CAMPAIGNERS have welcomed the “broad” proposed terms of reference of the coronavirus inquiry but stress delays reaching this point will have already cost lives. 

The long-awaited draft terms of reference into the government’s handling of the Covid-19 crisis, chaired by retired judge Lady Hallett, was published on Thursday. 

It proposes to examine a range of issues including the use of lockdowns, the management of the pandemic in hospitals and care homes, procurement of PPE as well as the furlough scheme, benefits and sick pay. 

The inquiry aims to identify “lessons to be learnt” by listening to the experiences of bereaved families and others who have suffered hardship or loss as a result of the pandemic. 

A one-month consultation has now opened into the terms. 

Shadow Cabinet Office minister Fleur Anderson welcomed the draft but added that due to the PM’s “dither and delay” on launching the probe, it was coming “far too late.” 

This was echoed by the Covid-19 Bereaved Families and Survivors group, which said in a statement on Thursday: “Sadly, today’s announcement comes far too late.

“We will never know how many lives could have been saved had the government had a rapid review phase in Summer 2020, as we called for at the time.”

The hearings are not expected to start till 2023. 

Prominent human rights lawyer Michael Mansfield, who chaired the People’s Covid inquiry, said the terms were “sufficiently broad,” but added this will “depend on how it is interpreted in practice as a matter of scope.”

Barrister and Covid lockdown regulations expert Adam Wagner said the terms failed to mention explicitly the policing of the pandemic, but said this would hopefully be covered by the items “use of lockdowns.” 

Disability charity Sense, which has been calling for the inquiry to investigate the “disproportionate” impact of the pandemic on disabled people, said the prospect of waiting until next year for public hearings will bring “huge disappointment to many.”

Chief executive Richard Kramer said: “We want to see more urgency — and a commitment that this process will be fully accessible for disabled people.”