Evidence sessions on role of the Independent Public Advocate/Human Rights and AI regulation to be held next week
Cindy Butts was appointed as the Independent Public Advocate in September 2025. The newly created role was established to help prevent the repeat of failings in the response to major disasters, such as Hillsborough, Grenfell and the Manchester Arena Bombing. Its purpose is to act as an advocate for victims and families, helping them to navigate the complex investigations that occur following major disasters, and aid them in getting support.
Meeting details
In this session, the Committee will examine Cindy Butts’ view on the key challenges and objectives for the role in the coming years. It will also consider if the existing powers of the Independent Public Advocate are sufficient to ensure she can be an effective voice and point of support.
Ahead of this, the Committee will continue taking evidence as part of its inquiry into human rights and the regulation of AI. In this session, the Committee will examine how human rights safeguards can be embedded in AI technologies as they are developed, and what monitoring and evaluation processes should be in place once these systems are in play.
Representatives of Good Tech Advisory, LawZero and Locai Labs will set out what systems and safeguards should be in place to make AI more accountable to users and those it impacts. Experts will examine the unique challenges AI poses to human rights issues such as data rights, bias, transparency, and accountability, and how these challenges can be met in the private sector.
This will include how AI systems can be developed with human rights considerations at the forefront, and how they are monitored over their lifetime to ensure human rights issues can be uncovered and resolved.
The following week, on Wednesday 21 January, the Committee will question Google about their approach to AI development and their position on human rights safeguards.