NHS trust 'to spend £30m' on mental health inquiry

The NHS trust at the centre of a public mental health inquiry estimates it will need to spend £30m to cover the costs of the process.

The Lampard Inquiry is looking into the deaths of more than 2,000 people under Essex NHS mental health services between 2000 and 2023.

Paul Scott, the former chief executive officer of Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust [EPUT], admitted the figure was "substantial" but said there was no set budget for the legal process.

"Our position is we need to spend what we need to spend to serve the inquiry," he said.

Scott was called back to give evidence to the inquiry, having appeared at a previous hearing.

Chief counsel to the inquiry, Nicholas Griffin KC, said that EPUT had spent £13.5m up to the end of November 2025 on the Lampard Inquiry and its predecessor - the Essex Mental Health Independent Inquiry - but was forecasting a £30m spend overall.

Scott left his role at the end of June to become CEO of East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Colchester and Ipswich hospitals.

Bereaved families criticised the timing of his departure from EPUT when the Lampard Inquiry was still active.

Scott apologised to families who had been upset by the move, but told the inquiry: "I'm here…to assure people that I'm not running from anything."

He added he was "available to be accountable for my time in EPUT".

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Source: BBC News, 7 July 2026