The federal government ought to set deadlines for public inquiries and “not let them go on for years and years”, Harriet Harman has stated.
The Labour peer instructed Sky’s political editor Beth Rigby on the Electoral Dysfunction podcast it’s “perfectly possible for them to get on and do their job quickly”.
Talking after House Secretary Yvette Cooper introduced an inquiry into the Southport assault, Ms Harman stated it ought to take “18 months, 18 months max”.
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Harriet Harman stated the federal government ought to impose deadlines on inquiries
There are a number of public inquiries presently ongoing, together with the Put up Workplace Horizon IT inquiry, the contaminated blood inquiry and the COVID inquiry.
The Put up Workplace inquiry, wanting on the wrongful conviction of lots of of postmasters and mistresses as a consequence of defective IT software program, began in 2020 and was prolonged in 2021 and given powers to compel witnesses and demand proof. It’s nonetheless occurring.
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The contaminated blood inquiry, wanting into blood contaminated with hepatitis C and HIV given to tens of 1000’s of individuals, started in 2019 and a report was printed in 2024.
And the COVID inquiry, wanting on the authorities’s actions throughout the pandemic, began in June 2022 and is ongoing.
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A nationwide inquiry into the grooming gangs scandal was printed in 2022 – it took seven years and price £200m.
Ms Harman stated there ought to be deadlines so individuals get solutions.
“The government should actually lay down time limits for public inquiries and not let them go on for years and years like the COVID one, like the blood, the infected blood scandal, like the Post Office one,” she stated.
“People want answers much more quickly than they’re getting, and it’s within the government’s power to do that.”
