Public inquiry

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates A public inquiry, also known as a tribunal of inquiry, government inquiry, or simply inquiry, is an official review of events or actions ordered by a government body. In many common law countries, such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and Canada, such an inquiry differs from a royal commission in that a public inquiry accepts evidence and conducts its hearings in a more public forum and focuses on a more specific occurrence. Interested members of the public and organisations may make (written) evidential submissions, as is the case with most inquiries, and also listen to oral evidence given by other parties.

Typical events for a public inquiry are those that cause multiple deaths, such as public transport crashes or mass murders.

Advocacy groups and opposition political parties are likely to ask for public inquiries for all manner of issues. The government of the day typically only accedes to a fraction of these requests. The political decision whether to appoint a public inquiry into an event was found to be dependent on several factors. The first is the extent of media coverage of the event; those that receive more media interest are more likely to be inquired. Second, since the appointment of a public inquiry is typically made by government ministers, events that involve allegations of blame on the part of the relevant minister are less likely to be investigated by a public inquiry.<ref>Sulitzeanu-Kenan, R. 2010. Reflection in the Shadow of Blame: When do Politicians Appoint Commissions of Inquiry?, British Journal of Political Science 40(3): 613-634 Template:Webarchive.</ref> Third, a public inquiry generally takes longer to report and costs more on account of its public nature. When a government refuses a public inquiry on some topic, it is usually on at least one of these grounds.

The conclusions of the inquiry are delivered in the form of a written report, given first to the government, and soon after made public. Reports usually make recommendations to improve the quality of government or management of public organisations in the future. A 2016 study found that the reports of public inquiries are not effective in changing public opinion regarding the event in question.<ref>Sulitzeanu-Kenan, R & Y. Holzman-Gazit. 2016. Form and Content: Institutional Preferences and Public Opinion in a Crisis Inquiry, Administration & Society 48(1): 3-30 Template:Webarchive</ref> Empirical studies do not find support for the claim that appointing a public inquiry leads to a decline in media attention to the inquired issue.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Public inquiry reports appear to enjoy public trust only when they are critical of a government, and tend to lose credibility when they find no fault on the part of the government.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

France

In France, any major project which requires the compulsory acquisition of private property must, before being approved, be the subject of a public inquiry (usually by the prefect of the region or department in which the project will take place); the favourable outcome of such an inquiry is a déclaration d'utilité publique, a formal finding that the project will produce public benefit. This procedure was established by the law on expropriation enacted on 7 July 1833,<ref>Loi du 7 juillet 1833 sur l'expropriation pour cause d'utilité publique</ref> which extended an earlier law enacted in 1810.<ref>Loi du 8 mars 1810 sur l'expropriation pour cause d'utilité publique</ref>

South Africa

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} A number of historically important public inquiries have taken place in South Africa since the advent of full democracy in 1994. A number of which have looked into national scale events such as systematic human rights abuses during apartheid or wide scale corruption.

Hong Kong

In Hong Kong, the Commissions of Inquiry Ordinance was enacted for establishing such a commission. The commission established after the 2012 Lamma Island ferry collision produced a report of its findings which they made public; an internal report was kept confidential.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests, one of the five key demands of the protesters, was establishing another commission for the protests itself.

See also

• Inquest, a similar investigation with lesser scope
• Royal Commission
• Tribunal
• Inquiries Act 2005 (UK statute which provides for the holding of inquiries)
• Parliamentary inquiry committee

External links

• National Archives full list of those UK public inquiries with websites