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Government reviews and investigations

Governments can establish reviews or investigations to examine events of major public concern or controversial public policy issues. In recent decades governments have most often established statutory or non-statutory public inquiries, but various other options are available.

Terms used for reviews and investigation are often imprecise. Some investigations are often referred to as ‘inquiries’ but are not ‘public inquiries’, such as the inquiries run by parliamentary select committees. Conversely, some public inquiries are sometimes referred to as ‘reviews’, though independent reviews do not have the same powers or procedures as a statutory public inquiry.

Public inquiries

Public inquiries are investigations into issues of major public concern, which are established by a minister. An inquiry can be either statutory (following the process set out in the Inquiries Act 2005) or non-statutory.

Recent statutory inquiries include the UK Covid-19 Inquiry and the Infected Blood Inquiry. Recent non-statutory inquiries include the Angiolini Inquiry into the death of Sarah Everard and the Cranston Inquiry into the death of 27 people in the English Channel in November 2021.

More information can be found in the Commons Library research briefing on Public inquiries.

Committees of Privy Counsellors

Committees of Privy Counsellors are a variation on public inquiries led by members of the Privy Council. They generally cover issues of national security, since Privy Counsellers are authorised to see sensitive information that the government could not otherwise make available.

The Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq War is a prominent example of a Committee of Privy Counsellors operating in the 21st century.

Royal Commissions

Royal Commissions are reviews of broad public policy areas, formally established by the Monarch and generally led by a committee of experts.

Royal Commissions were fairly common in the mid-20th century but have fallen out of use in recent decades. The last Royal Commission, the Royal Commission on the reform of the House of Lords, ran from 1999 to 2000.

Other types of investigation

The government can also establish reviews or investigations with less of a formal structure. These include independent reviews into areas of public policy, which are generally led by one or more independent experts. Recent examples include the Independent Sentencing Review led by the former Lord Chancellor David Gauke.