Inquiries Bill
1. On 24 February 2004, the House of Commons
Select Committee on Public Administration (PASC) announced that
it would be examining the subject of "Government by Inquiry".
It published a list of questions about the value of inquiries
established by Ministers into particular, controversial events
that had given rise to public concern. The Committee took oral
evidence from the Lord Chancellor on 25 May 2004. Other witnesses
included the Lord Chief Justice, (Lord Woolf) who gave evidence
on 14 December 2004.
2. The Government's response to the PASC call
for evidence took the form of a consultation paper, "Effective
Inquiries", published on 6 May 2004 by the Department of
Constitutional Affairs, which drew extensively on the Select Committee's
questionnaire. The consultation period closed on 29 July 2004.
In September 2004, the Department published its paper "Summary
of Responses to the Effective Inquiries Consultation Paper".
This paper contained a summary of responses, and also, on some
but not all of the questions, a brief statement of the Government's
position.
3. In the Queen's Speech on 23 November 2004,
it was stated that "Legislation will be brought forward to
provide a modern and comprehensive framework for statutory inquiries
into matters of public concern." The Inquiries Bill was introduced
into the House of Lords and given its first reading two days later.
It was given a second reading on 9 December and remitted to a
Grand Committee.
4. The Bill proposes the repeal of the Tribunals
of Inquiry (Evidence) Act 1921 and provisions in over twenty other
Acts (ranging chronologically from the Regulation of Railways
Act 1871 to the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004) which authorize
the holding of inquiries into specific subjects, for example railway
accidents, child abuse, health, education, police. In the place
of these provisions, the Bill (clause 1(1)) gives "a Minister"
power to cause an inquiry to be held "in relation to a case
where it appears to him that:
(a) particular events have caused, or are capable
of causing, public concern, or
(b) there is public concern that particular events
may have occurred".
By clause 1(2), "a Minister" is defined
as meaning a United Kingdom Minister, the Scottish Ministers,
a Northern Ireland Minister and the National Assembly for Wales.
5. Our general concerns about the constitutional
significance of the Bill were expressed in a letter sent to the
Lord Chancellor on 8 December, before the second reading debate,
reproduced at Appendix 1. The Government did not respond during
the debate, but replied in writing on 17 December (Appendix 2).
The reply contained several questions, to which the Chairman responded
on 20 December (Appendix 3). We make this report and publish the
correspondence for the information of the House in order to draw
attention to matters of principle affecting principal parts of
the constitution.
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