Criminal Liability for Candour Breach
Hyponatraemia Inquiry · Report of the Inquiry into Hyponatraemia-related Deaths · Issued 31 January 2018 · Addressed to: Northern Ireland Executive
Source — verbatim from the inquiry
●Inquiry recommendation
Criminal liability should attach to breach of this duty and criminal liability should attach to obstruction of another in the performance of this duty.
Hyponatraemia Inquiry, Report of the Inquiry into Hyponatraemia-related Deaths · 31 Jan 2018 Source PDF →
Response — verbatim from government
●Northern Ireland Executive
Under review as part of wider duty of candour and accountability framework development.
Northern Ireland Executive · 1 Mar 2018 Written response →
Evidence trail — what's actually happened since
- 6 Feb 2026 · NI Assembly / Department of Health NI Criminal liability for breach of duty of candour has not been introduced. No legislation exists to attach criminal sanctions to candour failures in NI. View source → Not Implemented
Each entry above links to a primary source — gov.uk written statement, consultation response document, or inspection report. The Index does not characterise government intent; it tracks what has been published.
How this page is built
Source and Response are verbatim from primary documents. The Evidence trail records published activity since — written statements, consultation outcomes, inspection findings, parliamentary references. The Index does not paraphrase or characterise intent; it tracks what has been published. Where the evidence is the absence of action (a missed deadline, a slipped timetable), that absence is documented from primary sources rather than inferred.
This recommendation's data is verified periodically against primary sources. The Index is monitored for staleness weekly.