The Inquiries Unit in the Cabinet Office should be strengthened to ensure that “best practice” is shared between inquiries, a cross-party House of Lords committee has recommended.
A report by the House of Lords Statutory Inquiries Committee, published today, says inquiries “too often are failing to meet their aims because inquiry recommendations are not subsequently implemented, despite being accepted by the government”.
“This is inexcusable, as it risks the recurrence of a disaster and undermines the whole purpose of holding an inquiry in the first place,” the report says.
And it found that inquiries are wasting time and money by “reinventing the wheel” or repeating easily avoidable mistakes.
The report urges the government to undertake a major overhaul of the way public inquiries are set up and conducted to make them more efficient and effective.
Its recommendations include reforming the Cabinet Office Inquiries Unit and setting up a Public Inquiries Committee to monitor and report on the steps being taken to implement inquiry recommendations.
The Statutory Inquiries Committee, which was specially set up in January to conduct the “inquiry into inquiries”, said the Cabinet Office unit needs to “more effectively engage expert opinion on inquiries and share this across government departments and the civil service”.
The unit was set up in 2019 and is responsible for sharing best practice on holding inquiries with government departments, including devolved government. However theLords committee said many of the subject experts and stakeholders it spoke to did not know the unit existed.
One witness told the committee that “there is still no forum for retaining the lessons learned in running a public inquiry with a view to conveying that knowledge and experience to subsequent inquiry chairs.” Another — an expert on public inquiries — stated that: “On occasions, good practice is being missed and examples of weaker practice are being repeated. The establishment of a central inquiries unit to act as a repository of examples of best practice would help to address this.”
Around 10 witnesses recommended to the committee that an inquiries unit should be established.
The committee said experienced chairs and lawyers had also told the inquiry that they had had no involvement in sharing best practice through the Inquiries Unit, despite their involvement in many inquiries.
“This is not a reflection on those individuals, but rather a sign that the Inquiries Unit has not sufficiently built up a “community of practice” which reflects all of the different roles involved in an inquiry”, the report said.
“The fact that that academic and legal experts on public inquiries are not being asked to share knowledge and best practice with current inquiry chairs and secretaries and are unaware of each others’ existence is regrettable,” it added.
The committee said it was “disappointing” that the Inquiries Unit had “failed to engage with non-governmental experts” but also commended the unit “for the good work it does and the improvements that has taken place since its establishment in 2019”.
The committee said the work started by the Inquiries Unit in the Cabinet Office should be built upon to grow a “community of practice” for academic, legal and policy experts on public inquiries, as well as civil servants, former inquiry chairs and secretaries and representatives of victims and survivors’ groups.
“This will help ensure that there is a bank of information from which chairs and inquiry secretariats can be offered proven approaches when starting an inquiry, to ensure that each is properly tailored to be as effective and efficient as possible,” it added.
It said the unit should be “sufficiently resourced” so that it can do this.
The unit also needs to better publicise its work, including its “lessons learnt” reports and the official guidance on running inquiries, which it has not been updated online since 2012.
The report also recommends the creation of a Public Inquiries Committee to monitor and report on the steps being taken to implement inquiry recommendations. It said this committee could also “supplement” the unit’s functions, “holding evidence sessions or writing to officials to ensure that best practice for running inquiries is being disseminated effectively and that ministers are making appropriate decisions about establishing and resourcing inquiries”.
A government spokesperson said: "We remain absolutely committed to righting past wrongs and working to ensure justice is delivered for victims.
"We thank the committee for its report and will take the time to consider its findings and recommendations."