1COR

This Practice Note provides an overview of the law relating to public inquiries. It covers both statutory and non-statutory inquiries, centring on provisions of the Inquiries Act 2005 and dealing with interaction with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

This Practice Note considers practical aspects of how statutory public inquiries are run. It covers the key stages of an inquiry, the role of the chair and any members and inquiry staff. It also covers procedural matters such as evidence and disclosure during the inquiry, the costs of the inquiry and the inquiry report.

This Precedent provides an outline for a warning letter under rule 13 of the Inquiry Rules 2006, which provides that there may not be any explicit or significant criticism of a person in a public inquiry report unless that person has been sent a warning letter and given a reasonable opportunity to respond.