Public Office (Accountability) Bill: HL Bill 42 of 2026–27
The Public Office (Accountability) Bill is a government bill introduced in the House of Commons in the 2024–26 session. It was carried over to the current session and completed its Commons stages on 14 July 2026. It is scheduled to have its second reading in the House of Lords on 1 September 2026.
Approximate read time: 1 hour
Also known as the ‘Hillsborough law’, the bill would introduce a number of provisions designed to prevent investigations into tragedies like the 1989 Hillsborough disaster from being obfuscated by the state. The introduction of the bill followed campaigns by affected families and was also a Labour Party manifesto commitment. Among its provisions the bill would:
- create a statutory “duty of candour and assistance” for public authorities and officials when engaging with inquiries, inquests and similar investigations
- create a framework to ensure ethical conduct in public authorities, including through a duty to produce codes of conduct
- create new criminal offences of failing to uphold the duty of candour and assistance and of misleading the public and create two new statutory offences to replace the common law offence of misconduct in public office
- introduce ‘parity of representation’ and expand non-means tested legal aid for bereaved families at inquests where a public authority is an interested person
Progress of the bill in the House of Commons was delayed by disagreements about how the bill’s provisions would apply to the security and intelligence services. The bill was amended by the government at its report stage to make changes in this regard. The bill has cross-party support; however, the Conservatives have been critical of the scheduling of the bill in the House of Commons and expressed continued concern about its application to the security and intelligence services.
Image by Can Pac Swire on Flickr.