Exhaustive public inquiries undermined by “patchy” follow-up, says report

The use of public inquiries to learn lessons from major tragedies is being undermined by a failure to act on their recommendations, a think tank has argued.

In a new report, the Institute for Government says that the exhaustive nature of public inquiries is at odds with how their conclusions are overlooked.

Called ‘How public inquiries can lead to change’, the report found that only six of the 68 public inquiries instigated by the government since 1990 – at a costs of £639m – have been fully investigated by select committees.

With one in seven taking five years or longer to publish their findings, the Institute for Government also warned that the the process of change was left in stasis for too long.

Lakanal House

As the public inquiry into the Grenfell fire plays out in London, the fire industry will hope for a more effective response than was seen in the wake of the Lakanal House inquiry. Many recommendations, including that Approved Document be was in need of review, were not acted on or progress was patchy.

There was also an interval of nearly four years between the tragedy, in which six people died.

The report recommends that:

• Parliament orders government to report on progress in acting on recommendations annually to select committees
• Interim reports should be published months, rather than years, after the inquiries issue their recommendations, says the report.
• Expert witnesses should be be involved in developing the recommendations of inquiries.

“Government has spent over half a billion pounds on inquiries since 1990 and uses them more and more,” Emma Norris, programme director at the Institute for Government. “As we speak, there are eight separate inquiries running into some of the biggest tragedies this country has seen.

“But our report finds that the aftermath of inquiries are being neglected. The implementation of findings is patchy and there is no proper procedure for holding government to account for change.

“Government needs to systematically provide a full and detailed response to inquiry findings and select committees need to make the follow up to inquiry recommendations a core part of their work.”

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