Bishop David spoke in the House of Lords yesterday advocating for a duty of candour for public officials and bodies who are called to give evidence at public inquiries and major inquests.
He drew on his experiences following the Manchester Arena bombings acknowledging that, when it comes to learning lessons, public bodies can be reticent to acknowledge failings.
Bishop David noted that a duty of candour is not about finding guilty parties to blame but about learning lessons from events. A duty of candour would move the focus away from reputation management and towards supporting those victim and their families.
Bishop David suggested that it is not enough for this duty to apply to policing but also a more general duty that applies to all public bodies.