Member

A fact-finding exercise such as that would not supersede an inquest and would have to be subsequent to it. Nor need it preclude a public inquiry, although it should precede it, for the reasons that the noble Baroness, Lady Sanderson, gave. Preceding it could save taxpayers considerable sums of money; the Hillsborough Independent Panel cost £5 million or thereabouts and took two years to complete, compared to the hundreds of millions of pounds that so many public inquiries cost and the very many years they take to complete. Above all, it would ensure that the interests of victims and the bereaved were kept front and centre in the aftermath of state failure.