16.3 |
Military fatalities and the bereaved
believed
that it was possible both to respect that independence and to
seek
to
understand “how the system is working for them from their point of
view”.
189.
Sir Bill
Jeffrey responded to the requests for advice on how the BOI
process
could be
improved and how the existing process could be accelerated in a
minute
to
Mr Ainsworth at the end of February 2008.111
190.
Sir Bill
advised that, in response to Mr Browne’s question, it would be
possible to
hold a
relatively short fact‑finding exercise followed by a “fuller
inquiry into the whole
course of
events”. While the Nimrod XV230 BOI included a careful
investigation of the
incident
itself, its remit did not extend into the history and safety record
of the Nimrod;
that
question was now being examined by Mr Charles Haddon‑Cave.
Where there was
“a need to
capture the broader departmental perspective, and where there is
high public
interest in
the case”, the remit of the BOI could be broadened or a “further
reaching
independent
inquiry”, running concurrently with the BOI, could be
held.
191.
Sir Bill
also advised that:
•
A new
direction should be issued to the chain of command, that families
should
always be
briefed as soon as practicable after an incident and kept
regularly
informed
thereafter.
•
A new joint
Secretariat should be established, building on the Army’s
Inquest
Cell, to
co‑ordinate all three Services’ management of inquests, the
relationship
with
coroners and joint reports to Ministers.
192.
The Army had
appointed Permanent Presidents to lead high‑profile Army
BOIs;
the Royal
Navy and Royal Air Force were taking steps to establish “pools of
expertise”
from which
Presidents could be selected.
193.
There were
currently 100 open inquests. That was “below last
summer’s
peak
of 132, but still well above the backlog of 80 inquests that
was judged to be
unacceptable
in Spring 2006”. The use of pre‑inquest hearings, while a
valuable
contribution
to the inquest process, could introduce delays into the process.
Coroners
often
waited for access to the MOD’s reports, including BOI reports,
before undertaking
an inquest.
Sir Bill commented: “We must show coroners that we treat our
investigations
as matters
of urgency so that we might expect them to do the
same.”
194.
On 9 April,
Mr Ainsworth met senior officials and military officers to
discuss Sir Bill’s
advice.112
Mr Ainsworth
stated that he and Mr Browne remained of the view that
there
needed to
be a “step change in the way in which the BOI and inquest process
was
handled,
end‑to‑end”. He had already discussed the advice with
Sir Bill, and agreed that
111 Minute
Jeffrey to Minister(AF) [MOD], 29 February 2008, ‘Boards of Inquiry
and Inquests’.
112
Minute
PS/Min(AF) [MOD] to APS/Secretary of State [MOD], 11 April 2008,
‘Boards of inquiry
and Inquests’.
111