The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
against a
background of an increasing number of incidents, “the rate of
closure has now
remained
more or less constant since January 2005”.
145.
In February
2007, in response to Ministerial concerns over the MOD’s
support
for the
inquests into the deaths of Sergeant Steven Roberts and Lance
Corporal of
Horse
Matthew “Matty” Hull, the Army established a small Army Inquest
Cell with a
remit to,
“through more effective handling of documents and stakeholders ...
provide a
better
co‑ordinated service to the Department [MOD], the coroner, and to
the bereaved
families”.89
Mr Ingram
was advised that the Army’s existing arrangements had
been
unable to
manage the volume of work associated with inquests.
146.
An MOD
official advised Mr Ingram in March that good progress was
being made
in clearing
the “backlog” of Army BOIs.90
The Army
Inquest Cell had “now assumed the
role of
managing of the Inquest process”, allowing the Army Inquiries and
Aftercare
Support
Cell (AIASC) to revert to its primary role of supporting bereaved
families.
147.
In June,
Mr Ingram informed the House of Commons that the Army was
planning
to appoint
permanent Presidents for BOIs, in order to deliver a more
consistent
approach
and avoid delays.91
148.
In January
2008, Mr Giles Ahern, MOD Deputy Director Personnel
with
responsibility
for the Army Inquest Cell, advised General Sir Richard
Dannatt, Chief of
the General
Staff, that the team had made “significant progress” in reducing
the time
taken to
hold an inquest.92
149.
Mr Ahern
advised that, despite this progress, Ministers remained “very
concerned”
about the
MOD’s performance. The Army Inquest Cell was focusing
on:
•
The
provision of information to families. In the past, families had
received little
formal
information before the inquest about how their relative had died.
AIASC
now
provided a “Record of Events” based on SIB findings, but that might
only
reach the
family just before the inquest. The Cell was developing an
“Initial
Account”
containing “some basic information”, which could be passed to
families
about one
month after a death.
•
Timely
completion of SIB and BOI reports. In a number of cases,
completion
of SIB
and BOI reports was “judged to have taken longer than
necessary”.
The Cell
was trying to “expedite” completion and sign‑off of reports by
the
chain of
command.
89
Minute
Pitt‑Brooke to PS/Minister(AF) [MOD], 26 February 2007, ‘Support to
Inquests – Project AJAX’;
Minute
Ahern to MA1/CGS, 15 January 2008, ‘Project AJAX – An Update on the
Army Inquest Cell’.
90
Minute
Pitt‑Brooke to PS/Minister(AF) [MOD], 30 March 2007, ‘Support to
Inquests – Project AJAX’.
91
House of
Commons, Official
Report, 7 June
2007, column 28WS.
92
Minute
Ahern to MA1/CGS, 15 January 2008, ‘Project AJAX – An Update on the
Army Inquest Cell’.
104