What is a “public inquiry” within the scope of PublicInquiries.org?

Broadly speaking, a public inquiry has the characteristics of independence and inquisition. In general, PublicInquiries.org will confine itself to “those inquiries set up by Ministers to investigate specific, often controversial events that have given rise to public concern.” [Inquiries Act 2005]  In the aftermath of such events there are invariably demands for a ‘full and public inquiry’, and often for a ‘judicial inquiry’.

The fact that an inquiry is a public inquiry does not necessarily mean that the evidence must all be heard in public, nor that the report will be made public - it may be given in private to the interested Minister - though clearly this will be desirable in a large number of cases and will play a key role in allaying the public concern that led to its start-up.

The term ‘public’ may be also used imprecisely. As the Rt Hon Frank Dobson MP explained to the House of Commons Select Committee “… two of the inquiries that I referred to which had looked into quite important scandals within the NHS and had far-reaching consequences, were not public inquiries” 

PublicInquiries.org will also use the phrase ‘public inquiry’ flexibly. In general, ‘public’ will relate to the concern, and in general public inquiries are established by the Government. However, it is recognised that for example commercial organisations may undertake their own inquiries, such as an arms manufacturer who attempts to obviate the need for a public inquiry by holding an internal investigation, even instructing a retired judge to chair it. PublicInquiries.org holds relevant information for these inquiries and is a forum for sharing of lessons across models of inquiry.

Public concern, private funding

The word “public” may refer to the subject matter to be investigated, to the source of funding, or to the manner in which the inquiry is held. Generally, public inquiries are set up and funded by Parliament. The inquiry into Gulf War Syndrome, for example, was typed as an ‘independent public inquiry’ which was investigating a matter of public concern but was privately funded. The recent Blood Inquiry by Lord Archer was similar.

As Oonagh Gay writes in the parliamentary research paper Investigatory inquiries and the Inquiries Act, “there is in fact no statutory impediment preventing any person or organisation from setting up an ad hoc non-statutory inquiry into anything...provided that they are prepared to fund it and can persuade people to participate in it.”

What is not covered within PublicInquiries.org

PublicInquiries.org does not cover planning inquiries, which are sometimes referred to as public inquiries. It also does not cover other types of specialist inquiry such as those carried out by air, rail or marine accident investigation branches; those by regulatory bodies such as the Health and Safety Executive; nor Companies Act investigations. Clearly, lessons can be learned from such exercises but their scope is too broad for systematic information sharing within this site.