All public inquiries have their own unique situation and issues to grapple with. In the Undercover Policing Inquiry there have been a significant number of issues that need to be addressed before the Inquiry could start on the main body of its investigative work and evidential hearings. These occupied a lot of the time and energy of the Inquiry and core participants for the first five years. A number of specific hearings were held to address them. They can be classed as either:
- procedural – discussing how the Inquiry carried out its work on a practical level, such as in the Conduct of Evidence Hearings; or
- preliminary – where the Inquiry had to answer specific (usually legal) questions which shaped the framework, for example on the application of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act or anonymity hearings.
Some of the issues did not have hearings but were either unilaterally decided upon by the Inquiry Chair, or else by written submissions only. Some matters were decided on the papers, e.g. the deployment of HN337 was considered ‘on paper and in closed’.
Closed hearings are ones in which only specific people with a particular interest are permitted to attend. All others are excluded - the public, core participants or their lawyers even if they have a direct interest. In the UCPI, the reason generally given is to prevent a restriction order being breached. Usually, those not invited do not learn about it until after the hearing has taken place, if at all.
List of Procedural and Preliminary Topics
- Anonymity
- Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974
- Restriction Order Approach
- Assurance
- Conduct of Evidence Hearings
- Special Measures
- Core Participants
- Costs
- Legal Representation
- Deceased Children's Identities
- Standards of Proof
- Issues Lists
- Lambert Report
- Photographs
- Privacy and GDPR (hearing only)
- Miscarriages of Justice
- Undertakings
- Strategic Review (hearing only)