Inquiries
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Neville-Rolfe on 8 February (HL1937), whether they will list the 19 non-statutory and 23 statutory inquiries established under the Inquiries Act 2005, along with the (1) length, (2), cost, and (3) sponsoring department, for each of those inquiries.
Government answer
The Cabinet Office collects data on the duration and cost of inquiries from departments, inquiries’ own reports, and other publicly available information.
We have provided details on all statutory and non-statutory inquiries established since 2005 in the table below.
In some cases, information in the table below has come from reports from outside the Government. We have not included the costs for ongoing inquiries, which are published at different frequencies on inquiry or departmental websites, and we have not included the details for any investigations commissioned by NHS England (some of which were counted in the total number of non-statutory inquiries in our previous response, answered on 8th February 2024, UIN HL1937). It has been noted where the publicly available information provides the cost excluding VAT.
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Inquiry
Sponsor Department
Legislative Basis
Year established
Duration in months (from announcement to publication of final report)
Reported final costs where publicly available
Jalal Uddin Inquiry
HO
Inquiries Act 2005
2023
Ongoing
-
Cranston Inquiry
DfT
Non-statutory
2023
Ongoing
-
Andrew Malkinson Inquiry
MoJ
Non-statutory
2023
Ongoing
-
Thirlwall Inquiry
DHSC
Inquiries Act 2005
2023
Ongoing
-
Inquiry into the preventability of the Omagh bombing
NIO
Inquiries Act 2005
2023
Ongoing
-
Independent inquiry relating to Afghanistan
Ministry of Defence
Inquiries Act 2005
2022
Ongoing
-
Dawn Sturgess Inquiry
HO
Inquiries Act 2005
2022
Ongoing
-
Fuller Inquiry
DHSC
Non-statutory
2022
Ongoing
-
Angiolini Inquiry
HO
Non-statutory
2022
Ongoing
-
UK Covid-19 Inquiry
Cabinet Office
Inquiries Act 2005
2022
Ongoing
-
Lampard Inquiry
DHSC
Inquiries Act 2005
2021
Ongoing
-
Jermaine Baker inquiry
HO
Inquiries Act 2005
2020
29
£4.1m
Post Office Horizon IT inquiry
DBT
Inquiries Act 2005
2020
Ongoing
-
Manchester Arena inquiry
HO
Inquiries Act 2005
2019
41
£35.6m
Brook House Inquiry
HO
Inquiries Act 2005
2019
46
£18.7m
The Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review
Department of Health
Non-statutory
2018
29
£1.7m
Independent Inquiry into the issues raised by Ian Paterson
Department of Health
Non-statutory
2018
26
£1.9m
Grenfell Tower Inquiry
Cabinet Office
Inquiries Act 2005
2017
Ongoing
-
Infected Blood Inquiry
Cabinet Office
Inquiries Act 2005
2017
Ongoing
-
Independent inquiry into the award of the Magnox decommissioning contract by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and its subsequent termination
BEIS
Non-statutory
2017
48
[unknown]
Anthony Grainger Inquiry
HO
Inquiries Act 2005
2016
40
£2.6m
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse
HO
Inquiries Act 2005
2015
99
£192.7m (as of Dec 2022)
Undercover Policing Inquiry
HO
Inquiries Act 2005
2015
Ongoing
-
Gosport Independent Panel
Department of Health
Non-statutory
2014
42
£13m
The Litvinenko Inquiry
HO, FCO and 3 x Intelligence Agencies
Inquiries Act 2005
2014
18
£2.4m (exc. VAT)
Harris Review / Independent review of self-inflicted deaths of young adults in custody aged between 18 and 24
MoJ
Non-statutory
2014
17
£0.2m
The Morecambe Bay Maternity and Neonatal Services Investigation
Department of Health
Non-statutory
2013
18
£1.1m
Daniel Morgan Independent Panel
HO
Non-statutory
2013
97
£17.6m
The Leveson Inquiry
DCMS and HO
Inquiries Act 2005
2011
16
£5.4m
The Azelle Rodney Inquiry
MoJ
Inquiries Act 2005
2010
40
£2.6m
Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Inquiry 2013 / The Francis Inquiry
Department of Health
Inquiries Act 2005
2010
36
£13.7m
The Detainee Inquiry
Cabinet Office
Non-statutory (Committee of Privy Counsellors)
2010
45
£2.3m (exc. VAT)
The Hillsborough Independent Panel
HO
Non-statutory
2009
33
Less than £5m
The Al Sweady Inquiry
MoD
Inquiries Act 2005
2009
61
£24.9m (exc. VAT)
Independent Inquiry into care provided by Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust January 2001 – March 2009
Department of Health
Non-statutory
2009
7
-
The Iraq Inquiry / The Chilcot Inquiry
Cabinet Office, FCO, DfID
Non-statutory (Committee of Privy Counsellors)
2009
85
£13.1m
The Bernard (Sonny) Lodge Inquiry
MoJ
Inquiries Act 2005
2009
10
£0.4m
The Baha Mousa Inquiry
MoD
Inquiries Act 2005
2008
39
£13m
Inquiry into Human Tissue Analysis in UK Nuclear Facilities / Redfern Inquiry
DTI - BERR - DECC
Non-statutory
2007
43
-
Contaminated Blood and Blood Products Inquiry
Department of Health
Non-statutory
2007
48
£75k
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