So far I’ve only read the forward and the summary so far but this seems an excellent report.
The All Party Group has met with or spoken to around 60 families and has spoken to around 50 third party organisation, government departments and NGOs.
I quote from the report, ‘Many changes are needed. Some require legislation, for example a legal right to consular services which surprisingly, British citizens do not currently have. Mostly, it is about changing behaviours and processes, creating a protocol that government departments, the police, victims support, airlines, airports, holiday companies, the insurance and legal sectors can work to.
We owe it to these families and the loved ones they lost to learn lessons and make common sense and necessary changes.’
Congratulations to Hannah Bardell MP, Chair of the APPG on Deaths Abroad, Consular Services and Assistance for this report.
We only wish that the All Party Group on Carbon Monoxide would bring out such a good report and recommend changes as far reaching as these recommendations. However, we do hope these changes are actually made. We in gas safety know all too well that recommendations, however excellent (such as the ones made by HSC/E on gas safety in 2000) often languish and are not implemented.