Exclusive: Department of Health pays £2.2m for covid inquiry legal advice

The department has signed a £2.2m contract with international law firm Pinsent Masons to provide additional resources and expertise to support its contribution to the inquiry. The arrangement began on 8 June and is set to expire “on completion of the deliverables”.

The Pinsent Masons contract award notice acknowledged “the large amount of resources that will be involved in the months of preparation for the inquiry and the potentially large amount of time which will be spent by people testifying in public”.

It said, “each government department is likely to be expected to contribute to the inquiry, and a number of these have been working with [government legal department] to prepare for the work required”.

The inquiry was set up by the prime minister to examine the preparations for and response to the covid pandemic. It is being led by crossbench peer Baroness Heather Hallett, a former Appeal Court judge.

It formally began its work on 28 June when its final terms of reference were set.

Among the wide range of issues the inquiry will cover are: 

• “preparedness, capacity and the ability to increase capacity and resilience;
• the management of the pandemic in hospitals;
• the management of the pandemic in care homes and other care settings;
• the procurement and distribution of key equipment and supplies;
• the development of therapeutics and vaccines;
• the consequences of the pandemic on provision for non-covid related conditions; and
• provision for long covid.”

Other areas are review include: “central, devolved and local public health decision-making and its consequences”, “the use of lockdowns and other ‘non-pharmaceutical’ interventions”, and “testing and contact tracing, and isolation”.

The inquiry does not expect to start hearing evidence until 2023.