Significant new report on reform of major inquests and inquiries

JUSTICE, the all-party law reform and human rights organisation, today published an important report on the reform of some major inquests and inquiries. The report – 'When Things Go Wrong: the response of the justice system' – is the product of over a year's work by a JUSTICE Working Group, consisting of practitioners, policy-makers and academics and chaired by the former High Court Judge (and chairman of the Litvinenko Inquiry) Sir Robert Owen. It makes 54 recommendations, including recommendations relating to:

• The framework – new State and independent bodies are proposed to provide oversight and facilitate information-sharing: a Central Inquiries Unit within Government, a full-time Chief Coroner and a special procedure inquest for investigating mass fatalities as well as single deaths linked by systemic failure, able to consider closed material and make specific recommendations to prevent recurrence.
• The procedure – Processes are suggested for appointing inquiry chairs and panels, for establishing the terms of reference and for providing information and relevant documents to core participants need to be more structured and transparent. 
• Accountability and systemic change – the report concludes that an independent body should lead oversight and monitoring of the implementation of inquest and inquiry recommendations, whose review could aid scrutiny by parliamentary committees.

The report can be found here

​Jason Beer QC will speak at the launch of the report tonight.

Jason Beer QC specialises in public inquiries, having appeared in 17 major inquiries over the past two decades

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Related barristers

Jason Beer KC

Call 1992 | Silk 2011

Related areas

Public & Administrative

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Public Inquiries

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