Hillsborough families let down by the state - again

One of the great frustrations of the state’s failure of the Hillsborough families is that they are not actually asking for much.

Transparency, accountability and honesty - and to be listened to properly.

Yet once again this week politicians have left them disappointed. They asked for a new legal duty of candour and parity of legal representation after a national disaster. The response from justice secretary Dominic Raab and his government is wholly inadequate. Once again, these families have been short-changed by the authorities, who simply refuse to hear them out and heed their (completely reasonable) calls.

It is tempting to say that this week’s announcement of an Independent Public Advocate is the government doing the bare minimum, but that would be too generous.

The Independent Public Advocate will be appointed by the secretary of state and will only be required to ‘consult with and represent’ victims before any inquiry is set up. So not independent, then.

Nor will the IPA ‘advocate’ for victims and relatives in any meaningful sense. Panels will consist of former civil servants and members of the emergency services – groups who in many cases are already regarded with suspicion by victims who may view them as complicit in the causes or cover-up of a disaster.

The scope of these advocates’ duties show how limited this announcement is. They will ‘signpost’ victims to financial, physical and mental health services, and provide them with regular updates about any investigation. Pointing people to existing services and relaying information they should already be provided with is hardly advocacy.

The IPA is only required to ‘make sure they understand processes and their rights’, but will have no scope to ensure they have representatives who can enforce those rights. The Ministry of Justice places great emphasis on the fact that advocate panels will produce a report once all investigations have been completed. But if victims have not been able to present their case to any investigation or inquiry backed by legal representatives, then what use is the report which follows from it?

Lawyers for the Hillsborough families say engagement from the government has been ‘almost non-existent’, and this week’s proposals bear that out. Raab said this week that the IPA would ‘empower the victims throughout any inquiry, make sure they are listened to, and get the support they need from day one’.

Yet they have specifically not been listened to in the creation of these advocates. Families’ perfectly reasonable calls to have the same access to a lawyer as public authorities have been ignored. They will get no more support than they already should, and feel no more empowered than they were.

It is insulting to frame these proposals as a boost for victims when those same victims describe them as completely inadequate. Transparency, accountability and honesty. It’s all people want – and yet the IPA falls well short.