The Inquiry announced on 5 January that when the former Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, gives public evidence to the Inquiry Committee, seats in the hearing room will be allocated via a public ballot.
Given the high level of demand for seats in the hearing room for this particular session the Inquiry decided that a ballot represents the best way to ensure those who wish to attend have an equal chance of doing so. A number of the seats in the hearing room were reserved for the families of Armed Forces personnel who died in Iraq or British citizens who died in Iraq or are missing.
The ballot took place on 18 January 2010 and was run as a lottery with numbered tickets representing applicants. It was independently overseen by Karamjit Singh CBE who signed an undertaking to confirm that it was conducted in a fair and transparent manner.
Hearing sessions at the Inquiry are split into morning (AM) and afternoon (PM) sessions of approximately three hours duration. To maximise the number of people who will have the opportunity to see this evidence session two separate ballots were conducted: one for AM tickets and one for PM tickets. All correct applications received were entered into both the AM and PM draw.
Before the main public ballot, a draw took place to allocate seats in the hearing room reserved for the families of Armed Forces personnel who died in Iraq or British citizens who died in Iraq or are missing. The Inquiry has undertaken that any families who are unsuccessful in the families’ ballot would automatically be included in the subsequent main public draw.
The main public draw was the primary means for allocating the seats in the hearing room and the additional viewing facility in the QEII Centre.
The Inquiry will notify all successful applicants for either the hearing room or additional viewing facility. They will be sent details on what they need to do to attend the QEII Centre on the day of the hearing. Please note the Inquiry will only contact those who have been successful in the ballot. No correspondence will be entered into with those who were unsuccessful in the ballot.
On this particular day we anticipate a high level of interest in the Inquiry's proceedings. This is why we decided to ballot tickets, including for the additional viewing facility. We would ask that you take this into account in your travel plans and ask you not to assume that by coming to the QEII that you will necessarily be able to get in.
As with all the Inquiry's hearings, they will be streamed as live on the internet via the Inquiry's website. The hearings are also available for TV broadcast and UK broadcasters may choose to broadcast the hearings on news channels.
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Sir John Chilcot, opening statement 29 June 2010
28-06-2010
Additional witnesses named for the public hearings
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