The Prime Minister has appointed the Baroness Heather Hallett as Chair of the forthcoming public inquiry into the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Inquiry, set to begin its work in spring 2022, will be established under the Inquiries Act 2005, with full powers, including the power to compel the production of documents and to summon witnesses to give evidence on oath.
Additional panel members will be appointed in the new year to make sure the Inquiry has access to the full range of expertise needed to complete its important work.
Baroness Hallett retired from the Court of Appeal in 2019 and was made a crossbench life peer. She has previously conducted a range of high-profile and complex inquests, inquiries and reviews, including acting as coroner for the inquests into the deaths of the 52 victims of the 7th July 2005 London bombings; as chair of the Iraq Fatalities Investigations; and as chair of the 2014 Hallett Review of the administrative scheme to deal with ‘on the runs’ in Northern Ireland.
Baroness Hallett said:
“I am honoured to be appointed to chair the Covid-19 Inquiry. The pandemic has affected us all, some much worse than others. I am acutely conscious of the suffering it 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.
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.”
Baroness Hallett is currently acting as coroner in the inquest into the death of Dawn Sturgess, who died in July 2018 following exposure to the nerve agent Novichok. A new chair for that inquiry will be appointed early in the new year.
