[NOTE: This letter has been archived here for public information, the PDF is exactly as received except for one redaction of a previously unpublished contact detail for privacy reasons. Below is the text from the letter, formatting has been removed. Letter is dated 27th November 2024]
The Hon. Lord Weir
[redacted]
27 November 2024
Dear all,
ELJAMEL INQUIRY – PROGRESS UPDATE
Some weeks have now passed since the in-person and online consultation events last month on the Inquiry’s draft terms of reference (ToRs). Over this period, the Inquiry team has been doing a lot of work behind the scenes but I am conscious that this will not have been visible to you.
In order to keep you updated, the Inquiry team will provide those with an interest in our work with regular updates on the progress that is being made and advise you of key milestones. This is the first of these updates, which I am providing via email to those who participated in the ToRs consultation process. Once the Inquiry is formally set-up, updates will be provided to Core Participants and/ or their legal representatives by the Inquiry team. Once we have our Inquiry website up and running information for the wider public about our progress will be provided there.
Consultation responses
I am most grateful to everyone who attended the consultation events and who provided the Inquiry with a written response on the draft ToRs. As both Mr Dawson and I stressed at the events, both the consultation events and the response forms provided a real opportunity for you to influence what the Inquiry will consider. The deadline for receipt of written responses on the ToRs passed around one month ago, on 25 October 2024. All of your responses have now been considered by the Inquiry team, whether in writing or contributed orally at one or other of the events.
As we explained to you at the events, the next step in the process of finalising the ToRs is for the me to provide a report to the Cabinet Secretary sponsoring the Inquiry with my views on what the ToRs should contain, giving due consideration to your written and oral responses. I provided my report to the Cabinet Secretary on 20 November 2024 together with my proposed changes to the draft ToRs. I and my team will continue to provide what views and input we can to assist the Cabinet Secretary in reaching a final view on what the ToRs should cover. That will ultimately be a matter for him. I will provide a further update on the progress of the ToRs as soon as this is available.
At the consultation events, some expressed concerns that relevant documentary material held by some providers may be destroyed before the Inquiry is able to recover it from them. “Do not destroy” letters have already been sent out to the organisations named within the ToRs requesting that they take steps to ensure that no material of potential relevance to the Inquiry is destroyed, deleted or disposed of.
Inquiry set up
As you are aware, the Inquiry cannot formally be set-up until the ToRs are finalised. I hope that the ToRs will be finalised in the near future. In the meantime, we are working to ensure we will be ready for set-up.
To that end we have been busy with the work required to have an Inquiry website established and secure Inquiry premises to be used for hearings as well as the administrative work which the Inquiry will require to undertake. We have also been working on creating protocols and guidance documents in relation to how interested parties or groups can apply for core participant status and how legal funding can be awarded. These protocols will be uploaded onto the Inquiry website at set-up to ensure all those wanting to make an application have the necessary information and application forms available to them. The Inquiry is recruiting to both the secretariat and legal teams to ensure we have the resources in place to enable us to work at pace as soon as the Inquiry is set up.
I hope that this update is of interest and assistance to you. Should you have any questions in relation to the above please contact the Inquiry at the [email protected] mailbox.
Yours sincerely
ROBERT B. WEIR