What is a Public Inquiry?

A public inquiry is an official investigation which deal with matters of public concern about a particular event or set of events. Whatever the focus of the inquiry, the purpose of all inquiries is always the same – to establish the facts, find out what happened, why it happened, who may be accountable, and to try and learn lessons to prevent a recurrence of the events.

Public inquiries are conducted by a senior official who will review documents, hear witness evidence and evidence from experts, draw conclusions and make recommendations. 
They are by their very nature an inquisitorial process rather than an adversarial one and the chair cannot make decisions about a person's or organisation’s civil or criminal liability. It may be surprising to many to learn that an inquiry's recommendations are not legally binding as ultimately it is up the government or other relevant bodies to implement any recommendations.

An inquiry can either be statutory or non-statutory. The difference between the two is that a statutory inquiry is commissioned under The Inquiries Act 2005 which gives it greater powers to compel witnesses to give evidence or produce documents. A non-statutory inquiry does not have the authority to compel witnesses to give evidence or for them to produce documents.

Setting up a Public Inquiry

The first step to setting up a public inquiry is that it needs to be commissioned. This is done by a government minister – either a UK or a devolved government minister. The next step is to appoint the chair, usually a judge or senior barrister. This is a very important appointment as the chair must have sufficient expertise and independence to be credible. It is a role that comes under a lot of public scrutiny and involves the dissemination of a large amount of oral and written evidence. The chair is ultimately responsible for running the inquiry, deciding the procedural rules and protocols as well as the conduct of the inquiry and the publication of the final report together with recommendations.

The chair works with the inquiry’s legal team which consists of Counsel to the Inquiry, Solicitor to the Inquiry and Secretary to the Inquiry. The legal team work together to prepare the Terms of Reference which is the very basis of the inquiry setting out its scope and purpose so that it is conducted fairly and that any unnecessary costs are avoided.

The Inquiries Act 2005

A statutory inquiry is governed by the Inquiries Act 2005 which sets out a basic procedural framework. It is supplemented by the Inquiry Rules 2006. The Act contains provisions relating to various matters including the requirement of impartiality, public access to the inquiry and how privileged material is dealt with. 
The Act contains important provisions to require a person to give evidence, to provide a written statement and to produce documents as well as dealing with the publication of the final report.

Core Participants

The chair can designate a person or an organisation as a “core participant”. They invite them to make a formal application at any time during the course of the inquiry. A core participant is likely to have had a significant interest in the subject matter of the inquiry, or where they may be subject to significant criticism during the inquiry or in its final report.

A core participant can appoint a legal representative, and they have advance notice of any evidence before publication together with the ability to request that certain questions are put to a witness giving oral evidence. They have the right to make an opening and closing submission as well as seeing the final inquiry report before it is made public.

Final Report 

The final stage of any inquiry is the preparation of the report which sets out its findings and recommendations. Once the report is published the public inquiry is brought to a conclusion.