The Statutory Inquiries Committee of the House of Lords recently published a report on public inquiries and recommended a series of changes to the way they are set up and conducted across the UK.

The Committee recommended that:

• Public inquiries should be given a clear indicative deadline in their terms of reference;
• More inquiries should be established on a non-statutory basis, with the option of converting them into statutory inquiries if witnesses fail to cooperate;
• Ministers should not feel limited to appoint a single chair only. When the subject matter of the inquiry is expected to be particularly technical, inquiries should be led by an expert or panel of experts – rather than relying on a single judge for example;
• A new committee on public inquiries should be set up to publish reports and government responses in one place, and to maintain an online, publicly available, tracker.

Currently, the volume of public inquiries in the UK means that at any one point in time there are multiple inquiries affecting organisations in Scotland ongoing. We have set out below a recap of the current inquiries taking place.

UK Covid Inquiry

The UK Covid Inquiry is a wide-ranging inquiry into the UK’s response – both from Westminster and the devolved governments including the Scottish Government – into Covid, the impact from the pandemic, and what lessons can be learned from the response.

The UK Covid Inquiry has been progressing at a steady pace, with the Chair of the Inquiry, Baroness Heather Hallett, recently opening Module 10 ‘Impact on Society’, the final investigation of the UK Covid Inquiry. As part of their investigation, inquiry staff recently met with over 1,000 members of the public living in the Scottish Highlands to understand their experience of the pandemic.

Notably, Module 9 will be of significance in Scotland as it examines the economic interventions taken by the UK Government, as well as the devolved governments and administrations. The first preliminary hearing for Module 9 will be held on 23 October 2024.

The UK Covid inquiry has now completed Module 1: The resilience and preparedness of the United Kingdom and has published its report, by Baroness Hallett, here. It has also been announced that Module 6 (Care Sector) will gather oral evidence between 30 June 2025 to 31 July 2025.

Scottish Covid Inquiry

The Scottish Covid Inquiry was set up to investigate Scotland’s devolved strategic response to the Covid pandemic, to identify lessons to be learned and to make recommendations to the Scottish Ministers. It is not entitled to investigate any reserved matters.

This Inquiry is currently being chaired by Lord Brailsford and appears to be moving at a relatively slow pace (compared to the wider UK Covid Inquiry), with information fairly sparse. The Inquiry recently held Preliminary Hearings for Portfolio 2 and 4, covering education and certification, and business and welfare investigations – and is available to view here.

The Inquiry has no set deadline to work to, and instead will “report as quickly as practicable”. The current areas that are being considered by the Inquiry are the impact of the pandemic on education certification and young people, followed by financial and welfare support to businesses and individuals, and it will take place over the course of the autumn.

Hospitals Inquiry

The Scottish Hospitals Inquiry, chaired by Lord Brodie, covers the planning, design, construction, commissioning, and maintenance (where appropriate) of both the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital Campus (QEUH) in Glasgow, and the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People and Department of Clinical Neurosciences (RHCYP/DCN) in Edinburgh. The Inquiry will particularly focus on issues relating to ventilation, water contamination, and other relevant matters that impact patients within these buildings.

The Inquiry is currently hearing evidence in relation to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and Royal Hospital for Children, Glasgow. This hearing runs from 19 August until 15 November. At this stage of the Inquiry, evidence is being gathered from estates staff of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, clinicians and communications staff – and their oral evidence can be found here.

Sheku Bayoh Inquiry

The Sheku Bayoh Inquiry was set up in 2020 into the death of Sheku Bayoh in 2015. The Inquiry is chaired by Lord Bracadale and aims to cover and establish the circumstances of the death of Sheku Bayoh. It aims to make recommendations, if possible, to realistically prevent other deaths in similar circumstances, to examine the aftermath of the death and the investigation into it, to examine the extent race had in Sheku’s death, and to make a report with recommendations to the Scottish Ministers.

The most recent news from the Inquiry has been evidence from a party (Marcia Rigg) sharing their experience with a family member’s death in police custody. This evidence was gathered in a morning session on 4 July 2024 and concluded the section on Race, with further evidential hearings to resume on 1 October 2024.

Post Office Inquiry

The Post Office inquiry was established in 2020 and was converted into a statutory inquiry in 2021. It is chaired by Sir Wyn Williams and was established to investigate the failures in the IT system, Horizon, used by the post office, that led to wrongful prosecutions.

The Inquiry moved into Phase 7 on 23 September 2024, during which the current practice and procedures at the Post Office, as well as compensation, will be examined. In earlier phases, access to justice, internal and external audits, technical competence, oversight and whistleblowing, were considered.

Over summer, the Inquiry gathered evidence from various ex-government ministers and MPs such as Vince Cable and Greg Clark, as well as various high-ranking members of the executive team of the Post Office.

Notably, this Inquiry has the authority to investigate devolved matters, such as the convictions in Scotland brought by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal. These convictions have subsequently been overturned.

Our team is experienced in managing the interests and responses of core participants and other key witnesses to high profile inquiries. Our experience as part of UK Inquiry legal teams enables us to draw on that direct experience to advise key stakeholders on how best to protect and advance their interests in any public inquiry. If you’d like to discuss how we can help, please get in touch.

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