Welsh Conservative bid to force Covid committee witnesses to swear oath rebuffed

Emily Price 

A Welsh Conservative bid to compel witnesses to swear an oath declaring they are telling the truth before giving evidence to the Senedd’s Covid Committee has been rebuffed.

During Questions to the First Minister on Tuesday (March 18), Tory leader Darren Millar made fresh calls for a Wales specific public inquiry into the Welsh Government’s pandemic preparedness.

He also challenged Baroness Eluned Morgan on why the Senedd’s Covid-19 Special Purposes Committee had been blocked from introducing an oath requirement when calling witnesses.

The cross-party committee was established in 2023 in response to calls for Wales to have its own independent probe into the pandemic and separate from the UK Covid Inquiry.

Truth

Co-chaired by Tory MS Tom Giffard and Labour’s Joyce Watson, the group has been tasked with investigating any gaps that are identified by the UK probe.

Plaid Cymru MS Mabon ap Gwynfor, Labour MSs Buffy Williams and Rhianon Passmore, and Tory MS Sam Rowlands are also members.

Last month, they voted in favour of a requirement for Welsh ministers and other key witnesses to swear an official oath before giving evidence – like witnesses do for the UK Covid-19 Inquiry.

The committee later applied to the Senedd’s Business Committee for permission to change their standing orders to have the oath requirement included.

Blocked

But in the Senedd on Tuesday (March 18) Conservative leader Darren Millar said the request had been blocked by the Welsh Government’s business manager.

Baroness Morgan said this was because the committee’s probe was not a public inquiry.

She said: “That’s the way the system works. We’ve made it very clear about how we’re going to organise this. A vast amount of public money has been spent on this already, a vast amount of legal work has been worked on this already.

“I recognise that people who suffered during the pandemic want answers. They are getting answers.”

The Covid-19 Special Purposes Committee does not take place in a judicial setting and there is no judge – unlike the UK inquiry which is chaired by former judge and cross-bench peer Baroness Hallett, who previously led the inquests into the 7 July London bombings.

In Wales, oaths have never been sworn by witnesses giving evidence to any Senedd Committee.

‘Simple request’

Responding to the FM, Mr Millar said: “Why are you standing in the way of requiring witnesses simply to tell the truth, by asking them to take an oath?

“Today, in Westminster, your colleagues announced a Hillsborough law, which will be passed this year to require officials giving evidence to inquiries to tell the truth.

“Now, that’s something that we on this side of the Chamber and, hopefully, everybody in this Chamber, would fully support.

“So, why are you blocking a simple request for a requirement to swear an oath before giving evidence to this special purposes committee of this Senedd?”

The UK Covid Inquiry has already questioned Welsh witnesses such as former First Minister Mark Drakeford and the health minister in charge of Wales’ response to the pandemic, Vaughan Gething.

But families who lost loved ones during the pandemic say Wales needs to have its own forensic and targeted investigation into decision-making by Welsh ministers.

In the Chamber, the First Minister argued that it “makes sense” to wait for the UK’s public inquiry to “run its course” first.

Parties

She said: “What we’re doing is we’re looking at the various modules, one at a time, to see where the gaps are, and that is precisely what the special purposes committee is doing.

“If you started to introduce a different form, it would mean that many people would be excluded from being able to give their witness statements.

“What I can tell you is that that cautious approach that was undertaken in Wales was very much appreciated by the Welsh public, which is why they voted the Labour Party back in with a significant vote in the last election.

“I’ll tell you what they didn’t do is they didn’t appreciate the way that the Conservative Party partied in Downing Street on the day that the Queen was mourning her husband.

“That was scandalous. That is the kind of thing that needs to be exposed and none of that was happening here in Wales.”

Confidence

Commenting after his exchange with the First Minister, Mr Millar said: “It is a frankly shocking disappointment that the Welsh Government’s Business Manager has blocked the ability of the Covid-19 Special Purposes Committee to call witnesses under oath.

“This decision will further reduce public confidence in the Welsh Government’s ability to provide the answers that bereaved families and the people of Wales deserve.

“To learn the lessons of the pandemic, we need a Wales-specific Covid Inquiry, but in its absence, it is vital that the Senedd Committee established in its place must be able to take evidence under oath to give the public confidence it its proceedings so we can get to the truth about what happened.”

The Senedd Covid Committee’s first report will be published next week. It will include details of any gaps identified in module 1 of the UK probe.

The following week, a motion will go to the Senedd asking for approval to carry out the work they think the UK Inquiry didn’t properly explore.