The Government’s public inquiry into Covid-19 is set to run into the next Parliament and is unlikely to be completed until at least the end of 2025, The Telegraph can reveal. The inquest, which is being led by former Court of Appeal judge Baroness Hallett, is set to begin next spring but organisers have refused to say when the inquiry is expected to conclude. However, documents related to the appointment of a law firm that has been brought in to aid with the inquiry reveal that its final report

Firstly, what preparations were made in civil emergency planning for pandemics in relation to mental health.... It so obviously has a place in every section of the inquiry, but the remit is bizarrely silent on this key element of our preparedness, response or recovery.... An inquiry has to ask questions but there are three it hasn’t yet posed which must now be answered. Three questions need to be answered The first is were we prepared?...