The Department of Justice and Home Affairs has confirmed it has no current plans to introduce legislation equivalent to the UK's Hillsborough Law, despite calls for the issue to remain under consideration.

During this week's sitting of Tynwald sitting, Arbory, Castletown and Malew MHK Tim Glover asked what plans there were to introduce legislation similar to the UK's Public Authority (Accountability) Bill, often referred to as the Hillsborough Law.

Inspired by the decades-long campaign by the families of the 97 people who died in the 1989 Hillsborough football disaster, the law aims to prevent institutional cover-ups and improve the treatment of bereaved families during investigations and inquiries.

Responding on behalf of absent DHA Minister Jane Poole-Wilson, John Wannenburgh said there were ‘no plans at the present time’ to develop comparable legislation.

However, he pointed to an existing Tynwald resolution, saying: ‘There is a Tynwald declaratory resolution that there should be a statutory offence of misconduct in public office, with work to progress on this to be undertaken in the next administration.’

Mr Glover said his question was intended to ensure the issue remained on the government's agenda.

He said: ‘It's really just a line in the sand - to make sure that this landmark piece of legislation that's gone through in the UK is going to be reflected here in the Isle of Man and the department is acutely aware of that, and will be monitoring that going into the next administration.’

Mr Wannenburgh replied: ‘Of course. If I am in the next administration, I will monitor that.

‘I agree that transparency and accountability in public office is vital, but to my knowledge, the context of the island is quite different to that of the UK.’

In the UK, the House of Commons has approved the Bill after cross-party support and the legislation is now proceeding through the House of Lords before it can receive Royal Assent.