| Inquiry
| Chair
| Duration
| Cost
| Purpose
|
| The Billy Wright Inquiry, Northern Ireland Office[445]
| Lord MacLean, retired Scottish Appeal Judge
| November 2004 to October 2010
| £29.8m | To inquire into the circumstances surrounding the death of Billy Wright who was murdered at the Maze prison in Northern Ireland on 27 December 1997. It found no evidence of collusive acts or collusive conduct in the murder of Billy Wright but identified a number of failings which facilitated his death.
|
| The Robert Hamill Inquiry[446], Northern Ireland Office
| Sir Edwin Jowitt, retired High Court Judge
| November 2004 to February 2011
| £33m | To inquire into the circumstances surrounding the death of Robert Hamill, who died from injuries he sustained during an affray in Portadown, Co Armagh in 1997. In December 2010 criminal proceedings were commenced against three individuals on charges of perverting the course of justice in relation to Robert Hamill's death. The report will not be published until proceedings against 3 individuals on charges of perverting the course of justice in relation to Hamill's death have been concluded.
|
| The E. coli Inquiry[447], National Assembly of Wales
| Prof Hugh Pennington, Professor of Bacteriology at Aberdeen University
| March 2006 to March 2009
| £2.35m | To investigate circumstances that led to the outbreak of E coli 0175 in South Wales. It broadly found that there were systematic failures in food safety management at the time of the outbreak, with the exception of the outbreak control and clinical care systems which worked well, and that the requirements for food hygiene should have been sufficient to prevent the outbreak.
|
| The ICL Inquiry,[448] Scottish and UK Governments
| Lord Gill, Lord Justice Clerk (now Lord President of the Court of Session)
| February 2008 to July 2009
| £1.91m | To carry out an investigation into an explosion in May 2004 at the ICL factory in Glasgow which killed 9 people and seriously injured a further 45.
It broadly found that there were failures in appreciation of the dangers posed by Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) and the condition of the LPG supply at the factory over many years.
|
| The Fingerprint Inquiry,[449] Scottish Government
| Sir Anthony Campbell, retired NI Appeal Court judge
| March 2008 to December 2011
| ~£4.75m estimated (media pack-no date)
| To inquire into the steps taken to identify and verify the fingerprints associated with the case of HM Advocate v. McKie in 1999, a perjury case which had given rise to questions about the correctness or otherwise of the identification of fingerprints. It broadly found that there were weaknesses in the methodology of fingerprint comparison. Fingerprint examiners are accustomed to regard their conclusions as a matter of certainty. There is no reason to suggest that fingerprint comparison is an inherently unreliable form of evidence but practitioners should give due consideration to its limits.
|
| The Penrose Inquiry,[450] Scottish Government
| Lord Penrose, retired Court of Session Judge
| April 2008 to present (final report expected in March 2014)
| £8.8m at 31/03/12 (latest figures)
| To look into Hepatitis C/HIV acquired infection from blood and blood products administered by the NHS in Scotland.
|
| The Baha Mousa Inquiry,[451] Ministry of Defence
| Sir William Gage, serving Appeal Court judge when appointed; since retired
| August 2008 to September 2011
| £13.0m at 31/01/12 (latest figures, exc VAT)
| To investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of Baha Mousa, an Iraqi civilian who died in Iraq in 2003 and the treatment of others detained with him by the British armed forces. It found that Baha Mousa spent most of the 36 hours after his arrest 'hooded' and forced to adopt 'stress positions'; both are banned interrogation techniques. He was subjected to violent abuse and assaults. A post-mortem examination found that Baha Mousa had sustained 93 external injuries. Nine other Iraqis were also detained; all sustained injuries, physical and/or mental.
|
| Inquiry into the outbreak of C. difficile in Northern Health and Social Care Trust Hospitals.[452] NI Department for Health, Social Services and Public Safety
| Dame Deirdre Hine, former Chief Medical Officer for Wales
| October 2008 to March 2011
| £1.8m | To investigate the outbreak of Clostridium difficile infection in Northern Health and Social Care Trust Hospital in March 2009. It found that C. difficile infection was the underlying or a contributory cause in 31 of the deaths in the Trust during the outbreak. A total of 124 clinical records were examined.
|
| The Bernard (Sonny) Lodge Inquiry,[453] Ministry of Justice
| Barbara Stow, former Assistant Prisons and Probation Ombudsman
| February 2009 to December 2009 (ad hoc investigation began in September 2008)
| Not yet known as costs for one party remain outstanding pending settlement negotiations
| An ad hoc investigation into the death of Bernard (Sonny) Lodge at HMP Manchester in August 1998 converted into a 2005 Act inquiry to compel certain witnesses.
It broadly found that the clinical care for Mr Lodge's physical health was appropriate and consistent with practice at the time and the clinical record-keeping was generally good but there were systematic failures in the psychiatric reassessment, counselling and support provided.
|
| The Vale of Leven Hospital Inquiry,[454] Scottish Government
| Lord MacLean, retired Scottish Appeal Judge
| October 2009 to present (final report expected March 2014)
| £5.7m at 25/04/12, (not yet published)
| To investigate the circumstances surrounding the deaths and illness which occurred at the Vale of Leven Hospital in Dunbartonshire between 1 January 2007 and 1 June 2008 attributed to C. difficile infection at the hospital.
|
| The Al Sweady Inquiry,[455] Ministry of Defence
| Sir Thayne Forbes, retired High Court Judge
| November 2009 to present (target end date in 2014)
| £21.3m at 31/12/13 (exc VAT)
| To investigate allegations that Iraqi nationals were detained after a fire-fight with British soldiers in Iraq in 2004 during which some of those detained were unlawfully killed at a British camp and others were mistreated both at that camp and later at a detention facility.
|
| The Azelle Rodney Inquiry,[456] Ministry of Justice
| Sir Christopher Holland retired High Court Judge
| June 2010 to July 2013
| c. £2.5m at 30/06/13
| To investigate the death of Azelle Rodney who was shot by a police marksman in North London on 30 April 2005. (An inquest in the death could not proceed because of sensitive material which neither coroner nor inquest jury could see.) It found that Azelle Rodney died from bullet wounds to his head and chest as a result of being shot by a Metropolitan Police Officer. 'Operation Tayport' was not planned and controlled so as to minimise, to the greatest extent possible, recourse to lethal force; and the inquiry found that the force used by the Police Officer was not strictly proportionate to the aim of protecting persons against unlawful violence. The Report was also critical of what happened after Azelle Rodney was killed.
|
| Inquiry into the role of the commissioning, supervisory and regulatory bodies in monitoring of Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust,[457] Department of Health
| Robert Francis QC |
June 2010 to February 2013
| £13.7m (inc VAT) |
To investigate failings in patient care at Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust between January 2005 and March 2009.
It found there had been serious systemic issues at the Trust requiring a degree of urgent and effective attention which they did not receive, despite many instances where those charged with managing, leading, overseeing or regulating the Trust's provision of services had been made aware of causes for concern.
|
| Inquiry into the Culture, Practices and Ethics of the Press,[458] DCMS and Home Office
| Lord Justice Leveson, Court of Appeal Judge (now President of the Queen's Bench Division)
| July 2011 to November 2012
| £5.4m | To inquire into the culture, practices and ethics of the press and to look into the specific claims about phone hacking at the News of the World, the initial police inquiry and allegations of illicit payments to police by the press. The report made 92 recommendations including the establishment of an independent self-regulatory regime, amendments to the Data Protection Act 1998 and a review of criminal and civil law.
|
