Undercover Policing Inquiry’s evidence hearings in November to go ahead

5 Nov 2020

Updated 16 November at 11:05 AM to reflect timetable changes

On 31 October, the Prime Minister announced new national restrictions that came into effect today. The Undercover Policing Inquiry can confirm that its evidence hearings scheduled for Wednesday 11 November to Thursday 19 November will go ahead. The hearings will still be live-streamed – in real-time – to the Amba Hotel Marble Arch in London but with some limits on who can attend.

The Inquiry’s interpretation of The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England)(No. 4) Regulations 2020 (“the Regulations”) limits attendance at the Amba Hotel to Core Participants, members of a Core Participant’s legal team and representatives of the media.

Regrettably, members of the public and anyone else who does not fall into one of the categories specified above will now be unable to attend the Amba Hotel to watch the proceedings. However, a live transcript of the hearings will still be streamed on the Inquiry website with a 10-minute delay.

The Inquiry will endeavour to publish a witness’ written statement on the Inquiry website shortly before they give their oral evidence. Furthermore, the Inquiry will now endeavour to publish all materials related to a witness on the Inquiry website as soon as possible after they finish their giving their oral evidence. The full transcript will be published at the end of the day.

The Inquiry is taking every possible precaution to protect attendees and ensure hearings are conducted following government guidelines.

Further information on the evidence hearings in November can be found in the following press notice: ‘Undercover Policing Inquiry’s hearings start Monday‘.

Schedule changes

Also as a result of the national lockdown, HN 347 and Dr Norman Temple will not be giving oral evidence on Wednesday 18 November as originally scheduled. They will now give their oral evidence at a future hearing.

Consequently, there have been some changes to the evidence hearing schedule and Tuesday 17 November will now be a non-sitting day.

The updated schedule is below. Breaks will take place throughout each day but are not displayed. Lunch breaks will typically take place between 1 PM and 2 PM. The time and date for the summary of evidence of HN 333 has not yet been confirmed.

UCPI Evidence Hearings: Tranche 1 (Phase 1) | Day 8 (Wed 11 Nov)