More than 200 civil servants are employed to put together the Government’s response to the ongoing Covid inquiry, the latest official figures have revealed.
Paying for officials to work on providing evidence, preparing witnesses and responding to other requests from the inquiry is costing taxpayers more than £1m a month, four years after the probe began and with at least a year-and-a-half to go before it concludes.
The extent of Government resources being used in the inquiry response – separate to the costs incurred by the inquiry itself – has prompted calls for it to be scaled back or wound up.
But Whitehall departments currently have no choice but to respond fully to all the demands made on them by the inquiry, which is chaired by former Court of Appeal judge Heather Hallett.
Most of inquiry cost spent on lawyers
Data published by the Cabinet Office show that as of September, the equivalent of 207 full-time staff were working on the Government response. It is not known how many individuals that includes, as some may be working part-time.
The cost for the second quarter of the current financial year, covering July to September, was £4.3m, down from £5m in the previous quarter when 248 full-time equivalent staff were employed. Another £6.2m was spent on the cost of the Government Legal Department’s support to departments on the inquiry.
The inquiry itself spent £14.8m in the same quarter and has now incurred a direct bill of £192m, making it the most expensive public inquiry in history, with a majority of the cost being spent on lawyers.
Written witness statements from those called to give evidence can run to hundreds of pages, while the Government has provided hundreds of thousands of individual pieces of evidence such as emails, WhatsApp messages and minutes of meetings.
Hallett and her team began public hearings in mid-2023 and are expecting to conclude them by March next year, with a final report due to be published no later than summer 2027.
The inquiry was set up in June 2022 by Boris Johnson, whose position was in danger at the time because of building anger over “Partygate” which forced him out within a month.
Inquiry to make UK ‘better prepared’
Elliot Keck of the Taxpayers’ Alliance said: “The Covid inquiry is serving nobody but the gravy train of lawyers, consultant and activists able to exploit it for their own ends.
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“Taxpayers deserve a serious analysis of whether the economic, fiscal and societal damage done by lockdown was worth the lives saved. Instead all they’ve received is a massive bill. Ministers should now consider bringing this sham to a premature conclusion.”
Groups representing the families of those who died in the pandemic have previously defended its work, claiming that it is holding those responsible for unnecessary suffering to account.
A Government spokesman said: “The UK Covid-19 Inquiry rightly decides what it wants to investigate within its terms of reference, which were set by the previous government, and is under a statutory obligation to avoid unnecessary costs in the inquiry’s work.
“The Government is fully committed to supporting the work of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry and to learning lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic to ensure the UK is better prepared for a future pandemic.”
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