The public inquiry into how the UK Government handled the Covid crisis is set to broadened. The independent hearing will now look to examine the impact that the pandemic has had on people's mental health as well as on children and young people in general.
But the scope of the investigation will still not look at any aspect surrounding the rule-breaking lockdown gatherings at Downing Street - dubbed the 'Partygate' scandal. The new, broader terms of the Covid inquiry comes after widespread calls for the government and inquiry chair Baroness Heather Hallett to increase the scope of the terms of reference for the hearing to include the impact of major events like school closures.
According to the Mirror, the already-established main topics of the inquiry are to examine the response to the pandemic and its impact in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and produce a factual narrative account of what happened. It also plans to identify the lessons that can be learned so it can inform the UK’s preparations for future pandemics.
