The Chair of the Inquiry, Baroness Heather Hallett has ruled that the Inquiry will begin hearing evidence for its first investigation (Module 1), examining the UK’s pandemic preparedness on Tuesday 13 June.
The hearings will take place over six weeks, and will conclude on Friday 21 July.
The hearing was originally scheduled to begin in early May. The new date has been agreed by the Chair following submissions from Core Participants at a preliminary hearing on 14 February.
Starting the hearings in June will allow for an extra two weeks to hear evidence, and more time to prepare for the hearings.
The public hearings will be held at Dorland House, London, W2 6BU (map). The hearings will be open to the public to attend, and more details, including information on how to attend, and the witness timetable will be made available nearer the time.
A third preliminary hearing for Module 1 is provisionally scheduled for 25 April.
At this hearing, the Inquiry is inviting views on how the hearings will run, and will not hear evidence. There will be submissions from the Counsel to the Inquiry and Core Participants to help the Inquiry prepare for the public hearings, where evidence is heard.
The hearings will be available to watch on the Inquiry’s YouTube channel, subject to a three minute delay.
We will publish a transcript of each hearing at the end of each day. A recording of the hearing will be published on the Inquiry’s website at a later date.
Alternative formats, including a Welsh language translation are available on request.
A full list of upcoming hearings dates is available on our website timetable