Andy Burnham vows to get justice for Grenfell households as victims left ‘chasing solutions’
Andy Burnham has vowed to get justice for Grenfell families as he revealed ministers are drawing up plans to force public bodies to learn lessons from tragedies
Andy Burnham has vowed to get justice for Grenfell families as he revealed ministers are drawing up plans to force public bodies to learn lessons from tragedies.
During PMQs, the Prime Minister was told recommendations from major public inquiries and inquests are too often left to “sit on a shelf”.
Joe Powell, the Labour MP for Kensington and Bayswater, home to the Grenfell Tower, urged Mr Burnham to back a new mechanism to hold the state “properly accountable” and stop victims being left “chasing answers”.
Mr Burnham confirmed Cabinet Office chief Louise Haigh this week held talks on developing a model to put a stop to this. The Mirror understands the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs committee’s (PACAC) remit will be extended to hold public bodies to account in implementing inquiry recommendations.
The PM told MPs: “I agree strongly with my honourable friend. I remember bringing the Hillsborough families to meet the Grenfell families shortly after the disaster.
“It’s painful that it’s taken so long for charges to be laid, but at least they have been laid now. I know the First Secretary has met with the chair of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs committee (PACAC) this week to look at the oversight mechanism that he describes, and I’m confident we can develop a model that gives exactly the commitment that he’s looking for.
“I want to leave him and his constituents in no doubt whatsoever that as Prime Minister, I will work to support him every day to get justice for Grenfell.”
Tory MP Simon Hoare, chair of the PACAC, told The Mirror his committee will be tasked with checking ministers and bodies are properly implementing recommendations from public inquiries against pre-set deadlines. “We’ll be acting as the check mechanism to hold ministers to account on progress and delivery against pre-set timetables,” he said.
“It will provide the element of parliamentary oversight, giving confidence to victims and survivors who have given evidence that they haven’t been forgotten. And more broadly for the taxpayer, it ensures their money is not written off and that there’s a proper process.
“The working assumption is that expanding our committee’s remit is the most effective, likely to be successful, and speediest way to deliver this.”
After PMQs, Mr Powell said: “Historically, there has not been enough state accountability, and too often a defensiveness about admitting mistakes means that lessons are not learned that could prevent future tragedies.
“The Hillsborough Law is a vital step forward in making Inquiries fairer and revealing the truth, but to reach its full potential a National Oversight Mechanism must sit alongside it. Today’s commitment is an important step towards making sure that when an inquiry identifies failures, those failures are acted upon – rather than allowing the same mistakes to happen again.”
Mr Burnham has campaigned for justice for Hillsborough families for years, with a law introduced earlier this year to force public bodies to tell the truth during inquiries and investigations.
Inquiries have long raised concerns about the same causes or mistakes being repeated in tragedies. The Thirlwall inquiry, which looked into the Lucy Letby case, highlighted how thousands of recommendations made in the past 30 years have not been implemented or tracked.
Sir Brian Langstaff, chair of the infected bloody inquiry, similarly sounded the alarm and called for the PACAC to be put in charge of reviewing the progress of recommendations.
And the inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire, which killed 72 people in 2017, found lessons were not learnt from the Lakanal House fire which killed six people in 2009. The Metropolitan Police service last month handed files to prosecutors seeking charges against 54 individuals and 20 companies.
It comes as the Remediation of Unsafe Cladding Bill was introduced to Parliament on Wednesday amid thousands of people still living in homes with unsafe cladding like that which caused the blaze in the Grenfell Tower.
The Bill, which was originally meant to be introduced in the last parliamentary session, introduces a new legal duty on those responsible for the safety of their buildings to identify, assess, and fix issues without delay.
