Public Office (Accountability) Bill — Written evidence submitted by Gareth O'Leary (POAB02)

Public Office (Accountability) Bill (27th November 2025)

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Session 2024-25

Public Office (Accountability) Bill

Written evidence submitted by Gary O’Leary for the Public Office (Accountability) Bill Committee (POAB02)

Aims of the Bill

The bill would:

·

Create a statutory "duty of candour and assistance" (a legal obligation to act transparently) for public authorities and officials when engaging with inquiries, inquests and similar investigations

·

Create a framework to ensure ethical conduct in public authorities including mandatory codes of conduct

·

Create new criminal offences of failing to uphold the duty of candour and assistance and misleading the public

·

Create two new statutory offences to replace the common law offence of misconduct in public office

·

Introduce "parity of representation" for bereaved families at inquests involving public authorities

My name is Gareth O’Leary. I am a 56 year old, a retired teacher, a Liverpool Football Club supporter, a survivor from pen 3 of the Hillsborough disaster, 1989 and a former director of the Hillsborough Survivors Association.

I would like to make submissions to the Committee and I am happy to do this in person, if required. I believe the testimony of someone who was at the Hillsborough disaster and who was affected so thoroughly and devastatingly by not only the horrific events, but also and to depths I believe you should be made aware, of the subsequent lies told by many in authority, the cover up that was initiated and maintained over decades of time, and the singularly embarrassing, degrading and incredibly insulting and upsetting manner in which police officers that attended the two trials of David Duckenfield and Graham Mackrell lied, obfuscated and denied truth in a court of law to such a degree that the pursuit of justice was forever damaged and denied to people such as me and of course to the families of those who died at Hillsborough.

I attended both trials of David Duckenfield, in person and via a video link set up to be shown in Liverpool for their duration. I also attended the inquests into the then 96 deaths at Hillsborough as a witness.

I have taken an interest in other tragedies that have occurred in the UK, compelled to do so by my own experiences. Although my deep experience on these matters relates very much to what has taken place around Hillsborough, I am aware of sensitive. Let us say, to similarities in other cases that have taken place in the UK since.

1.

Create a statutory "duty of candour and assistance" (a legal obligation to act transparently) for public authorities and officials when engaging with inquiries, inquests and similar investigations

To me, a duty of candour is a duty placed upon the person in question both as a matter of service and as a matter of dignity. As a former teacher, I have been aware of my duty to the children in my care, to their parents and carers and to the wider public in undertaking my role as a publicly employed member of the school community. I could never have countenanced the thought of lying for another or for my organisation, or to create a deliberate confusion or ill-intended forgetfulness, in order to hide the truth of any serious matter. In my capacity, that matter may include incidents such as alleged assault or any of the many safeguarding protections our children have in school. I could not possibly see this duty as in any question as to do so would jeopardise, degrade and deny those in my care, degrade myself, deny my profession and associated organisations of the vigour they require to operate safely and thoroughly for those they serve and would fundamentally undermine the confidence of children, their families, communities and the wider public in all that we are expected to do and should do. To then magnify that responsibility to an incidence of death and consider any less duty of candour in my conduct with regards to any investigation, then I am sure you can see as clearly as I that this would be an abhorrent consideration. I believe the committee need to consider the views of people affected by such conduct, not only as a human being, but also as a previously publicly employed employee. You may then see how the abdication of duty and responsibility by those in authority can and will cause deep harm to people and their communities, reverberating even to the point of creating vulnerability in trust in working environments such as those I have worked within and beyond. I can, if you require, show you a world in which that trust has been broken completely. It is not a world our people and their children should ever be asked to live in.

2.

Create a framework to ensure ethical conduct in public authorities including mandatory codes of conduct

Despite the fact that codes of conduct have been present for public employees, it is also clear that they have been shown, in reality, when most seriously required, to be anything but ethical in their use and application and to be weak to the point beyond uselessness and into the realms of moral depravity. I would be very keen to work with the committee if so deemed to help formulate precisely where such codes of conduct are found wanting, despite the best of intentions of those who write them. I am very keen to be part of assisting how such codes appropriately meet the powers of the law as without that and exacting consequences, debased acts of selfishness, self-preservation and misplaced duty will continue.

3.

Create new criminal offences of failing to uphold the duty of candour and assistance and misleading the public

The standards of duty of a public servant in the UK has, in my opinion, been deeply eroded. I believe the changing landscape of morality has shifted behaviour and moral judgement in our workplaces and in life so far beyond what we once held as minimally acceptable, breaking certainly the spirit of once valuable and useful laws, that the laws themselves have acted as a shield to people acting with terrible intent. Criminal offences must be put in place that truly reflect the crimes committed. I am very sceptical that those in positions of power and influence are best placed to know the degree of damage these offences cause to people and to wider society. The process of giving consequences must also take away the comfort of time limitations that can be so often abused.

4.

Create two new statutory offences to replace the common law offence of misconduct in public office

This is minimally essential. I would ask that any confusion in establishing responsibilities of those acting in contravention of law do not escape by way of diverting responsibility to those of less senior rank and that measures are taken to ensure the balance between organisational and personal responsibilities are not deliberately confused for the purposes of interpretation and application of law.

5.

Introduce "parity of representation" for bereaved families at inquests involving public authorities

This is essential.

I would seek to recommend that this parity is extended to those who are directly and devastatingly harmed by the actions of those who fail to uphold the spirit and word of the proposed new laws. Again, I would be happy to represent the degree to which I believe that is true and appropriate.

November 2025

Prepared 27th November 2025

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