Hillsborough Law- for the 97

HILLSBOROUGH LAW: COMMONS INTRODUCTION the Rt Hon David Lammy MP has confirmed that the Bill will be introduced.

It has been 36 years since the Hillsborough disaster. What happened following the Hillsborough disaster must never happen again:
• Police officers lying and changing witness statements to protect reputations;
• Families bereaved by a major disaster facing an inquest process with no funding for legal representation – while public bodies were free to appoint multiple legal teams to protect their own interests;
• A 25-year fight for an inquest to reach the right conclusion; and
• Investigations undermined by a lack of a duty of candour.
After campaigning for this these injustices, state failures and institutional defensiveness have continued – as we can see through the Horizon scandal, Infected Blood scandal and Grenfell Tower, among many others.
I am pleased the Government have said this must end. Trust and justice must never be concealed by the state again. The families have described that the Hillsborough Law as being four pieces of a jigsaw: a duty of candour; individual accountability; full disclosure of evidence when things go wrong; and legal representation at inquests.

The Government has introduced the Public Office (Accountability) Bill – the Hillsborough Law. The Bill includes all four pieces of that jigsaw. Parity and Legal representation at inquests. At the first Hillsborough inquest, families received no public funding for legal representation. By contrast, senior police officers were represented by five separate legal teams – with state funded legal representation also provided to a range of other public bodies.

Under this Bill,  the Government will provide legal aid for bereaved families at all inquests in England and Wales where a public authority is an interested person – with no means test. In practice this will mean that at any inquest in England and Wales where the NHS, a government department, a local authority, or the police or any other
public authority has their own legal representation – so will bereaved families. People bereaved through public tragedy will never again have to face the inquest process unsupported – or be forced to raise money from friends  and family to ensure their voices are heard. This is a landmark step in rebalancing the system. It represents the largest expansion in legal aid in over a decade. But legal aid is just part of the answer to tackling the disparity in power between the state and bereaved families so we will go further.

This Bill will:
• Create a duty on public authorities to engage legal  representation at inquests only if, and so far as is, necessary and proportionate, with consideration given to the comparative position of bereaved families;
• Include a requirement for public authorities to have regard to guidance issued by the Lord Chancellor setting out clear principles in respect of their conduct and behaviour as well as that of their legal teams at inquests and inquiries;
• Introduce a new power for coroners and inquiry chairs to raise concerns over the conduct of public authorities or their legal teams.
• Place an overriding objective on the Court and the inquiry chair to ensure that affected persons are able to fully participate at proceedings, which Interested Persons will be expected to support.

Duty of candour, individual accountability and full disclosure.
Under our Bill, public officials across the whole United Kingdom will be bound by duties of candour at all times.
And breaching those duties will come with criminal consequences. Public bodies and officials will have powerful new obligations to help investigations to find the truth: providing information and evidence with candour; proactively; and without favouring their own position. 

This legal duty will apply to statutory inquiries and coroner’s investigations, strengthening and reinforcing existing powers to compel evidence. It will also apply at non-statutory inquiries, giving chairs new powers to require public officials to assist them in finding the truth. This will ensure that when things go wrong, public servants serve the interests of the public, rather than protecting their own reputation. Had this new law been in place at the time of Hillsborough – these new rules would have applied to both the Taylor Inquiry and the original inquests.
This legal duty is not limited to the public sector. It will also apply to some private bodies: those delivering public
functions; those with a health and safety responsibility to the public; as well as relevant public sector contractors –
such as in the Horizon scandal. So, at Hillsborough, the duty would have applied – for example – to Sheffield
Wednesday and the Football Association. This duty will also extend and apply UK-wide. Public officials will also be placed under new duties of candour relating to their day-to-day work. These “professional duties of candour” will be set out in mandatory ethical codes – with potential consequences up to and including gross misconduct for those who do not comply. At Hillsborough, these vital new obligations would have applied to all public servants involved: including the police and civil service.

The Bill also includes a new offence of misleading the public – aimed squarely at those in our public services who seek to cover up the truth. This offence has been designed with Hillsborough at the front of mind.
And to ensure that the criminal law continues to address the most serious wrongdoing by those in public office – including cases where public servants breach their duty and it risks or causes serious harm or death – the Bill reforms the current common law offence of “misconduct in public office”. Following recommendations by the Law Commission, the common law offence will be abolished and replaced with two new statutory offences that more clearly articulate the elements of the offences, and who is subject to them. The new offences are “seriously improper acts”, and “breach of duty to prevent death or serious injury”.

Legacy
When it comes into force, this legislation will stand as part of the legacy of Hillsborough and change the country for
the better. As a law for everyone who has suffered when truth and justice has been concealed behind the closed
ranks of the state. And as a tribute to the tenacity of families who have fought for truth and justice over so
many years.

And a tribute to the 97 who lost their lives on that tragic day.