Concerns over Welsh issues in Covid inquiry

CONCERNS have been raised that the UK-wide Covid inquiry will not focus enough on Welsh issues.

Chair of the UK’s Covid inquiry Baroness Hallett set a timetable, with preliminary hearings starting this year, and the first witnesses to be called next spring.

The former High Court judge also confirmed the inquiry will examine the response to the pandemic in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. However, this has been met with some scepticism after the first three “modules” were announced.

The first module will examine the resilience and preparedness of the UK for the coronavirus pandemic.

The second module, which will be dealt with in parts, will look at core political and administrative governance and decision-making by each of the UK’s governments.

Module three will investigate the impact of Covid, and governmental and societal responses to it, on healthcare systems, including on patients, hospitals and other healthcare workers and staff.

Of the three modules announced so far, preparedness, government decision-making, and healthcare, only the second one will have a sub-module specifically examining Wales.

Welsh Conservative shadow health minister Russell George criticised said: “I am disappointed to see in this framework the potential for the actions of the Labour Government in Cardiff Bay to get lost in a UK-wide investigation. I will be calling on the Baroness Hallett to reiterate her commitment to properly examining devolved governments and reflect this in the inquiry’s workings.”

The Welsh Government has previously come under fire for not holding a Wales-specific inquiry into Covid-19, saying that the decisions made in Wales can only be understood if viewed in a UK-wide context.