Source: Liverpool_Echo
Independent panel on release of Liverpool FC Hillsborough files to be set up within two weeks
AN INDEPENDENT panel charged with releasing the Hillsborough files will be up and running by the end of next week.
The actual publication could then be within weeks, according to Whitehall sources.
But ministers will again come under fire for further delays following the decision last June to lift the 30-year secrecy rule covering files relevant to the 1989 disaster in which 96 Reds fans died.
Health Secretary Andy Burnham who, as Sports Secretary was barracked at Anfield, said: 'It is a hugely complicated process and we want to get it right.
'We have been taking very careful steps because this is an unprecedented situation.
'I am very confident that we are getting very close to full disclosure.
'We have dotted the 'i's and the 't's are being crossed.'
The new panel, likely to be chaired by a senior judge or former law officer, will decide exactly how an estimated 20,000 documents will be released.
Mr Burnham added: 'We have been working very carefully through the detail and we have been working with the families to ensure we get it right.'
Deliberations so far have included legal technicalities, the possibility of material being used in court, and the permanent archiving of the files.
