been...

... conducting ongoing in-house assessments of what has and has not worked well with their responses to the pandemic. Departments should make these assessments available to the relevant select committees to scrutinise Government’s response... Summaries should also be made public"

"Government has committed to holding a public inquiry.. The Prime Minister has said, however, that the
inquiry will not be held whilst efforts to combat the pandemic continue. Given the time an inquiry typically takes to begin its evidence gathering...

... Government should announce the inquiry... immediately to allow time to set up the secretariat and other administrative functions which should mean it could
start taking evidence early next year. Delaying the set-up will inevitably delay the inquiry’s ability to start work.."

"The coronavirus pandemic has involved the most far-reaching range of government interventions seen in peacetime..

Jason Beer QC - "I wrote a list of the things that it might look at: past response to pandemics.. the fitness
for purpose of the Civil Contingencies Act...

..the role of the WHO in providing timely and accurate advice to the Government, decisions as to when to restrict movement, the introduction of social distancing, the closure of schools, the closure of businesses, the provision of information to the public...

.. ***the use and misuse of statistics***, the role of the media, the approach taken to care homes, the availability of PPE.. the impact on members of BAME communities, the impact on elective treatments not being carried out, decisions to lift restrictions.. my list goes on & on"