In many countries, including the UK, an official or representative who apologises is regarded as admitting liability in the legal sense. They can then be open to be sued for financial compensation. I think this stops many would be apologisers from genuinely saying sorry, when just that simple word would be enough to heal many wounds. Unlink the words sorry from the liability. Allow people to say sorry, without this being a legal admission of guilt, and I think we will all be the better for it.