The Coram Group of children’s charities has been accepted as a Core Participant in Module 8 of the Covid Inquiry, which will examine the impact of the pandemic on children and young people across the UK.
The preliminary hearing is taking place in London today (Friday 6 September).
The Covid-19 Inquiry was announced by the then Prime Minister in May 2021, to examine the UK’s response to and impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and learn lessons for the future. The Inquiry was formally opened in July 2022. Module 8 of the Inquiry will cover the impact of the pandemic on children across society, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and from a diverse range of ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds.
As a Core Participant, the Coram Group will be provided with evidence and have the right to make opening and closing statements at any hearing, suggest lines of questioning to be pursued by Counsel and apply to the Inquiry to ask questions of witnesses during a hearing.
The application for core participant status states: “As a children’s charity which is a backbone organisation in the children’s sector, Coram is involved on an ongoing and daily basis with children and young people across a spectrum of areas, including the family justice system, education law, wellbeing education, childcare and early years education, special educational needs, children’s social care, therapeutic support, and the asylum and immigration systems. These areas of concern directly align with those to be considered within Module 8.”
Today’s preliminary inquiry will establish the boundaries for Module 8. Once the boundaries and duration of the Inquiry have been established, it will then begin its work, seeking substantive evidence from core participants and others.
Dr Carol Homden, CEO, Coram Group, said: “Throughout the pandemic, Coram was on the front line seeing first-hand and in real time the impact of the pandemic on children and young people. We continue to witness and work to mitigate the ongoing impact on these children and young people to this day and we look forward to working with the Inquiry to interrogate these issues further.”