7 Feb 2024
The Undercover Policing Inquiry has announced the intended dates for its future evidence hearings and the publication of its final report in 2026.
Tranche 2 evidence hearings will commence in July 2024 and will be followed by Tranche 3 in February 2025 and Tranche 4 in October 2025. The Inquiry aims to publish its final report in 2026. Further key dates will be published on the Inquiry’s website in due course.
The timetable is subject to change depending on the Inquiry’s continuing investigations and planning which may affect the date for when hearings for each tranche start. Some dates may need to fall outside those published, for example because of participant availability or other operational issues.
The hearings will be held in person and the opening statements streamed online. The Tranche 2 hearings will be held at the International Dispute Resolution Centre (IDRC), London. Further details regarding the location and the programme for each Tranche of hearings will be shared in advance of the start of each set of hearings.
The Inquiry’s investigations are broken down into three modules:
- Module One: Examination of the deployment of undercover officers in the past, their conduct, and the impact of their activities on themselves and others.
- Module Two: Examination of the management and oversight of undercover officers, including their selection, training, supervision, care after the end of an undercover deployment, and the legal and regulatory framework within which undercover policing was carried out.
- Module Two (a) will involve managers and administrators from within undercover policing units.
- Module Two (b) will involve senior managers higher in the chain of command as well as police personnel who handled intelligence provided by undercover police officers. Module Two (c) will involve other government bodies with a connection to undercover policing, including the Home Office.
- Module Three: Examination of current undercover policing practices and of how undercover policing should be conducted in future.
The Inquiry has divided its work for Modules One and Two into the following five “tranches”:
- Special Demonstration Squad officers and managers and those affected by deployments (1968-1982) including the management & oversight by mid and senior officers, other agencies and government departments.
- Special Demonstration Squad officers and managers and those affected by deployments (1983-1992) including the management & oversight by mid and senior officers, other agencies and government departments.
- Special Demonstration Squad officers and managers and those affected by deployments (1993-2007) including the management & oversight by mid and senior officers, other agencies and government departments.
- National Public Order Intelligence Unit officers and managers and those affected by deployments including the management & oversight by mid and senior officers, other agencies and government departments.
- Other undercover policing and those affected by deployments including the management & oversight by mid and senior officers, other agencies and government departments.
The Inquiry’s first sets of evidence hearings covered ‘Tranche 1: Special Demonstration Squad officers and managers and those affected by deployments (1968–1982)’ and were heard across 29 days of evidential hearings in three phases between November 2020, April-May 2021 and May 2022. The Inquiry also heard additional evidence during closed evidential hearings. The Inquiry’s interim report on Tranche 1 was published on 29 June 2023.