Today, the Chair of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, Baroness Hallett, has set out more detail on the timetable for public hearings in five investigations to run to summer 2025.
We do not know when the next pandemic will strike. I want investigations to be concluded promptly and reports published regularly so that lessons can be learned as soon as possible. Today I am able to confirm my plans for five more of the Inquiry’s public hearings, running to summer 2025.
The updated 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 across three weeks.
- Tue 14 – Thu 30 Jan 2025
- Module 5 will explore pandemic procurement across the UK across four weeks of public hearings.
- Mon 3 Mar – Thu 3 Apr
- Module 7 will look at the approach to testing, tracing and isolation adopted during the pandemic.
- Spring 2025
- Module 6 will examine the care sector across the UK.
- Summer 2025
The Chair has pledged to publish regular reports during the lifespan of the Inquiry, to ensure recommendations are timely. The report from the Inquiry’s first investigation into Resilience and Preparedness (Module 1) will be published in mid-2024.
The Chair aims to conclude public hearings by summer 2026. The Inquiry is UK-wide and will examine the responses of both the devolved and UK Government throughout all its work, with three weeks of Module 2C public hearings in Belfast commencing next month.
A full list of the topics that the Inquiry will investigate can be found in the Terms of Reference.
Seven investigations are currently underway examining a wide range of the UK’s pandemic experience. Module 7 – Test, Trace and Isolate across the UK – opened earlier this week.
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.