Annex A > Chapter 1 - The Background to and Conduct of the Public Inquiry > Preparation of the Final Report

Preparation of the Final Report

115 The purpose of the Inquiry was not to conduct a trial of those associated with the events under scrutiny but to inquire, make findings and draw lessons. For this reason, and because there is no right to appeal against the views taken and conclusions reached in the Report, it was considered fair that those witnesses whom the Panel were minded to criticise should be aware of the Panel's concerns in advance and given the opportunity to comment.

116 Therefore once a first draft of the Report had been prepared, letters were sent, subject to an undertaking as to confidentiality, to a number of individuals briefly setting out intended criticisms with notice of the evidence on which these were based. Witnesses were given a period of 21 days to respond. The Panel in finalising the Report then considered those responses. This is the only occasion when the Inquiry Panel saw submissions that were not revealed publicly, since to have revealed them in any case where the Panel modified its conclusion would have been unjust to the individual concerned.

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