lemon garden

On the 7th April this year, royal assent was given to the Inquiries Act 2005. This act set up the legal framework under which public inquiries will be held in the future. The act provides that:

1. The chair of an inquiry will be appointed by a Minister.
2. Each member of the board of inquiry will be appointed by the Minister.
3. The terms of reference of an inquiry will be determined by the Minister.
4. At any time, the Minister can suspend an ongoing inquiry until further notice.
5. At any time, the Minister can decide to bring an inquiry to an end.
6. The Minister can restrict public access to the proceedings of, or documents produced by, an inquiry.
7. At the end of the inquiry, the chairman must deliver a report to the Minister.
8. The Minister decides whether the inquiry’s report should be published unless he expressly passes that power to the chairman of the inquiry.
9. Whoever is responsible for publishing a report (the Minister or the Chairman) may withhold sections of the report from publication.

Once upon a time, when matters of grave concern arose, we could have an independent public inquiry into the matter. But no more.

Talk Politics has an excellent post about this travesty of an act. Amnesty International have also issued a press release about the act that is worth a read.