Private public inquiries

This apparent oxymoron is used to denote those exercises that are conducted in public with a Chairman or Panel independent of the matter being investigated and which are designed to achieve the aims of a public inquiry, yet have not been established by central or local Government. A privately-funded inquiry into Gulf War Syndrome and the privately funded independent inquiry by Lord Archer of Sandwell into how nearly 5,000 people were given blood transfusions with HIV or Hepetitis C infected blood are recent examples of such an exercise.

The circumstances in which such an exercise is conducted will vary greatly. The primary reason for them, however, is likely to be that a section of society feels strongly that there is a matter of public concern but it cannot persuade the Government that the concern is sufficiently pressing for it to establish a public inquiry.

Necessarily, a privately-funded public inquiry will have no statutory basis, so it cannot compel witnesses; its proceedings will not attract qualified privilege against defamation and its recommendations  are likely to carry little weight. It is very unlikely that the Attorney General would give an undertaking not to use evidence given by a witness at such an inquiry against him in subsequent criminal proceedings or that a public employer would give a similar undertaking in relation to subsequent disciplinary proceedings.

Furthermore, because it will not be attended by the requirements imposed on public inquiries by the Inquiries Act 2005 such as the presumption that members of public will be able to attend the public inquiry and to obtain a record of documents given to it, its credibility may be less than if it had a statutory footing. However, it is easy to conceive that a privately-funded public inquiry, chaired by a distinguished person, where the witnesses attend voluntarily and where the procedure mirrors that of a statutory public inquiry, would command considerable respect.