Lords committee hears evidence on effectiveness of statutory public inquiries 

The two witnesses giving evidence are:

• Bishop James Jones KBE, Chair of the Hillsborough Independent Panel and author of the report The Patronising Disposition of Unaccountable Power
• Ken Sutton, Director, Hillsborough Independent Panel

Statutory Inquiries are generally set up to consider incidents of major public concern. They are aimed at learning lessons, determining accountability and restoring public confidence. There are currently 14 inquiries being undertaken under the Inquiries Act 2005. 

Concern is often expressed, however, about the length of time inquiries take, and the amount they cost.  Other criticisms are that there is no formal system for following up their recommendations for improvement, and that there is no central team responsible for setting up and running inquiries. Committee chairman Lord Norton of Louth said: “Public inquiries are major tools of lesson-learning when there are disasters and scandals deriving from human error. It is crucial that they are effective as they can be in ensuring that lessons are learned and, most importantly of all, acted upon.”

Among the questions the Statutory Inquiries Committee is likely to ask are:  

• What can be done to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of inquiries?
• How can each new inquiry avoid having to reinvent the wheel when they are set up?
• Once an inquiry has reported, it ceases to exist and ministers are not obligated to act on its recommendations, so should there be a body to monitor implementation?
• What challenges and risks do inquiries face, and how they might be improved. 
• Is the system set up under the Inquiries Act 2005 the best for running inquiries, and how might it be improved?

The committee takes place at 4.10pm in Committee Room 4 of the Palace of Westminster. This session, which is open to the public, will also be streamed live on Parliament TV.