Page 73 - When Things Go Wrong

handwritten log of every message that goes out. We got a month’s worth
of logs on the day the inquest opened, and the coroner would not adjourn.

4.30 The Working Party appreciates that it is difficult to be prescriptive about
disclosure in inquests and inquiries: it is important that the coroner/inquiry
team is able to control the investigation and retains the ability to make
decisions on relevance. However, in order to avoid the problems and potential
unfairness caused by late disclosure, we recommend that where documents
have been received by the coroner and there is no objection from the
record-holder, a presumption should apply that disclosure will be made
to bereaved family interested persons within seven days of receipt. Where
in exceptional circumstances disclosure within that period is not possible,
notice should be given to the relevant interested persons.

4.31 In the case of public inquiries, the Working Party recognises that the sheer
volume of material can take a significant amount of time for the inquiry team
to process for relevance and privilege. However, in order to encourage
transparency and promote participation, the Working Party recommends
that SPIs and public inquiries issue regular public updates on disclosure,
including the number of documents already disclosed and time estimates
for the completion of any processing phase. 202

The need for candour

4.32 Reflecting on Phase I of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, bereaved families
“were…vocal in their dissatisfaction with what they saw as a lack of candour
on the part of the authorities and corporate entities. It was a consistent
complaint arising in each of the facilitated groups with families criticising
perceived evasiveness”. 203

4.33 This account resonates with a number of previous reports highlighting
“institutional defensiveness” as a pervasive issue in Article 2 ECHR

202 See Grenfell Tower Inquiry, ‘Update from the Inquiry’, 9 June 2020: “Disclosure figures: as at 8
June 2020, the Inquiry has disclosed 20,752 documents in Phase 1, and 154, 333 in Phase 2, coming to
a total of 175,085”.
203 INQUEST (2019), supra note 11, para 2.4.2.
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