The Chair of the IJCI, Frances Oldham, has made a statement on the progress of the Inquiry. Mrs Oldham was speaking at the close of hearings this year.
“There will be no further hearings in 2014. But the team will still be working to prepare for next year’s sittings. The next hearing will be on Tuesday the 13th of January, when we will hear more evidence about Haut de la Garenne, followed by evidence from former residents of Jersey’s other care and foster homes.
We will then move to the next stage of the Inquiry and hear evidence from people who worked or were involved with the care system. To date have heard evidence concerning more than 90 former residents. We’ve also heard evidence from a number of expert witnesses. I’d like to thank everyone who has contributed to the work of this Inquiry. We have also been in contact by writing with more than 300 potential witnesses. It is still not too late to get in touch with us. The work to trace and prepare documents spanning seven decades is painstaking but essential, concerning as it does more than 150,000 pages so far. All of this evidence we will consider when deciding what went wrong in Jersey’s care system over so many years and making recommendations to keep children safe in the future."
