The publication of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry’s final report will likely not be published before the end of the year as expected.
The latest update on the public inquiry’s website says “the Inquiry hopes to complete the drafting of the report before the end of 2023”.
However, “individual chapters are at different stages of drafting and several stages still remain to be completed”.
“When the draft is nearing completion, it will be necessary to write under rule 13 of the Inquiry Rules to those who may be subject to criticism, explaining the basis on which such criticism may be made,” the update explained.
“The Inquiry hopes to complete the drafting of the report before the end of 2023. Various practical steps will then need to follow, such as proof-reading, typesetting and printing, all of which take time.”
Once the report is ready, it will be sent to the prime minister, who will then decide when and who will publish it.
The phases of the Inquiry
Publication of the second and final part of the inquiry into the disaster that killed 72 people and destroyed Grenfell Tower on 14 June 2017 was expected by the end of the year.
The Inquiry began on 21 May 2018 with hearings for phase 1, which focused on the causes of the events that led to the fire. That phase of the Inquiry finished on 12 December 2018 and it was nearly a year before chairman Sir Martin Moore-Bick published his four-volume phase 1 report, on 30 October 2019.
Phase 2, which examines the causes of the events of the night of the Grenfell Tower disaster, began hearings in 2020. They continued throughout 2020 and 2021, despite disruptions caused by Covid-19.
As of 24 April 2023, the Inquiry had disclosed 20,784 documents in phase 1 and 299,586 documents in phase 2, making a total of 320,370.
