Member

This goes back to what the noble Lord, Lord Davies of Gower, said about the timescale. I am disappointed that we have not appointed a chair so far, but the timeline to appoint a chair is standard for inquiries of this nature. The UK Covid-19 Inquiry and the Infected Blood Inquiry each took seven months to appoint a chair. I am grateful for the support of the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, on this—she has pinched all my sandwiches in terms of the arguments that she put but, essentially, I endorse what she said. We have to get this right, and I believe that we can get this right. I accept that we have had some hiccups, but we can get this right. I therefore would not wish to support the amendment from the noble Baroness, Lady Maclean of Redditch, although I understand why she has put it down. From my perspective, the chair appointment process continues apace. We are recruiting senior staff for the inquiry. We want to ensure that it is effective and can deliver its work. Once the inquiry is established, it will have the powers afforded by the Inquiries Act to obtain information and compel witnesses.