“My Government will introduce
the Hillsborough Law to
bring forward a duty of
candour for public servants”
- This Bill will deliver on the manifesto commitment to bring
forward a Hillsborough Law.
- The measures in this Bill will end the culture of cover-ups
and institutional defensiveness by bringing forward measures
that create duties of candour; individual accountability;
honesty and frankness when things go wrong; and ‘parity of
arms' at inquests.
What does the Bill
do?
-
Create powerful new obligations on public bodies and
officials to help investigations to find the truth;
providing information and evidence with candour, proactively,
and without favouring their own position. This includes a new
criminal offence for non-compliance.
-
Place public officials 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.
-
Establish clear
individual accountability
for creating
and spreading false
narratives – through the creation of the
offence of misleading the public.
-
Reform the
offence of
“misconduct in
public office” - including
a new offence of serious impropriety, and another of
breaching a duty to prevent death or serious harm. Both of
these offences come with serious custodial sentences.
Tackle the disparity in power between the state and
bereaved families at
inquests by providing bereaved families with
access to non-means tested legal aid for all inquests where a
public authority is an interested person, and placing a duty on
public authorities to only use legal representation when
necessary and proportionate.
Territorial extent and
application
- The Bill will extend to the whole of the UK. The duty of
candour provisions will apply to the whole of the UK. The other
measures in the Bill currently apply to England and Wales but
the Government continues to work with the devolved governments
to consider whether these should be extended to Scotland and/or
Northern Ireland.
Key facts
- The legal aid reforms will increase the number of legally
aided inquests from approximately 200-400 to up to
approximately 11,400 per year. This expansion of legal aid will
cost up to approximately £185 million per year, plus
operational costs.
-
The former Bishop for Liverpool, The
Right Reverend Bishop James KBE,
said "The voices of the
families and survivors
have triumphed after 36
years. I salute their
dignified tenacity. This
groundbreaking bill will
make the whole country a more truthful and just
nation."
