My Lords, I support the amendment tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Ponsonby. My right reverend friend the Bishop of Manchester is also a strong supporter of this amendment, which he has signed, and he regrets that he cannot be in his place today to speak to it himself.
As we have heard, six years ago, the former Bishop of Liverpool published his report on the Hillsborough disaster, The Patronising Disposition of Unaccountable Power. This report recommended the introduction of a duty of candour for the police, which was adopted in the College of Policing’s Code of Practice for Ethical Policing only earlier this year. I am glad that issuing a code of practice for ethical policing will become a statutory duty under the Criminal Justice Bill, but this is just one body. A duty of candour needs to apply to all public authorities. More often than not, crises, scandals and disasters which require an inquiry involve multiple, overlapping public agencies, all of which need to be under the same compulsory responsibility to act with transparency for that inquiry to be fully effective.
A duty of candour would challenge the instinct of institutions to focus primarily on reputation management in the wake of crises. This instinct leads only to more suffering and delay for affected persons. There is also a more pervasive effect whereby institutions are unwilling to be candid about their failures, so it is extremely difficult to learn from past mistakes. I do not believe that a duty would solve every problem, but it would certainly be a step in the right direction.
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The Minister suggested in Committee that the creation of an independent public advocate would go some way to addressing the power imbalances that this duty of candour seeks to address. I welcome the inclusion of the IPA within the Bill, but its creation does not automatically mean that all public bodies will be miraculously compelled to act with candour, without a statutory duty. I welcome these duties, but surely it would be simpler and easier to include a general duty for all public bodies as part of this Bill rather than taking a piecemeal approach. It would also have the welcome effect of changing attitudes and behaviour in public bodies across the board. The Minister said in Committee:
“At no point are transparency and candour more important than in the aftermath of a major incident.
”.—[Official Report, 26/2/24; col. 817.]
Will he reiterate that statement today by committing to a statutory duty of candour for all public authorities?