Law Commission review of duty to warn/report
Southport Inquiry · The Southport Inquiry Report: Phase 1 · Issued 13 April 2026 · Addressed to: Law Commission
Source — verbatim from the inquiry
●Inquiry recommendation
The Law Commission should be asked to review the merits of legal reform concerning whether specified categories of persons ought to be under a legal duty to warn about, or a duty to report, the criminality of another.
Southport Inquiry, The Southport Inquiry Report: Phase 1 · 13 Apr 2026 Source PDF →
Published evidence summary
Publicly available evidence relating to this recommendation:
How was this evidence gathered?
Response — verbatim from government
●Ministry of Justice
Ministry of Justice is the sponsoring department for the Law Commission and will work with the Law Commission, the Home Office and other relevant departments on this recommendation. Progress and next steps:
- The Law Commission is engaging with the Inquiry to discuss this recommendation to determine next steps.
- Government is exploring the merits of this proposal with the Law Commission and will promptly work with them to discuss a proposal as soon as possible.
Ministry of Justice · 2 Jul 2026 Written response →
Evidence trail — what's actually happened since
- 2 Jul 2026 · Ministry of Justice Government response published 2 July 2026 (CP 1623). The government accepted this recommendation; the lead department reports implementation is in progress. Source →
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.