The government has committed to bringing in a new independent public advocate (IPA) to support victims of major disasters, after a long campaign by the families of the Hillsborough disaster.
The measure was recommended five years ago after a report into the tragedy that saw 97 football fans die as a result of a crush at an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in 1989.
An inquest ruled in 2016 that the victims were unlawfully killed amid a number of police errors, and an inquiry carried out by former Bishop of Liverpool the Rt Revd James Jones urged ministers to introduce the Hillsborough Law as a result – including the public advocate measure.
But the government was facing growing criticism from the families for failing to respond to the official report – and its 25 recommendations – outlining their experiences.
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Justice Secretary Dominic Raab has now confirmed a law will be introduced “as soon as possible” establishing an independent public advocate to support survivors and the bereaved impacted by tragedies like Hillsborough, Grenfell and the Manchester bombings.
Speaking in the Commons, he said an expert panel will act to represent families “to put victims and the bereaved at the heart of our response to large-scale public disasters, to make sure that they get the support they deserve through public inquests and inquiries, and to make sure they get the answers they need to move forward with their lives”.
Mr Raab said “we must learn the lessons” of the Hillsborough disaster, adding: “The independent public advocate goes some way to making good on this government’s longstanding promise to ensure that pain, that suffering of the Hillsborough victims and other victims is never repeated again.”
The justice secretary also promised a response to the wider report this spring, saying: “We know in our heads and in our hearts that there is still much more to do to heal the wounds from that horrendous and heartbreaking tragedy.”
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Former Conservative prime minister Theresa May praised the measure, which she pledged to introduce in her 2017 election manifesto, and offered to work with the government to ensure “this body is going to meet the ambition of the commitment”.
But she also called for the ability of survivors and the bereaved to initiate proceedings with the advocate themselves “because certainly in the case of Hillsborough, it was the fact that the state and state authorities shut their doors to people that led to the 34 years wait for any answers for the families”.
Meanwhile, Labour’s shadow justice secretary Steve Reed, whose party has promised to introduce the full Hillsborough Law if they get into power, said the proposals “don’t go far enough and they will be too weak as they currently stand to prevent cover-ups in future”.
“Today is a chance to balance the scales of justice and give those victims the voice they need and the power to make it heard, but it’s a chance the government has missed,” he added.
“How many more tragedies will it take to wake this government up? How many more lives need to be lost?”
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Earlier today, reports said Mr Raab had offered to meet Hillsborough families and apologised to them in a letter, seen by the PA news agency.
He wrote: “I am sorry it has taken so long to get to this point, and I am determined to set up the IPA as soon as possible.”
Elkan Abrahamson, director of Hillsborough Law Now and a solicitor at Broudie Jackson Canter, said engagement from the current government with Hillsborough families had been “almost non-existent”.
“We will be asking the justice secretary for the same commitment given to us by the Labour Party last year to reintroduce the Public Authority (Accountability) Bill,” he said.
