Baroness Doocey
Main Page: Baroness Doocey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)Child Rape Gangs
Baroness Doocey Excerpts(3 weeks, 2 days ago)
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Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Lab)
I thank the right reverend Prelate for both his question and the work he has done on this issue within the Church. We will set out the framework next month for how the local inquiries can be done and the associated funding that will be in place. We are very clear that everything must be victim-centred and that we use best practice when looking at these issues. We are working with those who delivered the best practice in Telford to make sure that, where there is community demand and, most importantly, victim-led demand, the resources and processes are in place to deliver a local inquiry.
Baroness Doocey (LD)
My Lords, successive Governments have commissioned numerous inquiries into a wide range of issues, resulting in valuable reports and recommendations. Although most of the recommendations are usually accepted, there is rarely any systematic follow-up to ensure that the recommendations are implemented or to monitor their impact, resulting in important findings being ignored and a huge waste of taxpayers’ money. In light of that, can the Minister say whether the Government will consider establishing a dedicated system to ensure that all recommendations from such reports are both implemented and subject to ongoing monitoring, so that lessons are not lost and real change is delivered for victims and communities?
Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Lab)
The noble Baroness raises a very interesting point, which was debated in your Lordships’ House on Friday, when I was the Minister responding. The Select Committee chaired by the noble Lord, Lord Norton of Louth, on the role of public inquiries provides a potential framework for moving forward: its report recommends having a Select Committee that operates across both Houses to monitor the implementation of public inquiries. That is incredibly important work. If the recommendations of the Lakanal House coroners’ inquest inquiry had been followed, we would never have got to Grenfell.