Boris Johnson has announced that retired court of appeal judge Baroness Heather Hallett will chair the public inquiry into the Covid-19 pandemic.
The statutory public inquiry, which will begin in spring 2022, will look into the government’s handling of the pandemic and what lessons should be learned.
As a statutory inquiry it will have the power to compel witnesses to give evidence on oath. It will also hear from those who have lost loved ones.
Johnson said Hallett brings a “wealth of experience to the role”.
“I know shares my determination that the inquiry examines in a forensic and thoroughgoing way the government’s response to the pandemic.”
Following her appointment, Hallett said she was “acutely conscious of the suffering [the pandemic] has caused to so many”.
“In the new year I shall be seeking views from those who have lost loved ones and all other affected groups about the Inquiry’s terms of reference,” she said.
“I want to assure the British public that, once the terms of reference are finalised, I shall do my utmost to ensure the Inquiry answers as many questions as possible about the UK’s response to the pandemic so that we can all learn lessons for the future.”
Hallett retired from the Court of Appeal in 2019 and was made a crossbench life peer the same year.
She is currently chairing the public inquiry into the death of Dawn Sturgess — who died in July 2019 after she was exposed to the nerve agent Novichok in the Salisbury attack — but a replacement will be found in the new year.
Halleett previously acted as a coroner in the independent inquest into the deaths of the victims of the 7/7 terror bombings in London in 2005.
She also headed the 2014 “On the Runs” review into secret police letters that promised immunity to Northern Ireland terror suspects and chaired investigations into Iraqi deaths involving British forces.
The Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group, which represents bereaved relatives, welcomed the appointment as a “positive step” but said it comes “far too late”.
Matt Fowler, the group’s co-founder, said: “Whilst this news is very welcome, unfortunately it comes far too late.
“We’ve been calling for an inquiry since the end of the first wave and we will never know how many lives could have been saved had the government had a rapid review phase in summer 2020.
:With the Omicron variant upon us, the inquiry really cannot come soon enough.
“This is a one-off, historic opportunity to learn lessons to protect lives across the country. We cannot afford to get it wrong and we look forward to working closely with Baroness Hallett to make it a success.”