Public Inquiries
(asked on 28th April 2025) - View Source
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent on 18 February (HL4612), how many non-statutory public inquiries have been established since 2005; what were the names of each inquiry; what were the projected costs of each inquiry at the time of its establishment; and, for those that have concluded, what was the final cost of each inquiry upon its conclusion.
Since 2005, His Majesty’s Government has established 18 non-statutory inquiries.
The Cabinet Office collects data on the duration and cost of inquiries from departments, inquiries’ own reports, and other publicly available information. We do not centrally hold data on the projected costs of each inquiry as each Government Department is responsible for the inquiries they sponsor.
We have provided details on all non statutory inquiries established since 2005 in the table below. In the table below, “unknown” means that it is not known by Cabinet Office.
Inquiry | Legislative Basis | Year established | Duration in months (from announcement to publication of final report) | Reported final costs where publicly available |
Manston Inquiry | Non-Statutory | 2025 | Ongoing | Pending |
Cranston Inquiry | Non-statutory | 2023 | Ongoing | Pending |
Andrew Malkinson Inquiry | Non-statutory | 2023 | Ongoing | Pending |
Fuller Inquiry | Non-statutory | 2022 | Ongoing | Pending |
Angiolini Inquiry | Non-statutory | 2022 | Ongoing | Pending |
The Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review | Non-statutory | 2018 | 29 | £1.7m |
Independent Inquiry into the issues raised by Ian Paterson | Non-statutory | 2018 | 26 | £1.9m |
Independent inquiry into the award of the Magnox decommissioning contract by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and its subsequent termination | Non-statutory | 2017 | 48 | Unknown |
Gosport Independent Panel | Non-statutory | 2014 | 42 | £13m |
Harris Review / Independent review of self-inflicted deaths of young adults in custody aged between 18 and 24 | Non-statutory | 2014 | 17 | £0.2m |
The Morecambe Bay Maternity and Neonatal Services Investigation | Non-statutory | 2013 | 18 | £1.1m |
Daniel Morgan Independent Panel | Non-statutory | 2013 | 97 | £17.6m |
The Detainee Inquiry | Non-statutory (Committee of Privy Counsellors) | 2010 | 45 | £2.3m (exc. VAT) |
The Hillsborough Independent Panel | Non-statutory | 2009 | 33 | Less than £5m |
Independent Inquiry into care provided by Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust January 2001 – March 2009 | Non-statutory | 2009 | 7 | Unknown |
The Iraq Inquiry / The Chilcot Inquiry | Non-statutory (Committee of Privy Counsellors) | 2009 | 85 | £13.1m |
Inquiry into Human Tissue Analysis in UK Nuclear Facilities / Redfern Inquiry | Non-statutory | 2007 | 43 | Unknown |
Contaminated Blood and Blood Products Inquiry | Non-statutory | 2007 | 48 | £75k |