A Cardiff University professor will chair a review of whether Wales has learned the lessons of the Covid-19 pandemic, but bereaved families have challenged the decision not to give the process powers to compel witnesses.
The Welsh Government has named Professor Daniel Wincott to lead an expert panel examining health and adult social care. Ministers say the review will assess whether changes made since the pandemic have strengthened Wales’s ability to respond to a future emergency.
A campaign group representing families who lost loved ones has said it will not take part in the review and has called instead for a statutory process. The distinction matters because the proposed review cannot require people to give evidence.
The government says the panel will be independent and will complement the continuing UK Covid-19 public inquiry. It plans to report publicly in stages, with the review aiming to conclude by March 2029.
What the review will examine
Wincott is a professor of law at Cardiff University. The government says he will be supported by people with expertise in healthcare systems, social care and public health. The remaining panel members have yet to be confirmed.
Announcing the plans in the Senedd on 3 November, constitution minister Dafydd Trystan Davies said he expected the panel to meet for the first time early in the new year. The minister said its work would focus on services that were central to Wales’s pandemic response and had been raised as areas of concern by bereaved families and others affected.
The panel is expected to draw on evidence already collected by the UK inquiry, as well as other reviews and relevant work. The government says the panel will assess whether recommendations and lessons have led to practical improvements, and examine issues in greater depth where evidence is insufficient or gaps remain.
Davies told the Senedd that the initial budget being considered for the year ahead was £1.5 million. That figure is not a stated total cost for the whole review.
Families question the approach
Campaigners have argued that a Wales-specific statutory inquiry would be better equipped to establish what happened and hold decision-makers accountable. Sam Smith-Higgins, a campaigner for bereaved families, criticised the choice of a review.
Members of opposition parties also challenged the government in the Senedd. They asked how the panel could obtain evidence if a former minister or senior official declined to cooperate, and whether bereaved families would have a meaningful role from the start.
Davies confirmed that the review would be non-statutory. He said he expected Welsh ministers who had served during the relevant period to support its work, and told members he would report to the Senedd if his expectation of cooperation was not met.
Plaid Cymru had previously supported calls for a Wales-specific inquiry while in opposition. Its 2026 Senedd election manifesto called for a targeted review of Wales’s Covid response, its legacies and lessons. The first minister, Rhun ap Iorwerth, said the government was delivering the approach it had set out and that he believed it was the best way to provide answers and prepare for a future pandemic.
Questions still to be resolved
The government says it will ask the panel to consider how people’s lived experiences can inform its work. Davies said he hoped bereaved families and others affected by Covid would play a full part, but the method of involving them has not yet been settled.
Although the panel is due to report publicly, questions have also been raised about whether it will hear evidence in public and whether all documents submitted to it will be published. Davies said he expected the process to be as public and transparent as possible, while noting that medical confidentiality would need to be considered.
The review’s planned task is to test what has changed and where weaknesses remain, rather than to replace the UK-wide inquiry. Whether it can secure the participation and evidence sought by bereaved campaigners remains an unresolved question.
Featured image: AI-generated illustration.
