Duty of Candour 2025-09-04
2025-09-04
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Families have been campaigning for a Hillsborough law with a statutory duty of candour for 36 years, demanding justice after state cover-ups. The Solicitor General is pressed on the timing of the legislation.
The families have been campaigning for a Hillsborough law for 36 years, and their demand has always been clear: a law with a duty of candour at its heart. There have been too many broken promises and missed deadlines. Can the Solicitor General tell me when the Government will bring forward the Hillsborough law? Will it honour the promises made to victims of state cover-ups and finally deliver justice for the 97?
I thank my hon. Friend for her question. She has been a resolute and steadfast champion for the Hillsborough families, and indeed for the justice she referred to. As she knows, the Government, including the Prime Minister, have been working closely with the families, and I can confirm that the draft Bill will include a statutory duty of candour for public servants, with criminal sanctions for those who do not comply, and measures to decisively tackle the disparity between the state and bereaved families at inquests. As to timing, I know that everyone is working extremely hard to get the legislation right. The Government hope to be in a position to introduce a Bill to Parliament very soon.
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