A plethora of public inquiries

• When should public inquiries be statutory?
• Statutory inquiries have important advantages over more ad hoc arrangements because of their strong legal powers, and the fact they are typically more open and, consequently, seen as more accountable.
• There is still a place for non-statutory inquiries.

What will our next public inquiry be about? Do we need to investigate the use of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) by the public sector before 2000, the HS2 delivery saga, or something else? In August/September alone, new high-profile independent inquiries were announced into the circumstances and handling of entirely innocent miscarriage of justice victim Andrew Malkinson’s case and the context around crimes committed by NHS nurse Lucy Letby. Interestingly, the former is non-statutory whereas the latter was converted to a statutory process.

The major advantage of public inquiries is that they are a bespoke and highly flexible form of investigation, scalable and tailored according to their own terms of reference in each case. Like any well-run