The Inquiry team
1. I appointed Mr Gerry J.B. Moynihan Q.C. and Ms Ailsa Carmichael (now Q.C.) as Counsel to the Inquiry, and Mrs Ann Nelson as Solicitor and Secretary to the Inquiry. Initially Mr Roddy Flinn was deputy solicitor and Mrs Debbie Blair and Ms Emma Gilpin were assistant solicitors. Ms Gilpin returned to private practice towards the end of the Inquiry hearings. Following Mr Flinn's promotion and move to other duties, Mrs Debbie Blair became deputy solicitor. In her absence on maternity leave Mr John Grady, advocate, assumed these responsibilities until the end of the Inquiry.
2. Dr Carole Ross was the assistant secretary, Ms Lynne Allan was hearings and witness liaison manager and Ms Johann MacDougall was documentation and evidence manager all supported by Ms Katy Barclay, Mr Angus MacWilliam, Mr Mark Whitehead and others. The size of the administrative team depended upon what was required at different stages of the Inquiry.
3. The Inquiry solicitors acted under the advice of Counsel to the Inquiry and ultimately on the instructions of the Chairman given at meetings with the secretariat and legal advisers.
Accommodation
4. The Inquiry leased office accommodation within the Scottish Legal Aid Board building at Drumsheugh Gardens in Edinburgh, where the Penrose Inquiry was also later located.1
5. Two preliminary oral hearings in 2008 were held in Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. The main hearings were held in 2009 within Maryhill Community Central Hall in Glasgow where office and other ancillary accommodation was also provided. The decision to use this venue for the hearings was influenced by two important factors. The first was the fact that the death of Marion Ross took place in Kilmarnock and many of the potential witness lived in the west of Scotland. The second was that the hall in which the hearings took place had been adapted at public expense for the ICL Inquiry2 which was due to complete its public hearings shortly before this Inquiry would be ready to commence its hearings. Although the use of this venue added to the travelling time for many of those who were based in Edinburgh and put a considerable burden on the administrative staff of the Inquiry the feedback that was obtained suggested that it proved to be a very suitable venue. The assistance received from the management and all of the staff of the Maryhill Community Central Hall was outstanding.
Inquiry IT
6. The advice of Mr Mike Taylor of i-Lit Ltd, an Inquiry IT expert, informed the choice of systems. This proved invaluable in ensuring that the Inquiry had IT that was fit for purpose and value for money. Epiq Systems Ltd were selected as suppliers, with Opus 2 International and Legal Inc. as sub-contractors.
Document storage
7. Documents received by the Inquiry were uploaded to a remotely hosted electronic database accessed using secure connections over the internet, an innovation for public inquiries in the UK at the time. This arrangement provided a high level of flexibility for reviewing and managing information combined with a high level of security. Each item of evidence was given an Inquiry reference number.
Core participant databases
8. Each of the core participant representatives and unrepresented core participants, on granting a confidentiality undertaking, had their own exclusive, externally hosted, database of relevant evidence derived from the Inquiry's remotely hosted database. These core participant databases (cpd) were identical but unconnected to one another. Access was through secure connections over the internet, another innovation at the time. The system allowed individuals in each group of users to access their cpd from any location and to read and review the material electronically and share comments within the secure confines of their own database.
9. The core participant databases were updated throughout the course of the Inquiry. As noted in appendix 1 Mr Russell and his clients did not have access to a core participant database.
Oral evidence transmission
10. During oral hearings, live video links from a camera in the hearing room were transmitted to two lounges for core participants, the press cabin and the Inquiry 'admin' office.
Document display
11. Documents were displayed at the hearings on monitors at core participants' desks and on monitors and plasma screens in front of the public seating by an operator from Legal Inc. using trial presentation software called 'TrialDirector'®. An overhead camera was available to allow the display of any paper document not already stored in the Inquiry's systems. The core participant lounges and press cabin also had document display screens. Documents were displayed on all monitors simultaneously.
12. The display system contributed greatly to the hearings, reducing the time taken to produce documents during a witness's testimony, ensuring that everyone in the hearing room was able to see the document that was being referred to and also keeping to a minimum the amount of paper there.
13. There was extensive use of visual images during the second period of hearings, when fingerprint experts explained their interpretations of various fingermarks. Counsel to the Inquiry, witnesses and cross-examining legal representatives were able to perform specific functions with the display software using the computer mouse on their desks. The hearings and witness liaison manager provided training and a number of witnesses were asked to annotate existing images using the mouse. These 'captured images' were saved electronically for future reference, for example at later hearing days, and published on the website.
14. The display system therefore played an essential and in some respects unique role in this Inquiry. It was used not only to display existing evidence, utilising functions such as zoom, rotate and simultaneous display of more than one document, but also to create new evidence in the form of these 'captured images'.
15. The system worked well, being speedy and reliable even when operating at the upper limits of capability, and it allowed the Inquiry to consider the evidence in great detail. Witnesses were generally impressed with the functionality of the system and found that it helped them to give their evidence.
Transcripts
16. The oral evidence was typed up as it was spoken, appearing on a network of laptops within seconds using the LiveNote® transcript management programme supplied to the Inquiry and operated by Opus 2 International Ltd. Legal representatives could search the text, highlight sections of evidence, write up notes etc within the system, comments could be shared within teams via an inbuilt messaging feature, and users could access LiveNote® in real time even if away from the venue.
17. The LiveNote® text was finalised by the operators at the end of the day's hearing and uploaded to the Inquiry website that evening as the transcript of the day's proceedings. Daily transcripts were published in two formats: as text files and as PDF files for each morning and afternoon session. The text files allowed the Inquiry team and legal representatives to update their real-time text with the finalised transcript while the PDF files allowed the layout to be customised for printing and easier navigation through the document.
Inquiry website
18. CIVIC was selected to build and maintain the Inquiry website. As well as background information, application forms for potential core participants and witnesses, progress updates, etc, the statements by witnesses and other Inquiry evidence were made available to the public through the website, and this Report is also available on the website.
IT suppliers
19. The Inquiry is indebted to all suppliers involved in dealing with the evidence and its transmission and publication for working tirelessly and constructively with the Inquiry team to solve the technical problems associated with meeting the Inquiry's needs. It is difficult to see how, without the technology and expertise they provided, some requirements of the Inquiry could have been met such as bringing complex images into the hearing room in ways which aided the following of the evidence. The use of File Transfer Protocol (FTP) for immediate electronic transport of documents between the Inquiry and the database contractor followed when appropriate by onward transfer to the document display contractor was essential, especially during hearings, to maintain the supply of required documents.
Public relations
20. Prompt and efficient media and public relations support was provided by Barkers Scotland Ltd from September 2008, succeeded by Golley Slater from August 2009, under a Scottish Government Marketing Services Framework agreement.
Report
21. This Report is published on behalf of the Inquiry by APS Group Scotland Ltd, under the Scottish Government contract for supply of design, print, publishing and associated services.