Current location:International Interactions news portal > politics
At £300k a day, Covid inquiry set to be most expensive ever, outstripping Bloody Sunday
International Interactions news portal2024-05-18 00:07:36【politics】3People have gathered around
IntroductionA long-awaited inquiry into the Covid pandemic is set to become the most expensive in history — cost
A long-awaited inquiry into the Covid pandemic is set to become the most expensive in history — costing an estimated £136,907 a day over the last year.
Taxpayers forked out almost £70million in the last financial year and the probe is not expected to report its findings until the end of 2026, so the final cost is likely be around £200million.
That would eclipse the £195million spent on the 12-year probe into the deaths of 13 people on Bloody Sunday.
More than half the £94million that has already been spent on the Covid inquiry, chaired by retired Appeal Court judge Baroness Hallett, has gone on legal costs.
A further £100,000 a day has been spent on a team of 265 civil servants who are working full-time to provide the inquiry with documents and government witnesses, according to separate figures published this week.
The long-awaited Covid inquiry is chaired by retired Appeal Court judge Baroness Hallett
Professor Carl Heneghan, from the centre for evidence-based medicine at Oxford University, who gave evidence to the inquiry, told The Times: 'This is an exorbitant amount of money but the entire way the inquiry has been structured is designed to be expensive.
'It is setting itself to take sides with a legalistic approach which is not the best way to learn lessons. It would be much cheaper and more effective if it actually took the approach of medicine and said we accept that errors were made — and look at how we should do things differently in future.'
Lord Saville of Newdigate, who carried out the Bloody Sunday inquiry, defended the high cost. 'It has got to be thorough and it has got to be fair,' he said. 'That takes time and expertise which is expensive.'
John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, which compiled the cost analysis, said: 'The Covid inquiry should be short, sharp and decisive, not an expensive political pantomime.'
A spokesman for the Covid inquiry said: 'It was the government’s decision to set up this public inquiry with very broad terms of reference. The inquiry’s scope is exceptionally wide and touches on the work of many government departments in all four nations of the UK. It is obliged to gather evidence from many organisations, especially those at the centre of responding to the pandemic.'
A government spokesman said: 'To ensure transparency the government is committed to publishing its costs responding to the inquiry. This is in line with the inquiry’s own quarterly financial reports.'
Address of this article:http://turksandcaicosislands.izmirambar.net/content-48a899097.html
Very good!(1212)
Related articles
- 'ALL Brits are welcome!' Mayor of Magaluf's message to UK holidaymakers following 'tourism
- Kate Moss, 50, and long
- 'Don't tag this beach, b**ch!' Mallorca anti
- Pirates designate LHP Josh Fleming for assignment one night after a poor relief performance
- Judge dismisses lawsuit by Georgia court candidate who sued to keep talking about abortion
- Wilson's double
- Will Keir bow to unions on zero hours contracts and out
- Missouri doomsday BUNKER complete with its own 80ft antenna tower hits the market for $300,000
- Turkey's Erdogan pardons elderly generals imprisoned over 1997 'postmodern coup'
- Sweltering heat across Asia was 45 times more likely because of climate change, study finds
Popular articles
Recommended
Indiana judge opens door for new eatery, finding `tacos and burritos are Mexican
Ruiz and Lipscomb help the Nationals beat the White Sox 6
Final Preakness at Pimlico before rebuilding stirs nostalgia mixed with relief for needed fixes
China's tech giant Huawei hosts cloud database summit in Thailand
How just one horrible moment in your past could cause ALZHEIMER'S, according to new study
China, other countries to spur trade
How to watch the Preakness Stakes
Greene pitches 7 sharp innings, Reds beat Diamondbacks 6
Links
- Fears Rwanda flights will fail if migrants disappear en masse to avoid being deported from the UK
- Small Chinese town goes big with magic of animation
- Streamlined logistics allow landlocked regions to expand global reach
- China's Liaoning Ballet to debut new adaptation of Notre Dame de Paris
- As Blinken heads to China, these are the major divides he will try to bridge
- Gorman snaps slump with walk
- People enjoy outdoor activities as spring flowers bloom across China
- Gorman snaps slump with walk
- David Beckham gushes over his wife Victoria's age
- 'Openly Jewish' charity chief says Met boss Mark Rowley has 'failed abjectly' to stand up for Jews