The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
it formed
“a good basis for further discussion”. The key proposal was the
establishment
of a
“single inquest cell”.
195.
The meeting
agreed that a single inquest cell should be established as a
matter
of urgency.
Key responsibilities would be to:
•
professionally
manage the MOD’s relationship with coroners;
•
chase
progress on BOIs in order to “drive down” the time between incident
and
inquest; it
would need sufficient “authority and clout” to do
that;
•
identify
weaknesses in policy and ensure they were addressed, and ensure
that
existing
policy and best practice was adhered to; the lead for developing
policy
would often
sit outside the cell; and
•
ensure the
right training and guidance was provided to VOs.
196.
The cell would
not carry out BOIs (which would continue to be the responsibility
for
the
Services).
197.
Mr Ainsworth’s
Private Secretary recorded that, although the other proposals
made
by
Sir Bill had not been discussed in any detail at the meeting,
Mr Ainsworth would like
them “taken
forward in the context of the establishment of the new
cell”.
198.
The Defence
Inquests Unit (DIU) was created in May 2008 to act as the focal
point
for all
coroners’ inquests into the deaths of Service and MOD civilian
personnel.113
199.
The Army
Inquest Cell was disbanded on the creation of the DIU, and its
posts
200.
Mr Ainsworth
told the Inquiry that the role of the DIU was not just to ensure
that the
MOD was
providing the support that coroners required:
“… my
motives were more than just helping the bereaved, they were about
the MOD
getting
better at learning some of the lessons that flowed from inquests …
some
of our
systems were, from time to time, exposed pretty badly by coroners’
inquests
and, you
know, they were a mine of information … if you were prepared to
really
embrace the
findings …”115
201.
Mr Mike
Venables, Head of the DIU from 2009 to 2012, described the DIU’s
role
as
supporting bereaved families by making sure that coroners had
everything they
needed.116
This
included:
•
providing
all relevant reports and information, and explaining that material
where
necessary;
113
Defence
Instructions and Notices 2008DIN05‑052, December 2008, ‘The Defence
Inquests Unit’.
114
Minute
D/VCDS to Min(AF) [MOD], 24 April 2008, ‘Inquests Cell: Terms of
Reference’.
115
Public
hearing, 6 July 2010, pages 30‑31.
116
GOV.UK, 23
February 2012, Defence
Inquests Unit: helping to find the answers.
112