Today, the Chair of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, Baroness Hallett, has set out plans for the public hearings in three further investigations from autumn 2024 until spring 2025.
I have made clear that this Inquiry will not drag on. Investigations must be concluded promptly and reports published regularly so that lessons can be learned as soon as possible. Today we are able to confirm our activity over the next 14 months.
The timetable is as follows:
- Module 3 will investigate the impact of the pandemic on healthcare systems. Its public hearings will run for 10 weeks in London split by a two-week break:
- Mon 9 Sep – Thur 10 Oct 2024
- Break: Mon 14 – Fri 25 Oct
- Mon 28 Oct – Thu 28 Nov
- Module 4 will examine vaccines, therapeutics and anti-viral treatment across the UK. The Inquiry plans to hear evidence for this investigation in London from Tuesday 14 January 2025.
- Module 5 will explore pandemic procurement across the UK. The Inquiry plans to hear evidence for this investigation in London from Monday 3 March 2025.
Dates for Module 6 public hearings, examining the care sector across the UK, will be announced later this year.
To ensure the Inquiry’s recommendations are timely, the Chair has promised to publish regular reports. Her recommendations from the Inquiry’s first investigation into Resilience and Preparedness (Module 1) will be published in mid-2024.
The Chair has confirmed that she aims to conclude public hearings by summer 2026.
A full list of the topics that the Inquiry will investigate can be found in the Terms of Reference.
Six investigations are currently underway examining a wide range of the UK’s pandemic experience. These include investigations looking at the impact on healthcare, the care sector and the procurement and distribution of key equipment and supplies including PPE.
Supporting the Inquiry’s legal investigations is Every Story Matters, the Inquiry’s UK-wide listening exercise, which will provide evidence about the human impact of the pandemic on the UK population. The Inquiry will also deliver a bespoke and targeted research project, hearing directly from children and young people most affected by the pandemic to help inform its investigations.
Further investigations covering other aspects of the Inquiry’s terms of reference, including on the impact of Covid and inequalities in the context of public services, will be opened in the coming months. The Inquiry is UK-wide and will examine the responses of both the devolved and UK Government throughout all its work.