{"id":135558,"date":"2024-09-16T09:34:16","date_gmt":"2024-09-16T09:34:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/09\/16\/public-inquiries-not-delivering-change-lords-report-warns\/"},"modified":"2024-09-16T09:34:17","modified_gmt":"2024-09-16T09:34:17","slug":"public-inquiries-not-delivering-change-lords-report-warns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/09\/16\/public-inquiries-not-delivering-change-lords-report-warns\/","title":{"rendered":"Public inquiries not delivering change, Lords report warns"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Public inquiries into disasters such as the Grenfell Tower fire take too long and often do not lead to change, a Lords report has found.<\/p>\n

Inquiries are routinely set up by governments to “learn lessons” and avoid future tragedies.<\/p>\n

But Lord Norton, who led the report, said: \u201cLessons learned’ is an entirely vacuous phrase if lessons aren\u2019t being learned because inquiry recommendations are ignored or delayed.<\/p>\n

\u201cFurthermore, it is insulting and upsetting for victims, survivors and their families who frequently hope that, from their unimaginable grief, something positive might prevail.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report sets out ways to make inquiries more effective. The government said it would study the recommendations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In recent years there have been large-scale inquiries launched into subjects including Grenfell, the infected blood scandal and the Covid pandemic.<\/p>\n

However, earlier this year bereaved families expressed their fears that the recommendations from these inquiries would \u201csimply disappear\u201d.<\/p>\n

Some campaigners said<\/a> they have \u201cno faith\u201d that the reports would lead to change. <\/p>\n

A report by the House of Lords Statutory Inquiries Committee has now called for a rethink in how inquiries are carried out and crucially, how their recommendations, are implemented.<\/p>\n

The committee warned that inquiries were perceived as \u201cfrequently too long and expensive, leading to a loss of public confidence and protracted trauma\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cCurrently, millions of pounds are spent on public inquiries yet too little is done to ensure that the desired outcomes are achieved.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A government spokesperson said: “We remain absolutely committed to righting past wrongs and working to ensure justice is delivered for victims.<\/p>\n

“We thank the committee for its report and will take the time to consider its findings and recommendations.”<\/p>\n

In the course of taking evidence, the Lords committee was told that some patient deaths at Mid-Staffordshire Hospital<\/a> could have been avoided if recommendations from an inquiry into Bristol Royal Infirmary had been implemented.<\/p>\n

Similarly, the committee heard that recommendations made following the Lakanal House fire could have prevented the fire at Grenfell Tower.<\/p>\n

Conversely, witnesses told the committee that a report on the Soham murders led to better child protection rules, while an inquiry after the Dunblane shootings strengthened gun ownership laws.<\/p>\n

The Grenfell inquiry, which took seven years, made 58 recommendations.<\/a><\/p>\n

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said the government will look at them in detail and respond within six months.<\/p>\n

The Lords committee said there was a perception that inquiries were established by ministers to \u201ckick a problem into the long grass\u201d. <\/p>\n

One of their key proposals is for Parliament to establish a new committee which would \u201chold the government to account\u201d for implementing recommendations.<\/p>\n

Lord Norton said such a body could create a \u201cdeterrent effect\u201d and \u201cstop minister from not paying enough attention\u201d.<\/p>\n

He says inquiries could also be speeded up if they are placed on a non-statutory rather than statutory footing.<\/p>\n

Statutory inquires have the power to compel people to give evidence and to give it in public and under oath.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In 2018, the Institute for Government think tank found<\/a> that between 1990 and 2017, 69 inquiries had been launched, taking an average of around two years to report and costing a total of at least \u00a3630m. <\/p>\n

One of the most expensive was the Bloody Sunday inquiry which lasted 12 years and cost \u00a3210.6m.<\/p>\n

Lord Norton\u2019s report argues that often inquiries try to \u201cinvestigate too widely\u201d instead of \u201cfocusing on the key purpose of learning lessons\u201d.<\/p>\n

It says ministers should \u201cresist the temptation to charge an inquiry with the responsibility of investigating wider policy areas\u201d.<\/p>\n

It also advises setting deadlines to \u201cconcentrate the efforts of the inquiry chair\u201d.<\/p>\n

The government argues that, by law, the process, timing and procedure of inquiries are decisions for their independent chairs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


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PA Public inquiries into disasters such as the Grenfell Tower fire take too long and often do not lead to change, a Lords report has found. Inquiries are routinely set up by governments to “learn lessons” and avoid future tragedies. But Lord Norton, who led the report, said: \u201cLessons learned’ is an entirely vacuous phrase […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135559,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/bbcx\/grey-placeholder.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[603],"tags":[487,22394,108620,6177,3560,61,5219],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135558"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135558"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135558\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135560,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135558\/revisions\/135560"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}