A Home Office minister has signalled his backing for bereaved families of the 97 Hillsborough victims to receive parity of funding for legal support at inquests and public inquiries.
Lord Sharpe of Epsom told Parliament he agreed with a Labour demand for so-called “equality of arms” in the wake of the long fight for justice by relatives of the Hillsborough disaster victims. A total of 97 football fans died as a result of a crush at a match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest on April 15 1989.
They were unlawfully killed amid a number of police errors, an inquest jury ruled in 2016. The Government said this week it would publish “in the course of this spring” its long-awaited response to a report by the Rt Revd James Jones, former bishop of Liverpool, into the experiences of the Hillsborough families.
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Tory Peer Lord Bellingham said: “When can we expect equality of legal arms when it comes to these sorts of inquests?”
Highlighting action taken, Lord Sharpe pointed to the removal of means testing for exceptional case funding to cover legal support for families at an inquest.
He said: “That broadens the scope and access for families."
But Labour former shadow attorney general Baroness Chakrabarti said: “It goes some way but, sadly, not far enough. It should not be a matter of exceptional case funding, should it? If public authorities are funding themselves and the police are funded, why should the bereaved families, in any situation and in any inquest, not be funded at a matched level?”
Lord Sharpe said: “I agree with her, and I will take that suggestion back.”
In his report, Mr Jones had urged the Government to give full consideration to a Hillsborough Law, including a legal duty of candour for police officers.
Former senior police officer and Liberal Democrat peer Lord Paddick said: “With trust and confidence in the police at historically low levels, why did the Government oppose placing a clear, simple and easily understood statutory duty of candour on the police in primary legislation, as exists for the NHS?
“A statutory duty of co-operation in secondary legislation is not the same thing.”
Pointing out the former bishop’s report was being considered, the minister said: “We will publish our full response in due course, and I am quite sure that the duty of candour will form part of that response.”
Labour former home secretary Lord Blunkett, whose former Sheffield constituency included the Hillsborough ground, said: “I ask the Government to help bring closure for the families and communities most affected after 34 years.”
Lord Sharpe said: “The families and the bereaved definitely deserve closure.”
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