My Lords, I congratulate my noble friend on pursuing this matter over many years. I know that the noble Baroness, Lady Sanderson, has been at his side for most, if not all, of those years. My noble friend introduced this group comprehensively, so I will not go through the amendments in detail.
In essence, the first part of this group of amendments injects a greater urgency into the whole process, specifies roles and contexts of roles, and strengthens and increases the significance of those roles. As was self-evident, my noble friend is frustrated by the failure to actually implement this new role.
My noble friend went on to speak at some length about Amendment 124A, which would give the standing advocate powers to establish a fact-finding hearing. In talking about the necessity of that, he said that this was one of the most important amendments in the group. The figures he gave for the costs and delays in the various inquiries that we have had over the last couple of decades were very stark. I was not aware of the contrast between the way that the Hillsborough inquiry was conducted and the others that he mentioned.
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I think all noble Lords who spoke on this group mentioned Amendment 133ZA, which was added to this group later and asks for a review. My noble friend said that this is really his fallback position, given that the Government object to various elements of the first amendments in this group. From the tone of my noble friend, the noble Baronesses, Lady Sanderson and Lady Hamwee, and the noble Lord, Lord Marks, I think this is really the minimum the Government could do. My noble friend acknowledged that this suggests an element of retrospectivity, and the noble Lord, Lord Marks, said that six months may be too short a period. Accepting those two points—the review may need to be later and retrospectivity should be introduced—the underlying principle of the review is the very least that should be put in place to see whether this new role is working as effectively as we all want.
Given those comments, I will listen to the Minister with interest.