The Inquiries Act 2005 (c. 12) is an act of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace ...

. According to the explanatory notes, published by the

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, the act "is intended to provide a comprehensive statutory framework for inquiries set up by Ministers to look into matters of public concern". The act repealed the entirety of the Tribunals of Inquiry (Evidence) Act 1921, a much shorter bill that also empowered Ministers to set up so-called statutory inquiries. The act was motivated in part by the spiralling costs of the

Bloody Sunday Inquiry The Bloody Sunday Inquiry, also known as the Saville Inquiry or the Saville Report after its chairman, Lord Saville of Newdigate, was established in 1998 by British Prime Minister Tony Blair after campaigns for a second inquiry by families of ...

and a desire to control the length and cost of future inquiries. The act has been criticised by a number of groups and individuals, generally concerned with the power ministers have over the remit of the inquiry and the publication of its final report.

Criticisms

The

's Joint Committee on

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has voiced concerns about certain aspects of the Act, as have the

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has asked members of the British judiciary not to serve on any inquiry held under the Act, as they contend that "any inquiry would be controlled by the executive which is empowered to block public scrutiny of state actions". The family of Pat Finucane, a solicitor killed by

loyalist Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cr ...

paramilitaries in

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in suspicious circumstances, announced they would not be co-operating with a forthcoming inquiry into the events surrounding his death if it was held under the terms of the Act. The

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judge

Peter Cory Peter deCarteret Cory, (October 25, 1925 – April 7, 2020) was a puisne judge of the Supreme Court of Canada, from 1989 to 1999. Early life and education Born in Windsor, Ontario, the son of Andrew and Mildred (Beresford Howe) Cory, he was educ ...

, who was commissioned by the

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and Irish governments to investigate the possibility of state collusion in six high-profile murders, is also a critic. He recommended public inquiries into four of the killings, but has strongly condemned the legislation that quickly followed. In a letter read at a hearing of the United States House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations Subcommittee while the legislation was pending, Cory stated: The chairman of the hearing, Representative Chris Smith, declared that "the bill pending before the

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should be named the 'Public Inquiries Cover-up Bill'." Indeed, the Act repealed the entirety of the Tribunals of Inquiry (Evidence) Act 1921 which had allowed Parliament to vote on a resolution establishing a tribunal that had "all such powers, rights, and privileges as are vested in the High Court" and placed the power solely under the control of a Minister.

Notable inquiries

As of November 2021 there have been 29 inquiries established under the act with a further two announced. Of these, 17 have completed costing a total of £158m.

Active inquiries

Some of the highest profile, open inquiries authorised under the act include: *

Grenfell Tower Inquiry The Grenfell Tower Inquiry was a British public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire, which killed 72 people and destroyed Grenfell Tower on 14 June 2017. It was ordered by Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Theresa May on the ...

* Manchester Arena Inquiry into the

Manchester Arena bombing The Manchester Arena bombing, or Manchester Arena attack, was an Islamic terrorism in Europe, Islamic terrorist suicide bombing of Manchester Arena in Manchester, England, on 22 May 2017, following Dangerous Woman Tour, a concert by the Americ ...

* Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry into the British Post Office scandal - converted from an existing, non-statutory inquiry in September 2020 * Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse - converted from an existing, non-statutory inquiry in July 2015 * Infected Blood Inquiry into the Contaminated blood scandal in the United Kingdom * UK Covid-19 Inquiry into the UK’s response to and impact of the Covid-19 pandemic

Former inquires

* Inquiry into failures at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust * The Litvinenko Inquiry into the

Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko Alexander Litvinenko was an officer of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) and its predecessor, the KGB, until he left the service and fled the country in late 2000. In 1998, Litvinenko and several other Russian intelligence officers sa ...

* Leveson Inquiry into the

News International phone hacking scandal Beginning in the 1990s, and going as far until its shutdown in 2011, employees of the now-defunct newspaper ''News of the World'' engaged in phone hacking, police bribery, and exercising improper influence in the pursuit of stories. Investi ...

Forthcoming inquiries

* It was announced in August 2023 that a statutory inquiry would be held into the circumstances surrounding the killings of children carried out by Lucy Letby.

Repeals and revokes

The Inquiries Act 2005 repealed or revoked all or part of the following acts of Parliament or sections of acts:

References

Halsbury's Statutes ''Halsbury's Statutes of England and Wales'' (commonly referred to as ''Halsbury's Statutes'') provides updated texts of every Public General Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, Measure of the Welsh Assembly, or Church of England Me ...

, {{reflist

External links

The Inquiries Act 2005
as amended from the

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.
The Inquiries Act 2005
as originally enacted from the

.
Explanatory notes
to the Inquiries Act 2005.

Snapshot dated 17 January 2009. From the National Archives. United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 2005 Constitutional laws of the United Kingdom