Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what the official closing date under section 14 of the Inquiries Act 2005 was for the public inquiries entitled (a) Robert Hamill Inquiry and (b) Billy Wright Inquiry.

Section 14(1) of the Inquiries Act 2005 sets out that for the purposes of the Act, an Inquiry comes to an end either:

(a) on the date, after the delivery of the report of the inquiry, on which the chairman notifies the Minister that the inquiry has fulfilled its terms of reference, or

(b) on any earlier date specified in a notice given to the chairman by the Minister.

In the case of the Robert Hamill Inquiry, the original Inquiry Chair, Sir Edwin Jowitt, advised the then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, the Rt Hon Owen Paterson MP, on 25 February 2011, that the Inquiry Panel had fulfilled its Terms of Reference. However, following announcement by the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland in December 2010 of criminal proceedings against three individuals on charges of perverting the course of justice, it was agreed that the Inquiry Report would not be published or submitted to the Secretary of State until the conclusion of those legal proceedings. At that point, the Report was placed in a secure independent location, only accessible to the Inquiry Chair, Secretary and Solicitor. These legal proceedings have now concluded. A new Chair, Sir John Evans, was appointed on 7 October 2024 due to Sir Edwin unfortunately being unable to continue in the role. Steps are now being taken to publish the report.

The Billy Wright Inquiry report was published on 14 September 2010 with the Inquiry Chair, Lord MacLean, advising the then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, the Rt Hon Owen Paterson MP on 12 December 2010 that the Inquiry had fulfilled its Terms of Reference in line with section 14 of the Inquiries Act 2005.